Bob.
As you requested.
My father Arnell (Stormy) Sult is from a small town in IL. He enlisted into the army air core and was sent to radio school. He keep his head down and reached master Sargent. Later he was sent to officer candidate schools and was commissioned. From there it was flight school, his real dream.
After Pearl Harbor he was assigned to support communications in the pacific. He was part of a transport group hopping island to island setting up communication hubs. He tells stories of bugs so big on some of the pacific island that they would shoot them with their 45's as sport.
Latter during the buildup to the invasion of Japan his orders were to land on the southern island of Japan by any means necessary and establish communications. This was a one way mission. As I was not yet conceived I am glad the invasion never occurred.
Later he was a part of the occupation of Japan. My Mother, brother and sister joined him later and lived there for 2 years. My second brother was born their.
From Japan he was sent to the Korean conflict. Vary hard duty, investigating atrocities. In my teens I once opened a trunk in our garage up in the rafters only to find 8X10 photos of piles of dead bodies. Why he had that I do not know but it disappeared after that day. My sister (the youngest) and I are post Korea babies.
After the war he was given order to report to a POBox in plain cloths in the LA area. He packed up his family and moved to LA. That was to become the early years of the space program. He worked there until about 1964 when he was lured into private industry. He worked for Philco/ford traveling the world overseeing the instillation of satellite tracking dishes. I still have wooded figurines of giraffes and elephants from his travels to Africa. Our house was always full of scale models of the tracking dishes, ceremonial hardhats from project sites and exotic souvenirs.
In addition my Dad was a life long Ham. We would sit around his Ham Shack (a corner of our garage) as he turned his beam and tuned the dials to CQ someone from a far off and exotic land. Not to mention all of the cool electronic parts laying around a feral place for a boy to grow up.
Stormy. We were told he got that name because he liked flying in stormy weather. But the real story is much more colorful. He was sent on TDY to New Orleans. While there he stared sending post cards to his group back at his regulate base. It turns out they were post cards of a stripper named... Stormy. Upon his arrival home. There was a name plate in his desk - STORMY. He thought he has shook it when he was sent to Japan but then, as goes in the military, some of his old group were their.
I acquired wanderlust from him and have crossed 2 oceans in small boats more than once. And using an E6B to figure currents. One via sextant and watch alone (OK and a lot of dead reckoning). My travels have taken me to the top of mountains and ski mountaineering on 5 continents. Never been to Antartica and have not climbed or skied in Asia.
I hope this is not to tedious for the bulk of you NavListers.
My address is
Tom Sult
3rd Opinion
7900 Chapin Dr NE
New Lindon MN 56273.
Tom Sult, MD
Author: JUST BE WELL
Tom, you are just the guy I am looking for. The Dalton is all yours. Send me your mailing address and I'll get it off in the next day or two.
Hospice. Hard times. This is a tough season of life for us. My thoughts are with you tonight.
My dad's world has rather narrowed since Mom died, and he moved into assisted living. Sometimes I find it hard to come up with topics of conversation. If you have written down any of your father's stories, I would love it if you could include them in your mail to me. I know my Dad would be fascinated. That was a pivotal and formative period in his life, and he feels a kinship with other pilots, particularly those who flew C-47s.
May God give you comfort as you comfort your own dad.
Bob
