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Eugene Church · 10-22-2022, 02:28 PM

MY LIFE IN 1959
EC's Still Wishin' and Hopin' Life Will Be Fine in '59

EC is studying the Russian language at the Presidio of Monterey where the Army Language School is based... I really mean "studying" the Russian language "intensely"... 6 hours a day, 5 days a week... been doing it for about 10 months... 2 more months to go to complete the course... you don't realize it, but this puts a person under a lot of pressure... in the year I was at the Army Language School, there were several attempted suicides... hard to believe, isn't it?... well, the pressure even got to EC... nope, no suicidal thoughts, but I did have a mild mental breakdown of sorts... I stopped speaking Russian in class... just refused to do it... I was just sick and tired of it... spoke only English for a week... they sent me to the talk to the head doctor at the base infirmary... the colonel was a great guy... he called in a sergeant and told him to tell the orderly room, the company first sergeant and the base commander that I was on leave for a week and would not have to do anything at all, but rest... the colonel told me to take a week off and relax... just forget the Russian language... totally forget the military... the colonel told me if the military harassed me at all to come right back to him and let him know and heads would roll... just lay around the barracks... no military duties... go to movies... just relax for a week... listen to music... I did it and it worked... after a week of rest and relaxation I went back to class and began to speak Russian again... would you believe my grades shot up, too... EC improved from 72nd in the class to 49th... HOW ABOUT THAT!

The military did harass me... the first sergeant, Sgt. Hershel Hobbs, hollered and screamed at me when I went into the orderly room... I brazenly screamed right back at Sgt. Hobbs and told him I would tell the colonel if he continued to scream and holler at me... 'nuff said... they still hollered and screamed at me, but, you know what, they didn't take any action against me... they left EC alone that week.

Actually, to be honest, Sgt. Hobbs was a good guy at heart... his bark was worst than his bite... he just appeared to be a tough sergeant... but he wasn't... just like my old Technical Instructor Sgt. John Randolph at Lackland AFB in my basic training days.

And now, let's switch to a happier subject... one of EC's favorite subjects -- the movies -- this was the time of the Cold War and the Atomic Age when the US and Russia could annihilate mankind and the world with the push of the proverbial red button... the only protection we had was to go to the cellar if we had one and sit with our arms folded over our heads... that's what we did in school when we would conduct nuclear attack drills and exercises... yep, that what we did in the 1950s... nope, we were not the sharpest tools in the woodshed back then.

A very provocative film came out called "On the Beach"... it really made you think about the Cold War and the possibility of nuclear annihilation.

(Special thanks to Wikipedia for helping EC so much with his research... recently I sent them a $100 donation because I use them so much... it is really a great resource)

"On the Beach" is a 1959 American post-apocalyptic science fiction drama film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, that stars Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, and Anthony Perkins. This black-and-white film is based on Nevil Shute's 1957 novel of the same name depicting the aftermath of a nuclear war. Unlike in the novel, no one is assigned blame for starting the war; the film hints that global annihilation may have arisen from an accident or misjudgment.

At the Army Language School, we got to watch Russian movie in Russian. One of them was "Ballad of a Soldier" (in Russian "Баллада о солдате"), a 1959 Soviet film. While set during World War II, "Ballad of a Soldier" is not primarily a war film. It recounts, within the context of the turmoil of war, various kinds of love: the romantic love of a young couple, the committed love of a married couple, and a mother's love of her child, as a Red Army soldier tries to make it home during a leave, meeting several civilians on his way and falling in love. The young soldier gets leave to go home, probably for the late time... he finally arrives with only a day to visit his family and then head back to the front. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

These two films, anti-war in nature, made a deep impact on EC... sadly the world has never gotten the message... even today in 2022 we are concerned about Vladimir Putin and his threats of nuclear war... it's scary folks... yep, it's scary... hope nobody will ever pushes THAT TERRIBLE RED BUTTON... or even thinks about it or threatens it.

And now back to a more pleasant activity, let's see what transpired in the National Hockey League in '59.

The 1959–60 NHL season was the 43rd season of the National Hockey League. The Montreal Canadiens were the Stanley Cup winners as they defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs four games to none for their fifth straight Stanley Cup.

Montreal played the minimum number of games, 8, and swept the 2 series to win the Stanley Cup and in the process, became the last Cup winners in NHL history to go undefeated in the playoffs to date. After winning the Stanley Cup, Maurice Richard retired from the NHL as a champion.

Now, that is the way to go out... way to go, Rocket Richard.

