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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9798893890471 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Arpress |
| Publication date: | 06/13/2019 |
| Pages: | 258 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.75(d) |
Read an Excerpt
Destiny
By Mahlon Palmer
AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2016 Mahlon PalmerAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5049-7984-9
CHAPTER 1
THE EARLY YEARS
On November 4th, 1936 the Merle Wilson Palmer Family, residing on the Palmer Homestead in the town of Meredith, New York was presented with their fourth and final child. This boy was ultimately named by his maternal grandmother and was given the name Mahlon Richard, a name taken from the biblical Old Testament book of Ruth. The source of the middle name of Richard is unknown; however, he has been known by his family, friends, acquiesces, business associates and virtually all others by his Nick Name of Dick. His given name of Mahlon has rarely been used except for legal documents.
The Merle Wilson Palmer family was now complete with their mother Jewel Jordan Palmer and the three older boys. Cecil Eugene, the eldest, was born on July 5, 1931, followed by a pair of twins, born on December 11, 1933; Roy Wilson being the eldest and Ronald Leo.
Merle Palmer and his family lived on the family farm, located on Palmer Hill Road in the town of Meredith, New York. The farm was originally purchased in 1911 by Leo Palmer, Dick's grandfather and remained in the Palmer family for more than one hundred years.
Farming in the 1930's during the "Great Depression" and on into the 1940's during the Second World War was a very challenging endeavor where everyone was expected to carry their share of the load, regardless of their size or age. As such, the typical workday began about 6:00 o'clock in the morning and ended near 8:00 o'clock at night, Monday through Saturday. Sundays were much different, always being considered a day of rest. Only those tasks that were absolutely necessary, such as: milking the cows, feeding the animals and cleaning the barn were done on Sunday; never gathering hay, planting crops or cutting wood was allowed. Sunday morning always ended by going to church and was always followed by a big Sunday dinner. Sunday afternoon was then free for play (if you had any energy left).
A typical week day, including Saturday, began at 06:00 A.M by milking the cows, (mostly by hand), feeding the other animals and cleaning the barn (always the barn had to be cleaned) unless if school was in session, Merle would then clean the barn after the kids had gone to school. Typically the barn gutters were cleaned by shoveling the manure onto a wagon or sleigh (depending on the weather) then taking it to the fields and spreading it on the land by hand. Horses provided the only power to pull the sleigh or wagon, so by the time a kid was seven or eight years old they were pretty competent at handling and driving a team of horses.
A typical school day was a bit different. The work day began at six A.M. by milking 25 to 30 cows by hand and was normally completed by around seven o'clock at which time Jewel would serve the standard breakfast fare which always included pancakes, creamed gravy, eggs with bacon and always homemade maple syrup. Breakfast was over by about 7:30, leaving just enough time to walk the two miles to school. School was usually over by around 3:30, followed by a walk home, sometimes cross lots just to change the scenery. Once home, depending on the weather, there were always tasks that needed to be competed such as; haying, filling silo, cutting fire wood, picking stone, etc. Supper was always served around 5:30, then back to the barn for the evening milking.
Milking was usually complete by 8:30 PM and the day's work was finally done. Did anyone ask you to go to bed? Not hardly. Bed was always a very welcome relief.
Now a very logical question would be. When did farm children of that generation have time for school work? THEY DIDN'T. The hard cold facts were, if you didn't get it in the class room, you just didn't get it. It is hard to comprehend that philosophy in today's world but that is just the way it was.
Throughout the twentieth century most family farms had at least one dog, whether it was a cow dog, sheep dog, guard dog or just a plain old mutt, and the Palmer farm was no different. In fact they had two dogs; one Border Collie male (herding dog) and one part Border Collie female (cow dog) used for controlling cattle. During the mid 1940's, those two dogs produced a litter of pups that were primarily Border Collie and Dick pleaded with his parents to allow him to have his own dog. After much pleading he was given permission to keep one of the pups.
The pup that Dick selected was a pure white male that had all the features of a Border Collie and weighed some fifty or sixty pounds. Dick named his new companion "King" after the dog in the radio series "Sargent Preston of the Yukon".
Dick and King immediately became inseparable. King learned to be a good cow dog, he learned to hunt, he played ball, whatever Dick did if it was physically possible King was always with him. This very close bond remained for many years until 1954 when Dick graduated from high school and joined the Air Force. That separation was very traumatic for King and nearly cost him his life.
