By CHRISTOPHER BOBBY - Staff reporter ( cbobby@tribtoday.com ) , Tribune Chronicle | TribToday.com
JOHNSTON - Since he was the oldest son of a coal miner from Punxsutawney, Pa., Bill Hazlett had always figured he would live his life the way he wanted, working in the mine like everyone else.
Instead he ended up dropping out of high school and followed his father to Warren where his dad eventually found work at Packard Electric.
''My brother Bob joined the Army, and my brother Luke joined the Air Force about a year earlier, but then I got my draft notice. I thought to myself it was going to be the worst time of my life,'' said Hazlett, a retiree from Wean United who bounced around from Commercial Shearing to Taylor Winfield before being called into the military.
''Nobody was volunteering at the time, so they were drafting. The company held my job for me, though, while I was gone for two years,'' said Hazlett, admitting that his time spent in the military turned out to be perhaps the best time of his life.
''What I thought was bad turned out to be good,'' he said.
Among the good things he can credit to his military service are the birth of his oldest daughter, lifelong friends and memories of his friendship with Elvis Presley, the king of rock 'n' roll.
Hazlett had been married for three years when he got the draft notice, so his wife Helen, who grew up with him in Pennsylvania, followed him to Fort Sill, Okla., where the couple lived in a trailer off base while Hazlett trained on the 8-inch Howitzers.
He describes how his 12-member crew got to the point where they could hit a bushel barrel-sized target from 20 miles away.
''The wife and I weren't together at basic training at Fort Jackson (S.C.). But we've been together ever since,'' he said, describing how his wife joined him in Germany within two weeks of his being stationed at a base outside of Frankfurt.
At the time, the Army formed ''Gyroscope'' outfits that served in basic training and then spent the rest of the two-year stint together. ''It allowed everyone to get to know everyone. Helen and I had our own friends and we'd go out together. Some 14 couples lived off base together."
When Hazlett had leave, the couple traveled with Army friends to Brussels, Belgium, for the 1958 World's Fair.
Among their friends were Hazlett's brother-in-law George Burkett and a friend Glenn Hildebrand, who were stationed near them.
Burkett, known as ''Sonny,'' served in the same unit as Elvis Presley - the 1st Medium Tank Battalion, 32nd Armor, from 1958 to 1960.
''Glenn even sang gospel tunes with Elvis when they were on the boat coming over to Germany,'' said Hazlett, who like countless fans still has old recordings of the singer.
Knowing he was a big fan, his buddies hooked him up, and Hazlett and his wife even visited Presley a few times.
''One time, you should have seen these Germany girls. They were screaming when he was out on the front porch,'' Hazlett said.
''I couldn't believe how down to earth the guy was. It was like he was no better than any of us,'' said Hazlett, describing how Presley would pay for tickets for Army buddies to go back home if a family member died, or pay for a wife to join her husband.
''He (Presley) was living with his grandmother and father about six miles away from us. When Elvis was at Fort Hood, he even bought new furniture and carpeting for a lounge. He did the same thing for the ship they came over on,'' said Hazlett.
Their oldest daughter, Helen, was born July 15, 1959, in a Frankfurt hospital and Hazlett said an autograph from Presley remains in her keepsake baby book.
Besides the memories of Presley, Hazlett and his wife remain friends with many of the couples they met in Germany.
They are the same friends the couple visits with today at official Army reunions, or just to keep in touch. They've attended a dozen reunions every other year and are looking forward to the next one in 2013 in Charleston, S.C.
''We've been to all 50 states now. And we just got back from Colorado Springs from my last reunion this month,'' Hazlett said. ''We stay in touch with everybody.''
In fact, for someone who was first ready to regret joining the military, Hazlett says that he highly recommends that ''all young men join for at least two years.''
He had the time of his life.
© Copyright 2011 Tribune Chronicle | TribToday.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment