Turk, Toni Richard, SP 5

Barbara & I celebrated our 62nd anniversary on March 9, 2022.

We have 13 grandchildren and 39 great-grandchildren.

I am a member of the Ancient & Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts - by right of descent. See: http://www.ahac.us.com/

I am a Past Commander General of the Military Order of the Stars & Bars.

I was in Germany as a military dependent with the Army of Occupation from 1952-1954.

My actual MOS was 988.2663 (Russian language voice intercept operator and transcriber). I served on active duty from 1 Jun 1960 until 18 May 1963.

During my service in the Army Security Agency we wore "unassigned" brass - the Eagle; also we did not wear name tags; accordingly, we really stood out.

My duty/TDY stations with the Army Security Agency in Germany were: Bahrdorf/Heidwinkel (Helmstedt), Baumholder, Frankfurt/Main, Gartow, Jerxheim, Luebeck, Ostseebad Dahme, Rothwesten, Schletau & St. Andreasberg.

Shortly after I arrived at the headquarters of the 319th USASA Battalion at Rothwesten, the linguists were assigned to make a flight aboard the Navy aircraft WV-2Q BUNO 131390 JQ-15 to train in electronic warfare surveillance. I was ineligible to make the flight, because I had not yet received my flight physical. All aboard were killed in a crash that occurred on 22 May 1962 in Bavaria. The affected linguists were:

SP5 Fred Leroy Breshears
SP5 Robert John "Skip" Hoos, Jr.
SP4 Rolland A. Lewis, Jr.
SP4 Edward M. McGreal

I had occasion to visit the Soviet Union (Moscow, Leningrad & Kiev) on business in 1970. In the post-Soviet era (1995-1996) I did work in Moscow and in the Tyumenskaya Oblast in Russia's Asiatic Siberia, working with the Khanty people. My wife's and my last trip to Russia was aboard the Trans-Siberian Railroad from Beijing to Moscow in 2016.