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Veteran of the Month ~ Ray Falcon
Ray Falcon was born in Sanderson, Texas in 1932. In 1949, he and his family moved to Fort Stockton. In October of 1952 he and a group of fellow West Texas friends were inducted into the United States Army. He recalls that he and his friends often discussed what a good experience joining the military and serving their country would be. The first stop for Ray and his friends would be El Paso, Texas for orientation and then Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas.
"When I arrived in San Antonio, I received word that my grandmother had passed away and was granted and emergency leave to attend the funeral in Sanderson." He returned to Fort Sam at 3a.m., went to sleep assuming that the next day would be like any other. But at 5a.m., he was advised that his group would be shipped out to begin basic training. When he did not hear his name called, he inquired about his assignment and was told that his orders could not be found.
Not only was he disappointed that he would not be able to go through basic training with his West Texas friends, particularly those from Sanderson, but, two weeks would pass before it would be discovered that his orders had inadvertently been left on hold since his emergency leave. Ray would end up being assigned to Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas and become part of the First Armored Division.
Once basic training was completed, his company was advised that half of them would be deployed to Europe, Japan, or Korea. "As a civilian, I had been employed with the Texas Department of Transportation and worked with the engineers and surveyors. Because of my experience, my orders were changed so that I could receive training to become a combat engineer."
Training would include studying military maps, the use of engineering equipment, learning survival and self-defense skills, and the use of different weapons-from bayonets to hand grenades. After one month of training, which also included sleeping outdoors in hammocks and eating only C-rations, soldiers were given leave for "R&R"-rest and recuperation-which would take them by ship to Hong Kong and China.
The four-day sail would be anything but peaceful as the ship Falcon was on became caught in a typhoon on day two. "As a West Texas native, I had never seen so much water in my life. I was sure that our ship would capsize and that we would all drown. Many of the Navy sailors that had previously made fun of the Army guys for getting seasick were now seasick themselves and expecting the worst. To this date, that trip is still is one of the scariest experiences in my life."
However, once they docked, the sights and shopping made up for the ocean experience. Some of his best memories included day trips to China for custom tailored clothing, betting against buddies to see whose rickshaw could arrive at the hotel first, and buying souvenirs for family members.
Other memories include experiences with extreme temperature in the foreign climate. "When we left the Philippines (to go to Korea), I remember that at 2p.m. it was 110 degrees and when we landed in Korea at 2a.m. it was blow zero. Even though we had been issued the standard cold weather clothing and told that it would be cold when we arrived, I wasn't prepared for how cold it really was." Additionally, since Falcon's unit was not attached to any one division of the Eighth Army, the group did not receive their official cold weather clothing-"Mickey Mouse suits"- as they were called, until the second day.
Falcon's fifteen months in the 29th Engineer Company would prove to be challenging. Rather than being housed inside of barracks, an outdoor "tent city" became home. Work and travel were usually done at night because the mapping out of roads required the use of lights to triangulate distances. " I had been through cold spells in Fort Stockton but, I had never worked continuously in such cold conditions and even ended up getting frostbite."
October of 1954 brought Ray Falcon to the end of his tour of duty and home to Fort Stockton. " Even though I didn't get to go to boot camp with my friends from the area, I ended up running into a friend from Sanderson right before I left Korea. My time in the United States Army gave me many one in a lifetime experiences."
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