To the Editor:

During the course of our lifetimes, most of us experience a period we rarely make reference to or have a clear recollection of our daily activities.  I refer to these years as “The Gap Years,” such as Jesus Christ’s time from birth to 12 years of age when he was found in a Temple, or his late teenage years and early 20s.

My “gap years” were from the early to mid 1950s.  From June 1950 until July 1953, North Korea and South Korea were at war.  United Nation forces led by the United States fought for South Korea; China and the Soviet Union sided with North Korea.

An armistice was signed in July 1953, ending the fighting but now a larger problem existed, —the “Cold War” between the United States and the Soviet Union.  Senator,Joseph McCarthy led a national movement known as “McCarthyism,” bringing to daytime television publicly held Senate hearings, accusing well known people and celebrities of having connections with the Communist Party.

We were told that a “Communist cell” and leader was living in every American village, town, and city in America.  We heard it from the floor of the United States Senate so most Americans believed it to be true.

Most of the teenaged boys in Altamont, where I grew up, formed a group we referred to as “The Altamont Irregulars” —  a reference to Sherlock Holmes stories where Sherlock would employ street children as intelligence agents, referred to as “Baker Street Irregulars.”

We felt a sense of patriotism and duty maintaining a covert surveillance on one or two individuals suspected of being “The Village Communist Cell Leader.”  Looking back on that time, I doubt that anyone was connected to the Communist Party and our surveillance only helped to keep us out of trouble.

It was a time when tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union were pulled taut with both countries poised, ready to unleash a retaliatory nuclear attack on the other.  The threat of a nuclear attack was the subject of every newscast, news article, and street conversation.

Schoolchildren were drilled on how to “duck and cover.” It wasn’t a question of if an atomic bomb were to drop; it was when an atomic bomb is dropped on the United States.

About this same time period, in 1952 and 1953, the Civil Defense program of the United States Air Force asked for 750,000 civilian volunteers to man 16 thousand Ground Observation Posts.  Altamont was selected as a “Ground Observation Post” with the Altamont American Legion leading the local volunteer program.

An old two-story judges’ stand owned by the Altamont Fair Association and doomed to be demolished was relocated on the fairgrounds and served as the observation tower.  A catwalk was constructed around the second floor, and a kerosene stove, cot, some chairs, and a telephone were installed.

The observation tower was accessed through a trapdoor in one corner of the 10-by-10-foot space with windows on all four sides.  A raised table stood on the north side of the room, holding the telephone and report pad.

When a ground observer spotted an airplane, a record was made of how far away, directions coming and going, and number of plane engines.  This information was passed to the “Filter Center” by the observer identifying him or herself with a post password.

Altamont’s password was: “Alfa Nectar 54 Black.”  The Filter Center would take the information and either place or move a “plane marker” on a large flat map table.  If a plane’s description or course were suspected of being an enemy aircraft, the Air Force was notified to take appropriate action.

I mentioned earlier that the American Legion originally set up and manned the observation post; both my mother and father helped staff it.  By late 1954 or early 1955, the number of volunteers manning the post needed help.

A request was made to the Altamont Boy Scout Troop, asking for volunteers after school and weekends.  Several boys, including myself, volunteered and were trained.

We all took this responsibility very seriously and I believe we performed as well as any of the adult volunteers.  After servicing 10 hours, a pin was presented to the volunteer Boy Scout by the Air Force Civilian Ground Observer Corps.              

Although there were gaps in coverage, the Boy Scouts manned the post through 1956.  Sometime during 1956 or 1957, the ground observer program was replaced by a radar network.                                              

History seldom mentions or gives credit to all those volunteers that participated in the Ground Observer Corps program but those of us who did felt we were doing our part for our county, the United States of America.

John A. Meineker

Summerfield, Florida

Editor’s note: This is among the memories about growing up in Altamont that John A. Meineker, 73, is recording for his grandsons. He lived on Lark Street in the village and is now living in Florida.