Alex Eastus and I buddied in Sea Scouts, double-dated, spent World War II in high school. We graduated from college the same year, but only Alex served in the Korean War. Alex was single, admitted to law school, but the Air Force thought he would make a fine enlisted man in their Judge Advocate General (legal branch ) division.
I was married, going to become a Daddy, and couldn’t pass the minimum eye exam that the Air Force required for administrative officers. Later, during the Vietnam War, the Navy Reserve overlooked my weak eyes and commissioned me to share the Navy’s Story to the press. But I can’t tell a military story as well as Alex.
One of his assignments, Alex told me, was to test airplane ground security at the Air Force airfield. If he could get past the guard at the gate, ride to the warplane, and tape a pencil—representing an explosive device capable of destroying the airplane—on the plane, some Airmen who provided security were going to face a court martial. “Mean assignment,” Alex thought.
His ‘sabotage’ job started four city blocks from the airfield entrance. As he walked toward the entrance, he saw a bicycle in the front lawn of the house that housed the Colonel and his family.
Alex swiped the bicycle, rolled up his pants legs, turned his cap around, and rode the bike to the airfield entrance.
“Telegram for the commanding officer!” he barked to the guard, who nodded and waved him through.
Alex kept peddling the bike and soon he was next to an Air Force bomber.
That’s when the Military Police came roaring up in their jeep and arrested Alex, who laughed and proclaimed “good work, you will get a commendation for your readiness.”
The MP looked meaner and snarled, “You crazy? We won’t get a commendation for arresting the nut who stole the Colonel’s kid’s bicycle.”
Photo credit: MyTenSpeeds