During those difficult years many items were in very short supply, such as new clothes and toys. Virtually all clothes were hand-me-downs or just plain secondhand. Toys fell into that same category. If you were lucky enough to get a toy, new or used, you took very good care of it; however there was an alternative. If you were creative and a bit industrious you could always create/build your own toys. For example, Dick always had a fascination for guns; however he never had any real guns at that time. Thus at a very early age he built his own guns by carving them out of a piece of wood and used rubber bands for ammo. They were not dangerous, but a lot of fun. Dick also somehow acquired an old single cylinder gasoline engine that originally had been removed from a 1920/1930s washing machine. That little engine gave him many hours of pleasure in taking it apart and putting it back together, then getting it to run. Those exercises were all instrumental in helping him to learn to solve problems without the use of a book.
Dick got his first real working B B gun when he was about ten years old, a gun that assisted him in becoming an expert rifleman for the rest of his life.
During those years many necessary items were rationed and essentially became unavailable, one of those items was sugar. If you lived on a farm, as many families did, you very possibly had the option of making maple syrup for use as a substitute for sugar, thus each spring there was an added task that needed to be done.
Making maple syrup in those days was very labor intensive and required everyone to participate. For those unfamiliar with the process in those days, Dick will try to give you a brief overview of the tasks that were required. Keep in mind that making maple syrup was only done in the early springtime, frequently when the snow was still on the ground.
First the maple sap was taken from the trees by tapping the trees and hanging buckets from the tap to catch the sap.
Tapping the tree consisted of boring a new hole into the tree and driving a spiel (special pipe) into the hole and attaching the bucket to the spiel. As soon as the trees were tapped the task of gathering the sap nearly every day was required. This was a very labor intensive process and in those days was generally done by using a team of horses and a sleigh. Today's pipeline systems had not even been invented at that time. Once the sap was gathered it was necessary to 'boil it down' meaning to remove the excess water from the sap and convert it into maple syrup. This process in those days was generally done using large open pans, situated above an arch or large fireplace. The boiling process required huge amounts of dry fire wood to keep the fire burning for extended periods of time. Keep in mind this fire wood was cut with cross cut saws and split with axes and wedges.
From the time that Dick was six or seven years old he would take a kerosene lantern at about 5:30 A.M and walk to the woods, start the fires, fill the pans full of sap and then return to the barn and begin his regular days' work. The round trip walk to the woods was about three quarters of a mile.
A very similar process took place each night after milking was complete except at night the fire was 'Banked' in an attempt to keep the fire burning as long as possible during the night. It was usually 9:00 o'clock by the time Dick got back home and to bed. This routine made a very long day for a young kid.
It was always a welcome relief when Maple Syrup season was over. However each season had its own unique tasks that needed to be done after school or on weekends. In addition to making maple syrup in the early spring, spring planting was next on the list to keep the kids busy after school and on Saturdays.
The kids spring planting chores were almost exclusively restricted to 'picking stone', in other words removing any stone that could interfere with any piece of equipment. Picking stone was an extremely good way to build muscle, but very labor intensive.
Another spring job was building and/or repairing the literally miles of fence that was required to control the animals. Every foot of fence line required inspection and repair as needed. Fence repair included replacing broken fence posts, replacing or repairing all broken wires, removing any brush or new growth from along the fence as well as removing any fallen branches or trees from the fence wires.
Making hay for all of the animals was the primary additional task for the summer; however, you could and did work all day without the necessity of being bothered with taking time out to go to school. Making hay in those days was another very labor intensive task. The first step in the process was mowing the grass, using a team of horses pulling a devise generally referred to as a mowing machine or sickle bar. After the hay became sufficiently dry, it needed to be raked into windrows where it could be picked up and loaded on a hay wagon for transport to the barn. Once in the barn, it again needed to be moved into its final resting place for the winter. This process was always needed; however if the weather was rainy, several more steps were required to get the hay dry.
Keep in mind, the above mentioned tasks were all accomplished by using a team of horses; however in the early 1940's a tractor was added to the farm. That tractor was one of the first tractors that had rubber tires and was a 1939 Ford Ferguson. The tractor worked great; however gasoline was in very short supply during the early 1940's throughout the war years.
The fall season also had its unique tasks that needed to be done before winter set in. Early in the fall the silo needed to be filled with corn or other fodder for the animals. Again very labor intensive and time consuming. If all of these tasks were complete there was always the necessity to cut fire wood. Keep in mind in those days there was virtually no such thing as fuel oil, electricity, propane gas or other fuels for heating your home, so wood was the only alternative. Most homes had at least two wood stoves that barely kept the pipes from freezing. Again all of this wood was cut with a cross-cut saw with a person on each end of the saw. Then don't forget all that wood needed to be split and piled for drying. There were no chainsaws or wood splitters at that time and Dick can still remember their first chain saw that he used when he was probably ten or eleven years old, a saw that was nearly as big as he.
