Ingram Chronicle
January 2004 Volume 2, Number 1
Hello to all!
Here it is the second day of the New Year! We just received another four inches of snow last night on top of the previous three feet that had fallen earlier. Here is a view of the neighborhood with the fresh coverage of snow!
This trip has really been an adventure. Your mother and I traveled to San Diego on Friday, 26 Dec 2003 to assist with Robert E. Ingram, Junior’s wedding on Saturday at the San Diego Temple.
After the affairs of Saturday, your mother and I, along with Candice and Brandon, traveled to Primm, NV to drop Brandon off to travel further with his dad to SLC.
I-15 was a royal mess through the area east of Los Angeles, near San Bernardino—a real slow moving parking lot! We were in a real traffic snarl for over 100 miles—all the Christmas Week crowd going home, the New Years Week crowd going out, and the regular Sunday traffic—more than the interstate could properly handle. We took a rest stop in Barstow, visited the Del Taco for lunch, then returned to the road—eventually clearing the mass of traffic before we reached the Cal-Nevada state line, and the casinos of Primm.
We registered Brandon in the casino hotel, and as we were saying our good-byes, Mathew hit the door—Bob and Marcia had just checked in to the other room at the hotel!
Your mother, Candice and I continued on up I-15 through Las Vegas to Mesquite, NV, to the new Ramada Hotel, where I had made reservations for the night for us—a beautiful place without a casino, above the town in "West Mesquite". We had arrived at the Las Vegas Strip area just at the dinner hour and show time! I-15 at Las Vegas was another slow moving parking lot for about 15 miles—the length of the Strip! Gutter to gutter and bumper to bumper with a lot of traffic! We survived the jam, but with frazzled nerves!
Other than that, the trip to Salt Lake City was uneventful—with increasing amounts of snow on the roadsides as we neared SLC. The roads were only slushy or wet—no real snow—the plows had done their jobs well.
On New Years Eve we had a gathering of many of the family here at Grandfather Fonnesbeck’s to welcome the New Year—but most of us folded our tents early and went with the New York New Year celebration on Times Square! Too tired to wait out ‘til midnight in SLC!
On New Years Day, we had another massing of the family here—with the men watching the Bowl Games on TV and the women visiting in the other room. It has been very good to see as many as we have so far—further visits will be made before we leave for our return to Yuma.
I have resumed the epistle near the end of January after our return from SLC, with the gathering of the family to Yuma, again. Rosie is busy substituting at the various schools, she and her mother have the Primary Achievement Day girls each Tuesday. I am back in the Employment Center office and the Family History Center--we just held the annual Family History Seminar last Saturday--some 170 plus participated in many different classes.
I have been remembering the times in Korea--some fifty or more years ago. I was the duty driver for the ship's pick-up and assigned to make the blood runs to Seoul City Air Field and back to In'chon. The route we took was the MSR#1 up the Han River estuary, through the mainly open country, consisting of market gardens and rice paddies. The legal speed limit on the MSR was only 25mph, which I would do going up to Seoul, taking about 2 1/2 hours. With the several cases of chilled whole blood in the bed of the truck, I had to make the return trip in under one hour--to be able to get the blood to the ship in good condition--the dry ice and regular ice would be gone at the legal pace! I would usually get flagged down in one of the little villages along the way, where the Army MP Battalion had a speed check point. After a short discussion with the MPs, I'd resume my way at my usual 45-50 mph to get to the beach as quickly as possible. I would then turn the "tickets" over to the Officer of the Deck for processing. Once, the CO of the MP Battalion was at the speed check point, and tried to read the riot act to me. I simply told him to sign the ticket and let me get the whole blood to the Haven! That really ticked him off, but he had to let me go on, since I was able to show him the manifest for the blood cargo I was carrying--I reported that stoppage to the OD and was then sent to see the Haven's Captain, Capt. Hamblett.
After I had explained the reasons for the series of speeding tickets, he wrote a letter to the CO of the MP Battalion, with a copy to the CG of the First Marine Division and the UN HQ in Tokyo (MacArthur!). After that, the MPs simply flagged me on through on my return trips!
I was always encountering some units of the 1st MarDiv, and was careful to inform them that I was from the Haven--and got very kind treatment from them--I just didn't tell them I was an ET and not an HC (corpsman/medic).
It was very interesting to be at In'chon, where the tides ranged over 45 to 60 feet between high and low water. The ebb and flow was very strong there--once the Captain's Gig of the HMS Newcastle tried to cross over to the Haven for a visit, but couldn't make sufficient headway against the ebbing tide--so our launch had to go and tow them back to us, rather than their being swept out into the Yellow Sea!
I am looking into my other medals from the Republic of Korea--I have received my ROK Korean War Service medal and should soon receive my individual medal for the ROK Presidential Unit Citation to the Have. I hope to put them together in a "shadow box" frame for display at home--if I can find a bare spot of wall for hanging the frame!
I just received some pictures of my 
Dallas sisters from my niece, Macia Melaun Hurni. We have Anna (Marcia's mom and my oldest sister), Charlotte (Marcia's sister), and Frances (my sister). The next one is of Marcia and her husband.
I will have to include some more pictures from the SLC visit later.
