The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, November 14, 2018 A-3 LOCAL Call: 812-354-8500 Email: news@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg NEWS BRIEFS NARFE meeting today NARFE Chapter 1847 will meet for the monthly meeting on Wednesday November 14, 2018, at noon. The meeting will be at the Schnitzelbank Restaurant in Jasper. The speaker will be Barbara Sim- merman, of Blue Cross/Blue Shield, to tell the members of changes in the healthcare plans. NARFE is open to all active and retired employees. Sunday Dinner at Blue Jeans Community Center Blue Jeans Community Center in Monroe City will host Sunday dinner on No- vember 18 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. They will be serving ham loaf, roast pork, stuffing, sweet potatoes, corn casse- role, broccoli salad, bread and desserts. Carryouts will be available. All proceeds benefit the com- munity center. Upcoming event? We want to know! Do you have an upcoming event? 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Subscription rates: One year: $31 for Pike County and all 475/476 zip codes; $34 in the state of Indiana; $51 elsewhere in the USA. Paid in advance. Subscriptions taken after noon on Friday will not receive a paper until the second edition after their subscription date. About us: Andrew G. Heuring and John B. Heuring, Publishers Andrew G. Heuring, Editor John B. Heuring, Adv. Mgr. Eric Gogel, Production Mgr. Monica Sinclair, Office Mgr. Cindy Petty, Adv. Sales Pam Lemond, Adv. Sales Matt Haycraft, Adv. Designer • • • Published every Wednesday by the Pike County Publishing Co. Phone: 812-354-8500 820 E. Poplar St., P.O. Box 68, Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 • • • Entered in the Post Office in Petersburg, Indiana for transmission through the mails as Periodical Mail, postage paid at Petersburg, Indiana – published weekly. (USPS 205-620) Contact us: Phone: ......................812-354-8500 Fax: .......................... 812-354-2014 E-mail: Andy Heuring, Editor editor@pressdispatch.net Advertising ads@pressdispatch.net General News news@pressdispatch.net Sports sports@pressdispatch.net Subscription Services subscribe@pressdispatch.net By Andy Heuring Pike County native Tim Hardin grew up in Pikeville and retired in Pikeville but in between, he trav- elled the world serving his coun- try in nearly every continent and climate. Hardin didn't really plan on hav- ing a career in the US Air Force, but after 24 years he said he nev- er regretted a minute of it, at least not for very long. The son of former Pike Coun- ty Sheriff Alvin Hardin and Ber- nice, Tim graduated from Winslow in 1969 at the height of the Viet- nam War. He had a lottery num- ber of 64. "So I knew I was going," said Hardin. His uncle Ray Stilwell was a career airman in the US Air Force. "He said, 'You don't want to get drafted. You can volunteer for the Air Force,'" said Hardin. So his uncle Ray, who then was in Mary- land, set Hardin up to join the Air Force. Hardin had to go to Mary- land to an induction center. They sent him to San Antonio in the summer for basic training. From there, after spending the summer in south Texas he went to Alaska in the winter to King Salm- on, where the Air Force basically kept an eye on the Russians. "It was pretty bad. That year my job was working outside all the time loading and unloading planes. "It was often 40 to 50 below and we had 46 to 48 inches of snow. I hadn't seen that type of winter in Pikeville," said Hardin. But he did grow up hunting and fishing. "The hunting and fishing was great," said Hardin. He said while working long hard days, they would get occasional down time. He said the military kept several johnboats on the rivers. So when they had down time they could sign out a boat and go fishing. But there were a few caveats. They didn't have to worry about enemy soldiers. Their biggest threat was bears. Hardin said they weren't al- lowed to go out on their own, so they travelled in pairs and they had to get a gun. "So you check out a gun from the armory and go fish- ing." While on one of those fishing trips he caught a 52-pound salmon. Hardin said while in Alaska he found it was a small world. His un- cle Ray was at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage and Ray's fam- ily was with him. A lot of the ship- ments coming to King Salmon went through Elmendorf. "There were 300,000 guys in the Air Force at the time. Ray was only about two hours away. He said Ray was in charge of loading of planes there. So Ray's wife would fix him a pie and Ray would load it on a plane going to King Salmon and Hardin would get it while it was still hot. He was even able to fly over and visit with Stilwell a few times. He was there for about a year and "then the fun was over." He was sent to the jungles of Thailand and more tropical heat and 12-hour shifts, six days a week. He said it was basically the same thing, un- loading airplanes but with more lo- gistics involved, mainly in prepar- ing planes and with aircraft parts. A fter a few months in Thailand he and some buddies were playing cards on a Saturday night when, "A First Sgt. walked in and picked out three of us and told us were leaving at 9 a.m. 'You will have your order in a packet when you get airborne and you will know where you are going." Hardin packed his bag and jumped on a C130 headed for Tan- sonhut Air base in Saigon. "So I did pretty much the same things, but ran cargo to a deep wa- ter port. We would take shot-up equipment out of armored person- nel carriers and that type of thing and send them to be repaired." He said in 1973 the war started to wind down so the shipment of equipment from the war front was being shipped out, to get it out of the area. It meant longer hours. "It got pretty hectic then, shipping things anywhere and everywhere to get it out of the country." "We were doing 14-hour shifts seven days a week." His four years were nearly up so he was sent back to Saigon where he started processing out of the Air Force. "We were told to not wear our uniforms when we were on our way back, because of the protests in California. I got through that okay." He came back to the United States and was stationed near Champaign, Illinois. It was the first time he could drive home. He would come home on the week- ends and catch up with his friends. His four-year commitment was al- most over. "I didn't know what I was going to do. But the more I came home and saw what wasn't here, the more I wondered about coming home." He said the big employer was Kimball. Most of my family worked there and rode to work to together. He said he had run a router all day long and he just decided he didn't want to do that the rest of his life. "I decided I might as well stay in the and see the world." But while he was back home vis- iting his friends on the weekends, he meet one of their little sisters, Margaret Head. They got married in September 1975. "I already had orders to go to Air Force Base in Tokyo, Japan. I left in December but she couldn't come over with me because we didn't have hous- ing yet. She had to wait until hous- ing was approved. She came over in February 1976." "It was hard on her. I had really been in five years and I was used to moving around. You know, just throw your stuff in a bag and take off. She had never travelled or been away from home." He said they lived away from the base where he worked. He would drive to work and leave her alone all day with no friends or family around. "She just dove right in and de- While stationed in Alaska, Hardin caught a 52 pound salmon. He said the winter was harsh, but the fishing was great. In 1993, Hardin was chosen the Non-commissioned Offi- cer of the Year for the entire Air Training Command. He is pictured with a general who made the presentation and his wife Margaret. Hardin in his early 20s while stationed in Alaska, while serving in the Air Force. Hardin recounts 24 year Air Force career Tim Hardin in the copilot's seat of a plane used by the US Ambassador to Australia. Harden spent seven years working in the Air Force at that embassy. Continued on page 7