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By Bonnie Bartel Latino

Columnist

December 26, 1972, Andersen Air Force Base on the island of Guam still teemed with around-the-clock activity in support of Operation Linebacker II, which became known as Guam’s largest military operation since World War II. Constant bombing missions to North Vietnam and back for a week had created intense tension on the shoulders of the pilots and their crews as well as their aging B-52 Bombers. “Buffs” as the B-52s were affectionately called by those who flew them, also launched from U-Tapao in Thailand in coordinated bombing attacks over North Vietnam.
Christmas Eve found some of the younger officers, who flew those grueling missions, feeling more rowdy than usual. Since they were still confined to base for reasons that became more obvious each night, the scene of their sophomoric “crimes” was again the Officers Clubs. After collecting all decorated trees from the club’s various meeting rooms and the large foyer, where there were half-a-dozen trees standing in a faux-snow scene, the culprits threw them all in the Olympic-size pool that was adjacent to the dining room’s wall of windows. To top that, they picked up the diminutive, sweet head waiter, carried the middle-aged Filippino gentleman on their shoulders and out to the pool. Laughing, they threw him in dressed in his tuxedo and shoes.
According to Andersen Air Force Base’s website, there was a 36-hour Christmas lull in bombing operations as much for the B-52s to have complete maintenance checks, as for the crews to have a brief respite.
I believe it was the night after Christmas that the first full-body nudity in motion across the front lawn of the O’Club. Only two or three young men participated. They appeared to me like one skinny, very white streak.

Their squadron commanders and Andersen’s Wing Commander, no doubt, gave them stern lectures, but those guys were all needed to crew their B-52s. These crazy pilots weren’t about to be grounded or sent home — and they knew it. Linebacker II ended on December 30 as abruptly as it had begun. Although the USA lost the war, Operation Linebacker II brought the North Vietnamese back to the Paris peace talks.*1
Tom and I quickly settled back into more normal times. Before we had moved into the lovely brand-new two-story apartment that had been to assigned to Tom, I had received a snail mail letter from the four-star general’s wife at March Air Force Base, California. After a few pleasantries, she mentioned that her husband would be coming to Andersen soon on official business. There were a “few” things she’d like me to purchase for her. Her husband’s aide-de-camp would help me see that everything was delivered to his private Air Force jet. Some of her items were easy to find like a gold filagree bracelet with antique pieces of jade from Thailand, which the base Officers Wives Jewelry Store sold. No problem. I sometimes volunteered there. Her list went on and on. One item I particularly remember was a large rattan Papasan chair with a made-to-fit circular cushion. I don’t remember how I got it all done, only that Tom helped. We never met or saw the general.
Finally, I fully understood the probable motive behind the glowing letter about me that she sent to the OWC President. Soon after that, I took the Civil Service test and was quickly hired at the base library as a clerk-typist. The librarian, Geraine Grizman, with whom I loved working, soon decided I should also handle the library’s publicity. Next, she made me the library’s “Story Lady.” We grew the program to over 100 squealing, darling kids every Saturday morning before I left to take the job at the base medical clinic. However, most Saturdays, I continued to read stories over Armed Forces Radio Service at Andersen radio. I ended every program with “See y’all next week. ‘Till then – Toodles!” For years, Tom and I ran into people who had been children of servicemen at Andersen back then. They still remembered my distinctive sign-off.

Some of the most amazing folks we met during Tom’s entire 30-year career, we got to know at Andersen. For instance, “Beetle” and Staff Sgt. Gail Bailey, both and in their mid 20s were from Georgia. Bailey worked in the 1958th Communications-Electronics Squadron in admin as Captain Latino’s ace clerk-typist. Gail and Beetle were both hysterically funny in their own way. Beetle, like Tom, was usually calm and collected with dry wit. Gail was IN-YOUR-FACE funny. For instance, as the snack bar manager at the base air terminal, she quickly became the smiling face that greeted most military personnel as they entered the building as passengers arriving on military charter flights from the States. She had a second-sense about spotting naïve young (mostly males), who visited her snack bar, and pranking them in a way they would never forget.
After Gail handed them their snack orders, she quickly snatched them away saying, “I’m sorry. We don’t take American money here.” She’d point out the glass doors to the nearby bank and send them to exchange their dollars for “Guamanoles.” The two or three guys she sent together would soon return red-faced but with ready smiles. Gail always greeted them again with her warm drawl and a wink, “Welcome to Guam, boys.”
They all knew they’d been “had” by a pretty girl with an accent as soft as the underbelly of a magnolia leaf.
Not one ever complained.
Next week join us for a visit to Yap, a primitive island in the Philippine Sea. In many ways, Yap was the most interesting of our three decades associated with military travels.