Bill's Memories
There were two experiences which stand out in my fading memory:
1. When on our 3rd Lt. field trip to Europe I spent my summer leave with Jerry Bolt,Jeff Baker, and Fran Zavacki touring through Europe in a compact car we rented in Wiesbaden, Germany. Jeff, Fran, and I were always teasing Jerry about all the people around the world he knew (including the Kennedy's) as his father had been an Air Attache in various places.
In Denmark , the highest ranking general lent Jerry and the three of us his home in Copenhagen as he and his family were on summer vacation at there North Sea villa. The general provided a chaufered car for us and free access to all the restaurants in the city as his personal guest as he was considered a war hero fighting the Germans in WWII.
But what I remembered most was when we were driving to Rome we stopped in a tiny Italian village to get a bite to eat. It was around midnight and we were all starving but we found an extremely small restaurant/bar which was dimly lit and had maybe two or three patrons sitting at a dimly lit table at the very rear of the restaurant.
As we sat down a voice in the back of the restaurant yelled out "JERRY!". Of course we were all stunned and wondered who in the world had called out Jerry's name. It turned out to be an old friend of his family. Fran Zavacki just went crazy and asked Jerry if there was anywhere Jerry could go without being recognized. It was really funny and Fran razzed Jerry about it for many days.
2. My roomate, Cliff Krieger, and I decided that we wanted to see the inside of the cadet chapel. The chapel had been completed many monthe earlier but the AF had not accepted it due to numerous leaks which were required to be fixed before the chapel would be accepted by the AF. I'm sure we all recall the many times the fire trucks would appear and hose down the chapel to see if the leaks had been repaired.
One Saturday morning we walked over to the chapel to see if we could find a way in as we were curious about what the inside looked like. We had been told many times that the chapel was off-limits as it still belonged the the construction company until the AF accepted it as complete with no leaks. The main front doors were locked but as we walked around towards the north end we found an unlocked door which led into the Jewish chapel. From there we saw the Catholic chapel and then went upstairs and into the Protestant chapel.
We were looking up in awe at the huge pipe organ when the front doors suddenly opened and the Commandant and Dean walked in along with about ten news reporters/photographers. I could only imagine tours for the next six months as my heart sank. I can't remember which general was it that said "This is great, you can take some pictures with these two cadets praying". So for the next twenty minutes or so our picture was taken praying in all three chapels! The next day a picture of Cliff and I was on the front page of the Denver Post praying in the Protestant chapel(we are both Catholics...)
Guillermo (Bill) Perez Sq 18/24
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