My first assignment after Lackland was Westover AFB being assigned to the 814th CDS in October, 1962. I was housed in Stony Brook during the early part of October/November of that year. It was during this time that the "Cuban Missile Crises" threw me and the rest of us new guys right into alert status. I don't know how long I was housed in the barracks at Stony Brook but I believe it was at least to the spring of '63'.

     I came down with Pneumonia while living there and was hospitalized for a week. I remember eating chow at the mess hall at Stony Brook as well during our stay before being admitted to the hospital. I believe we may have moved out in the spring of '63' and placed in barracks not to far from the main chow hall and the gate that lead you toward Chiopee.

     I was assigned to security duty on the flight line, Christmas Tree, Flight Crews quarters and the like. Some of the other guys who came a few days later were assigned to base police, nice duty. I can't remember but I seem to think that I was in C Flight.

     One of my most remembered moments was chasing after a plane that had crashed in the mountains at the opposite side of the base from the Christmas Tree area. I think the plane that went down was a B-52. I went out with the Strike Team but never got to the crash site as I was assigned a position at a fork in the road deep in the woods. Since is was a moonless night it was very difficult trying to find the crush site. We lead the caravan of emergency vehicles the best way we could. Unfortunately one direction we took was a dead end into someone's front lawn. So much had happened during my short time at Westover, the crises in Cuba, Kennedy's death all with a year.

     I left Westover for Harmon AFB in December '64' where I was diagnosed with TB. Spent February to September in the hospital and once I got out went to school for Drafting.

     Its been a long time from those days but I did take a trip back to Westover in the '70's. I took my wife and when we got there it was no longer a active base as it had been turned over to the Air Force Reserve and what wasn't under their control was operating as an Industrial Park.

Peter Dorofy