Paul, 92

“I just retired for the third time. My job here was to help anyone who had a problem with electronic equipment. In addition to that, I was chairman of the electronics committee and I took care of all the sound systems, projectors, and anything like that. My first job was for the U.S. Army Signal Corp. I took a civil service test and they hired me right out of high school. They sent me through all of their schools and I worked there for several years. I was afraid I was going to be drafted, so I joined the Navy during World War II in New Mexico and they sent me through their boot camp and training and all that. I went through what they called a ship repair unit and I ended up at MIT. I went in and they had a radar course there at MIT and I had just finished and was getting ready to be shipped out to an aircraft carrier when the war ended. But I signed up for the reserve because I was only 21 years old and I figured I’d be the first they’d call, and they did, for the Korean War. I was assigned to a patrol squadron but never boarded a ship. The war was over and the whole squadron was sent to the Marshall Islands, where they were running atomic bomb tests. Our patrol squadron was running flights around there while they were doing it. I didn’t see the tests but when our planes came in they had to be washed down because of the radiation. After that, I was released and I went back to my job at Johnsville Naval Air Development Center and worked with the people there to develop an acceleration laboratory. I worked there until I retired in 1986. So I had about 42 years there.”