RON NELSON - Benson & Rhodes

Benny Benson and I teamed up on a trip to Rhodes. He was a great guy. I got him hooked up with a gal from South Africa. We both had a great time. Benny and I got into a bit of trouble as we were on a balcony in our nothings and, well, life goes on. (I hooked up with these girls later in England and still had a great time.) Right after Benny left Rhodes, Jim Brooks came and I hooked him up with the same South African girl that Benny had been with. A good time was had by all.

"Benny" Benson

Ron Nelson

One of my first roomies was Gary T. Burrell. Although he was an X1, he worked as the flight 702. We called him "Pipeline" as he always had the ears of the Mission Supervisor as well as the Day Ladies. During 4th of July, '64, a watch went missing and someone said he had stolen it. Everyone was too drunk and their stories didn't match so he got off clean.

Vivirito – he didn't care much about his weight and he let it show. He had a pair of trousers in his room with a 28" waist and he swore he was going to wear them home. With his 40 plus waist – it never happened. He was also the instigator of the Honor Guard. I remember Brian Nowitski – or, Brian NO, his band name. He got all the bands pissed when he got up and did a drum solo and the other dummers couldn't hold a stick to him. Wild Willy Hamilton: he was the old man of the X2's – he was 24 and went 2T somewhere. He was short and liked to do his Winston Churchill impression.

I remember another guy we had on flight who couldn't do a damn thing right. "They" found out that he was the son of a Rhode Island National Guard general. All of a sudden he got orders for 2T – a single order – not the usual group of orders. He couldn't do a damn thing with a receiver. (Didn't even know how to calibrate a R390URR.)