Iceland

While serving in the United States Navy my overseas duty was in Keflavik, Iceland. Prior to that, I spent the winter of 1968 at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center for basic training and the spring of 1969 at the Great Lakes Corps School. I spent the next two years in Orlando, Florida at the Naval training center working in an orthopedic medical/ surgical unit and the emergency department. One of the coolest things about this assignment was I had my aunt and uncle, Helen and Jacob Stahl living there with a bunch of cousins surrounding me. It made getting away to go fishing on the ocean difficult because they felt offended if I didn’t spend my off duty weekend with one of them.

I left Great lakes when the temperature in the 50 and went to Florida with the temps hovering in the 90’s. My next assignment in the middle of August was to Iceland where 60 degree weather is considered a hot day. Who said the Navy has no sense of humor.

Some Icelandic women would erect a burlap box and sunbathe inside away from the wind. The landscape of Iceland is ruggedly beautiful I was blessed to be able to see much of it by hopping a military transport or by renting a small plane with several other corpsmen and having a doctor seeking his commercial license to fly us for free. It was a win-win deal. We didn’t have to pay a pilot and he got the hours he needed.

I was able to wear civilian clothing when I travelled off base. My rank of E-5 allowed me that privilege. Before my whiskers went white, I sported a full red beard. By wearing a sweater and sports coat, I blended perfectly with the native Icelandic population. Sometimes I would be approached when I strolled the streets of Reykjavik and someone would speak to me in Icelandic. I didn’t understand it, but I’d learned the phrase, “ég tala ekki íslensku,“ (I don‘t understand Icelandic.) Since most of the Icelandic population spoke English it was okay. By learning that simple phrase most people were friendly to me.

Waterfalls, glaciers, and mountainous terrain made each trip off base an adventure whether riding a bus, in a plane, or driving an ambulance. I was part of the medical team for the First Boy Scout World Jamboree. Several corpamen set up a first aid tent after driving a cracker-box ambulance to the site.

Again, the Navy‘s humor kicked in when I was mustered out, I left Iceland in the middle of August to the heat and humidity of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I was housed there with nothing to do in an old barracks without air conditioning.