Ah, the food.  Who can forget the chow hall and its culinary adventures?  Dennis Chick (2T 292) remembers it well.  "I was one of about 10 guys who got food poisoning.  Some guys had to have their stomachs pumped.   At one point, there were so many cases of the shits that there was a waiting line in the latrine. Some guys ran to adjacent barracks."  And, of course, no one can forget recombined milk.  "Even that got spoiled on occasion. How that was possible seeing that it was powdered to begin with is beyond my understanding.  The trick was to always glance at tables when you came into the chow hall.  If there were full glasses of milk still on them - then don't drink milk that day.  We all learned that the hard way."

"I started a baseball league in the summer of 1965.  Many guys sent home for balls, bats and their gloves.  It was a successful venture and the guys really enjoyed it."  Dennis, along with 2T'er Tony Ciardella had been stationed on Okinawa before being sent to Iraklion (both ABLE) together.  Both Tony ("you have to acquire a taste for scotch") and Dennis were known to drink their share.  As always, sometimes this could cause problems.  "On one occasion, when I was in sort of a stupor, I actually saluted an officer with my left hand!  I avoided a week on burn detail because that particular officer was a chaplain!"  Dennis was one of the guys who would grab a guitar, don a wig and lip-sync Beatles' songs up on stage at the midnight movie after a swing shift.

Iraklion Airport

Nicholas Kazanzakis Airport, Iraklion - 2005