1954 – A year of Change
The year 1954 was without a doubt the most significant year in Dick's young life as you will see. DESTINY played a major role in not only shaping his life at that time, but also, had significant impacts throughout his entire life and career.
The first life changing event occurred just prior to high school graduation. Being the youngest child in the Palmer family, his father had always declared that since all of his older brothers had all graduated from high school with a Regents Diploma, then his youngest son would also have the same Diploma, even if he had to go to school until he reached the age of twenty-one.
There was however one major obstacle standing in the way of accomplishing that goal. He still had to pass a History Regents exam and as usual there had been no time to prepare, much less time to cram for the test. The fateful day was in the afternoon and promptly at the appointed time the test was passed out to all of the participants. Once the doors were locked, no one could leave the room unaccompanied.
After performing a detailed review of the material, Dick decided that taking the exam would be a total waste of his time, and considering the fact he could not leave, he further accepted the fact he would be returning next year to retake the course. Since sleep was always a precious commodity, he further decided to take a much needed nap.
DESTINY took over. He was unable to fall asleep, so in desperation to kill time he started writing because he could not leave anyway. The next day when test scores were posted, "HE PASSED", not by much, but still passed. Interestingly, a number of the better students' state wide did not pass, thus scores were raised on a curve and so the test was not a total failure after all. As a result of passing that Regents exam Dick graduated with his class when he was seventeen years old.
As Dick's graduation approached he had been investigating the possibility of attending a trade school to learn the field of electronics; however one Sunday morning just prior to his graduation he was approached by his mother who informed him that she and Dick's father had been discussing Dick's options. They had determined there were inadequate funds for school and they had further concluded that there would be no opportunities for him on the farm. Dick's parents suggested that maybe he should seriously consider joining some branch of the military to avoid the draft so he could join the service of his choice.
After carefully evaluating the pros and cons of the US Air Force, US Army, US Navy and the US Marines he eventually chose the US Air Force since they offered a career field in Meteorology, a science that had always fascinated him throughout his entire childhood.
The summer was spent working on the farm while waiting for an opening in the Air Force that would get him into the career field of his choice. While helping with the haying and getting his few affairs in order, he was planning the greatest, and at that point in time, the most unknown game changing event of his young life. The morning of October 14, 1954 began like hundreds of days before, bright clear blue sky, milking the cows, completing breakfast and then the changes began. He loaded the few things he could take with him into the car, which was not much, essentially a tooth brush and razor the clothes he was wearing and a couple of bucks in his pocket. Dick said good-bye to his best friend King and then his mother drove him to Oneonta to the Air Force recruiting station where he would join the other new recruits for that day. As Dick and his mother departed down the road, King gave his usual farewell greeting, little knowing he would not see his friend for at least three months. Beginning that evening, King began waiting in the road, awaiting his friend's return, and he waited there for nearly two weeks, almost starving to death and barely surviving the traffic. Eventually, he decided his friend was not coming back home and his grieving slowly diminished.
There was one other unusual event that was developing on that bright sunny morning, which was still unknown to everyone at that time. South of New York City off the coast, a major tropical storm was developing that would eventually be identified as "Hurricane Hazel". As the storm continued to develop, it progressed further inland and it continued to grow to become the largest and most severe storm to ever hit New York State. Much later in the day as you will see this storm would have a major impact on a plane load of new Air Force recruits who would be trying to reach Sampson Air Force Base after their induction during that day; however there was much left to happen yet that day during the induction process.
CHAPTER 2HE'S IN THE ARMY NOW
The bus ride from Oneonta to Albany was completely uneventful. For those of you who have served in the military, you probably remember your induction well; however for the others it is somewhat of a unique experience. The first thing to happen is all potential inductees are taken into a large room and required to remove everything except their shorts. Then the fun began. A team of doctors began to prod and poke every cavity; Dick was confident it was to ensure you were not carrying any contraband, or maybe it was to verify everything was in the correct location.
At this point, DESTINY once again changed the course of events. While waiting for the Doctors, another Doctor approached Dick and began to take his pulse. After taking his pulse a couple of times he stepped back and with a very quizzical expression on his face asked for the assistance of a second doctor. The second doctor had the same quizzical expression, then flatly stated, "Well, he is still breathing-send him in".
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Destiny by Mahlon Palmer. Copyright © 2016 Mahlon Palmer. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction, ix,Dedication, xi,
Chapter 1 The Early Years, 1,
Chapter 2 He's In The Army Now, 11,
Chapter 3 The Transitional Years, 45,
Chapter 4 RCA/NASA Connection, 69,
Chapter 5 RCA/Greenland Connection, 86,
Chapter 6 After RCA, 118,
Chapter 7 CORT Council, 144,
Chapter 8 Retirement, 164,