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Bill
Starnes & Tom Sterling I met Tom Sterling at Lackland
in September 1952 when we both arrived as newly Direct Commission
for ECM-Only 2ndLts. We entered Officer's Basic Military Training
(OBMC) together that day. We were a 80 or so motley bunch that had
never had a uniform on before except for Tom who had volunteered in
'44 as an enlisted man and Wayne Kiger who had a year of so in as
an Airman Third Class Clerk Typist as I recall. It became Tom's job to help us with our training, that is, until time to go to the Officer's Club at 5 PM. We knew how to handle that. As I recall, Tom did not join us for such as Barbara was there with maybe one or two kids they had at the time. Well, we were the first OBMC Class of ten to move out to Keesler AFB skipping Navigator training that the most of the rest went to prior to ECM School. Our class consisted of Wayne Kiger, Bob Assanakis, George Agathopolis, Jim McDonald and three others. Captain Gordon Molestad (a former Food Service Officer) arrived and was assigned as our ECM Class Leader. Well, Tom was the top or
near the top of the class with his eight years in Airborne Electronics
during active duty plus the Air Guard & AF Reserves while going to
college on the GI Bill. We all had trouble with Morse Code except
Tom of course who passed the pre-class test with flying colors. I
should mention that that afternoon session the rest of us attended
was in a very, very hot WWII wooden building class room. We had lots
of dinners, picnics, visits and such with Tom and Barbara and enjoyed
our year at Keesler. We were fortunate to get brand new Wherry Housing at Shaw when we arrived. Tom and Barbara were two streets below us down toward the flight line and they got a single unit three bedroom because of two children and we just got a two bedroom duplex. In October 1953, our ECM Cell of the 16th TRSq moved to the first ever ECM Squadron in the Air Force when the 9th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron (Electronic and Weather) was activated with LtColonel Charles A. Callahan commanding. While there our first son, Brian, was born and Tom sat with me at the Shaw Hospital and Barbara helped out when he came home after a week in the hospital. In 1955 I moved to Hq 9th AF right on the base and in September 1956 when I decided not to extend my four year USAF commitment I recommended Tom to replace me and of course he was selected. In April or May of 1957 I had had enough of working for the family insurance company in Asheville, NC, so I went down to Shaw and begged to be recalled. We stayed that weekend with Tom and Barbara as you might expect. In September of 1957 I was assigned to the 10th TacReconWg at Spangdahlem under our ole squadron commander now Colonel Charles A. Callahan the Director of Operations. In September of 1959 they moved our Wing to RAF Chelveston, England and shortly thereafter we got a letter from Tom and Barbara that they were being reassigned to RAF Alconbury (our 10th TRWg headquarters) as the Wing ECM Officer. Naturally, we volunteered to be their hosts and helped them find a place to live, but I just can't remember the name of their little English Settlement. We visited there often and they came to our place in Rushden until we rotated to the States in September 1961. Anyone that knows Tom realizes his passion for cars and he could not stand not having one the month or so until his DeSota arrived via boat from the US. Well Tom found a 1934, or so, English car with huge headlights. It was really one of those touring type cars with a cloth top as I recall. I had never ridden in such a huge ole car, but it served Tom, Barbara and family well until the DeSota arrived. As I recall, Tom paid $75.00 for the vintage car and sold it for $50.00. Of course if he had brought it back, it would be worth at least a quarter of a million dollars now -- it was without doubt a classic relic of the pre-WWII era. I rotated to Utah, then Ohio State, then Misawa AB, Japan and as I recall Tom went back to Shaw after moving from Alconbury, England to Toul, France. Anyway, I got to Takhli
RTAB, Thailand in late September 1967 a little after Tom was shot
down and became a POW. The next time I saw Tom and Barbara was at
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