John F. Gardner - Kagnew Station Asmara Eritrea 1954-55



John F. Gardner
Military Service
Kagnew Station, Asmara, Eritrea 1954-55


John Gardner 1954 - Kagnew Station

I joined the Army in 1953 and did my 8 weeks of basic training and another 8 weeks of advanced combat training at Fort Dix, New Jersey. By sheer luck or some other happy fortune I was assigned to the Army Signal Corps and spent several more weeks at Fort Monmouth in New Jersey learning the ins-and-outs of Data Recording (MOS 0564) During this period I was investigated for and granted top secret clearance.

Quite unexpectedly I was then given orders for transfer overseas. We were not told where we were going nor we we permitted to tell anyone we were going overseas. This was the middle of winter with snow on the ground, but we were outfitted with summer uniforms.

We left Westover Air Force Base in Massachusetts and eventually after traveling through Greenland, Tripoli, and Saudi Arabia we arrived in Asmara, Eritrea. Interesting enough, as I got off the planeI was greeted by a young boy who immediately put mud on my boots, said hello "GI from Massachusetts USA," (He knew where I was from but my own mother didn't know that at that point in time - later my family knew where I was but not what I was doing). Next he said "Let me shine your shoes for 'buckshees"which was his request for some money

I spent two years at Kagnew Station and then in late 1955 I was transferred back to Fort Dix where I was in charge of an administrative unit (Department 13). I had about 16 men under me and we were charged with the responsibility to prepare AWOL personnel for trial. But that is a whole different story.

John

Personel of 9479th Technical Service Unit.

Some Memorabilia from those days


Then (1954)

Now (2008)

NCO Mess Card

Holy Name Society Card

Tour of Duty Booklet

Kagnew Station - Random Photos


Main area

Special Services Area

TheChaple

9479 Headquarters and my quarters

Once each year the Bishop of Asmara blesses the cars of the community

Random Photos of Downtown Asmara


One of the many fountains

The Downtown Market

The Coptic Church

The Grain Market

Downtown Asmara

The Local Train

On June 17 1954 The Catholic Community had a Procession for the Feast of Corpus Christi

While I was at Kagnew Station I was Scoutmaster of BSA Troop 1 Asmara Eritrea. My Assistant Scoutmaster was Phil Bohr. In addition I started an Eritrean Scout Troop at the Evangelical School in Asmara. I was officially made a Scoutmaster in the Eritrean Boy Scouts.

All information on this page and subsequent pages is copyrighted © 2010 by John F. Gardner