Love
Dad
January 2004 Volume 2, Number 1
Hello to all!
Here it is the second day of the New Year! We just received another four inches of snow last night on top of the previous three feet that had fallen earlier. Here is a view of the neighborhood with the fresh coverage of snow!This trip has really been an adventure. Your mother and I traveled to San Diego on Friday, 26 Dec 2003 to assist with Robert E. Ingram, Junior’s wedding on Saturday at the San Diego Temple.
After the affairs of Saturday, your mother and I, along with Candice and Brandon, traveled to Primm, NV to drop Brandon off to travel further with his dad to SLC.
I-15 was a royal mess through the area east of Los Angeles, near San Bernardino—a real slow moving parking lot! We were in a real traffic snarl for over 100 miles—all the Christmas Week crowd going home, the New Years Week crowd going out, and the regular Sunday traffic—more than the interstate could properly handle. We took a rest stop in Barstow, visited the Del Taco for lunch, then returned to the road—eventually clearing the mass of traffic before we reached the Cal-Nevada state line, and the casinos of Primm.
We registered Brandon in the casino hotel, and as we were saying our good-byes, Mathew hit the door—Bob and Marcia had just checked in to the other room at the hotel!
Your mother, Candice and I continued on up I-15 through Las Vegas to Mesquite, NV, to the new Ramada Hotel, where I had made reservations for the night for us—a beautiful place without a casino, above the town in "West Mesquite". We had arrived at the Las Vegas Strip area just at the dinner hour and show time! I-15 at Las Vegas was another slow moving parking lot for about 15 miles—the length of the Strip! Gutter to gutter and bumper to bumper with a lot of traffic! We survived the jam, but with frazzled nerves!
Other than that, the trip to Salt Lake City was uneventful—with increasing amounts of snow on the roadsides as we neared SLC. The roads were only slushy or wet—no real snow—the plows had done their jobs well.
On New Years Eve we had a gathering of many of the family here at Grandfather Fonnesbeck’s to welcome the New Year—but most of us folded our tents early and went with the New York New Year celebration on Times Square! Too tired to wait out ‘til midnight in SLC!
On New Years Day, we had another massing of the family here—with the men watching the Bowl Games on TV and the women visiting in the other room. It has been very good to see as many as we have so far—further visits will be made before we leave for our return to Yuma.
I have resumed the epistle near the end of January after our return from SLC, with the gathering of the family to Yuma, again. Rosie is busy substituting at the various schools, she and her mother have the Primary Achievement Day girls each Tuesday. I am back in the Employment Center office and the Family History Center--we just held the annual Family History Seminar last Saturday--some 170 plus participated in many different classes.
I have been remembering the times in Korea--some fifty or more years ago. I was the duty driver for the ship's pick-up and assigned to make the blood runs to Seoul City Air Field and back to In'chon. The route we took was the MSR#1 up the Han River estuary, through the mainly open country, consisting of market gardens and rice paddies. The legal speed limit on the MSR was only 25mph, which I would do going up to Seoul, taking about 2 1/2 hours. With the several cases of chilled whole blood in the bed of the truck, I had to make the return trip in under one hour--to be able to get the blood to the ship in good condition--the dry ice and regular ice would be gone at the legal pace! I would usually get flagged down in one of the little villages along the way, where the Army MP Battalion had a speed check point. After a short discussion with the MPs, I'd resume my way at my usual 45-50 mph to get to the beach as quickly as possible. I would then turn the "tickets" over to the Officer of the Deck for processing. Once, the CO of the MP Battalion was at the speed check point, and tried to read the riot act to me. I simply told him to sign the ticket and let me get the whole blood to the Haven! That really ticked him off, but he had to let me go on, since I was able to show him the manifest for the blood cargo I was carrying--I reported that stoppage to the OD and was then sent to see the Haven's Captain, Capt. Hamblett.
After I had explained the reasons for the series of speeding tickets, he wrote a letter to the CO of the MP Battalion, with a copy to the CG of the First Marine Division and the UN HQ in Tokyo (MacArthur!). After that, the MPs simply flagged me on through on my return trips!
I was always encountering some units of the 1st MarDiv, and was careful to inform them that I was from the Haven--and got very kind treatment from them--I just didn't tell them I was an ET and not an HC (corpsman/medic).
It was very interesting to be at In'chon, where the tides ranged over 45 to 60 feet between high and low water. The ebb and flow was very strong there--once the Captain's Gig of the HMS Newcastle tried to cross over to the Haven for a visit, but couldn't make sufficient headway against the ebbing tide--so our launch had to go and tow them back to us, rather than their being swept out into the Yellow Sea!
I am looking into my other medals from the Republic of Korea--I have received my ROK Korean War Service medal and should soon receive my individual medal for the ROK Presidential Unit Citation to the Have. I hope to put them together in a "shadow box" frame for display at home--if I can find a bare spot of wall for hanging the frame!
I just received some pictures of my 
Dallas sisters from my niece, Macia Melaun Hurni. We have Anna (Marcia's mom and my oldest sister), Charlotte (Marcia's sister), and Frances (my sister). The next one is of Marcia and her husband.I will have to include some more pictures from the SLC visit later.
Love
Dad
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