10-22-2022, 02:28 PM	#1014
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 35,947	MY LIFE IN 1959 EC's Still Wishin' and Hopin' Life Will Be Fine in '59 EC is studying the Russian language at the Presidio of Monterey where the Army Language School is based... I really mean "studying" the Russian language "intensely"... 6 hours a day, 5 days a week... been doing it for about 10 months... 2 more months to go to complete the course... you don't realize it, but this puts a person under a lot of pressure... in the year I was at the Army Language School, there were several attempted suicides... hard to believe, isn't it?... well, the pressure even got to EC... nope, no suicidal thoughts, but I did have a mild mental breakdown of sorts... I stopped speaking Russian in class... just refused to do it... I was just sick and tired of it... spoke only English for a week... they sent me to the talk to the head doctor at the base infirmary... the colonel was a great guy... he called in a sergeant and told him to tell the orderly room, the company first sergeant and the base commander that I was on leave for a week and would not have to do anything at all, but rest... the colonel told me to take a week off and relax... just forget the Russian language... totally forget the military... the colonel told me if the military harassed me at all to come right back to him and let him know and heads would roll... just lay around the barracks... no military duties... go to movies... just relax for a week... listen to music... I did it and it worked... after a week of rest and relaxation I went back to class and began to speak Russian again... would you believe my grades shot up, too... EC improved from 72nd in the class to 49th... HOW ABOUT THAT! The military did harass me... the first sergeant, Sgt. Hershel Hobbs, hollered and screamed at me when I went into the orderly room... I brazenly screamed right back at Sgt. Hobbs and told him I would tell the colonel if he continued to scream and holler at me... 'nuff said... they still hollered and screamed at me, but, you know what, they didn't take any action against me... they left EC alone that week. Actually, to be honest, Sgt. Hobbs was a good guy at heart... his bark was worst than his bite... he just appeared to be a tough sergeant... but he wasn't... just like my old Technical Instructor Sgt. John Randolph at Lackland AFB in my basic training days. And now, let's switch to a happier subject... one of EC's favorite subjects -- the movies -- this was the time of the Cold War and the Atomic Age when the US and Russia could annihilate mankind and the world with the push of the proverbial red button... the only protection we had was to go to the cellar if we had one and sit with our arms folded over our heads... that's what we did in school when we would conduct nuclear attack drills and exercises... yep, that what we did in the 1950s... nope, we were not the sharpest tools in the woodshed back then. A very provocative film came out called "On the Beach"... it really made you think about the Cold War and the possibility of nuclear annihilation. (Special thanks to Wikipedia for helping EC so much with his research... recently I sent them a $100 donation because I use them so much... it is really a great resource) "On the Beach" is a 1959 American post-apocalyptic science fiction drama film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, that stars Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, and Anthony Perkins. This black-and-white film is based on Nevil Shute's 1957 novel of the same name depicting the aftermath of a nuclear war. Unlike in the novel, no one is assigned blame for starting the war; the film hints that global annihilation may have arisen from an accident or misjudgment. At the Army Language School, we got to watch Russian movie in Russian. One of them was "Ballad of a Soldier" (in Russian "Баллада о солдате"), a 1959 Soviet film. While set during World War II, "Ballad of a Soldier" is not primarily a war film. It recounts, within the context of the turmoil of war, various kinds of love: the romantic love of a young couple, the committed love of a married couple, and a mother's love of her child, as a Red Army soldier tries to make it home during a leave, meeting several civilians on his way and falling in love. The young soldier gets leave to go home, probably for the late time... he finally arrives with only a day to visit his family and then head back to the front. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. These two films, anti-war in nature, made a deep impact on EC... sadly the world has never gotten the message... even today in 2022 we are concerned about Vladimir Putin and his threats of nuclear war... it's scary folks... yep, it's scary... hope nobody will ever pushes THAT TERRIBLE RED BUTTON... or even thinks about it or threatens it. And now back to a more pleasant activity, let's see what transpired in the National Hockey League in '59. The 1959–60 NHL season was the 43rd season of the National Hockey League. The Montreal Canadiens were the Stanley Cup winners as they defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs four games to none for their fifth straight Stanley Cup. Montreal played the minimum number of games, 8, and swept the 2 series to win the Stanley Cup and in the process, became the last Cup winners in NHL history to go undefeated in the playoffs to date. After winning the Stanley Cup, Maurice Richard retired from the NHL as a champion. Now, that is the way to go out... way to go, Rocket Richard. Attached Images Last edited by Eugene Church; 10-22-2022 at 05:04 PM.