TUSLOG Det. 3 Ankara
and Det. 3-1 Trabzon

Ron Harmon

© 2003-2011 by Author

I was in Turkey on my first tour from 23 june 1955 'til 10 Aug 1955.  I processed thru Tripoli, which took about three weeks, and then spent about 4 months in Ankara, during which time I hauled cargo between Ankara and the Black Sea sites, and, on occasion, to Mainsite (mud-site) KARAMURSEL.

I participated in a few site surveys.  I recall a CWO named Otris Jordan who was an electrical engineer who was prominent on our team. On my final cargo run along the Black Sea, I took a relatively new 6x6 which was to be permanently assigned to Det 3-1 (Trabzon). I promptly dubbed the truck MAYBELINE :)

Following a stint with the 6940th @March AFB (Riverside, CA) I returned directly to Trabzon, 17 March '58, 'til 2 March '59.  Aside from making myself very popular with the residents, the only other real highlight was owning a horse.  At that time a few guys were buying retired Turkish Army horses.  These horses were big, I mean big!

Some of the guys I remember:
Sgt McDermot (Ops Supervisor)
Sgt Hudson (ELINT Maintenance Guru)
Capt Woods (C-47 Pilot)
Dale "Moose" Hanes (6X6 driver)
Figliana and Ashabla (Maids at my house)
Sabri (Custome made clothes tailor)
Rui (Interpreter)

During my tenure, COMINT was set up in H1 vans and ELINT operated from a small van perched precariously on the face of Bosteppe.  I resided in a house on Çiçek Sokak [Flower Street]. At the time there were three or four other houses used by the troops.  The popular place was the Big House.  It had a large patio and a ping pong table.  Another thing they seemed to never run out of:  Good food!  And the guys didn't mind if you came over for supper or breakfast.  Really, the detachment was stocked with good people.

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