An eDiary of Some of the Key Things in Don's Life

I regularly updated my eDiary websites until the creation of FaceBook's 2011 "eHistory" feature, whereupon I stopped… Sadly, my account then crashed out while I was updating my profile in 2019 & I had to drill some of the "lost years" to get them back!

So, my eDiary is organized into six decade pages, each decade being sorted year-by-year with months from Jan to Dec; click on a section to visit that decade?
    Main page | 2010’s | 2000’s | 80's-90's | 70's (this page) | 50's-60's…

You might also consider visiting my profile page that shares a little more info about me vs. this eDiary, or see a list of the Global Places I’ve visited? For an "historical" view, you can start at the very end of my eDiary & scroll up to read backwards in time? Also, embedded textual content reflects the time of the events vs. current time—view the pages full-screen?

Have fun, regardless ;)

My Early 1970's at Harrogate

Moving on from my childhood… as I reached the age of 15½ in mid-December of 1970, Dad took me across town to the Army Recruitment Office at 244 Holdenhurst Rd, making me sign-up for the Army—not an actual life disaster (the actual event is here) but certainly a very active memory! This all happened after Dad’s many futile attempts to try & keep me off the road of “becoming a criminal" with a set of events (scroll down ~½ way to 1969 for the details?) being his final choice: "Let's have someone else give it a try as I clearly can't influence him enough…"

While this was not *actually* spoken directly to me, it was surely true!

I left my childhood home for my “involuntary” Army stint around 9am on Tuesday, January 19^th, 1971, traveling North by train (with quiet tears from Mum at the station) & hauling a small suitcase of clothes, my toothbrush, etc up to my new home in Harrogate, Yorkshire—view a perspective of the trip here?

As a young Army rookie, I was stationed there for 2+ years, learning to be a soldier, shooting, camping out in the field, marching around etc, as well as becoming a Telegraphist (a communications op), with so very many additional memorial things, such as some local girlfriends! I changed my childhood family name ("Jamie") to "Don" as I met new friends, traveling home by train at each end-of-term break in April, August & December & to a few other places (with some of those new friends)… details are shared below

After I was there for a while, Mum established a phone protocol for a series of Saturday calls around September, 1971. At a specific phone of the 3 phone booths that were by the churches, I'd ring up 70 Elmes around lunchtime, & hang up after letting it ring 3 times… it never failed (to my recollection) to get a call-back, reducing my expenses!

Upon my arrival at the Harrogate station, I was taken to the Army Apprentices College (the current view—see my direct perspective here?) on Penny Pot Lane(+) by some large (and loud!) Sergeants who had me trimmed with a military haircut upon arrival & then provisioned me with my uniform: a pair of rubber-soled DMS boots (that I had to learn to shine; I didn't get my pair of hob-nail boots until later, in Soltau), a beret with a Jimmy (one of which I still have), two battle-dress shirts / a jumper / some underwear / trousers & a belt (that I still have one of) and some ankle putties, as well my full-dress uniform, a dress hat & belt (all of which I was wearing at my graduation), along with a field water bottle, a mug & KFS, all of which were loaded on top of my blankets / sheets / pillows etc to haul up to the locker in my 2^nd-floor room in Troop B of the Bradley Squadron where a more senior student, Paul Higginbottom was in charge…

These events (and others) were pretty scary to me during many of the early days—I can recall tears on occasion as I tried to get to sleep, an attempt to end the world with several aspirins (unsuccessful, thank heavens!) and others… On the plus side, however, my latent homosexuality vanished as I grew into a leader!!

Shortly after my arrival, I learned the required length of a military marching pace (30”) and how to differentiate my right from my left, needed to be marching correctly, swinging each arm to shoulder height (as shown in the AAC link, above) with a group—those “Quick March!” shouts meant “right-foot-forward!!” Early in 1973, I can recall issuing such marching orders to the troop as the Apprentice Corporal of my troop… I also learned to march in a parade & was (later) the guy who hit the big bass-drum in the marching band where I once slowed the march down, infuriating the band-master sergeant! I learned to respect the RSM & to salute the Ruperts!

I loved learning how to correctly load & shoot (and respect) the weapons: a standard issue 7.62mm SLR rifle (accurately & consistently hitting the distant target!),
  a 9mm SMG a 9mm pistol & the heavy machine gun which sure was fun to fire!!

Many, many remembrances of my time at the AAC… I got to do the CQ thing ( “dah-dit-dah-dit   dah-dah-dit-dah “)  …   went out to the field many times with the Ecce troop… on a Cornwall trip in ’72, I was on guard expecting the para's: the active enemy (chasing our D-10 site) captured me!  …   learned to type into that 50-cycles/second teleprinter (I became faster than it was!)  …   got to play on the rugby team as tight-head prop  …   somehow managed to get a whitlow in my 1st finger (right hand) that caused me to be delayed by a term  …   did that (aaargh!) 48-hour Lyke-Wake-walk across the Yorkshire Moors (once!)  …   frequently had to take those horrible cross-country runs  …   I also recall having those massive PT sergeants screaming in my ear that I "wasn't trying hard enough with those damned reverse curls!!!" … <eSigh> so many memories from the early days of my life!

I was a highly capable leader & a very successful student of military skills, bringing my promotion in October, 1972 to Apprentice Lance-corporal in the A-Troop of Bradley Sqn & in January of 1973 to a full Corporal (shown in the picture below)—I had the one-person Corporal's bunk for my final term

I became famous (for around 15 minutes) at my graduation in April of 1973, receiving High Honors, recognized in a Bournemouth Echo article as receiving four scholarly achievement awards… something not done before or since!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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My Mid-70's Time in Soltau

I was posted to the Catterick barracks in Yorkshire after my Harrogate graduation, where I stayed for a month or so; I managed to sustain some damage to my left ankle when moving a heavy cabinet with 3 others on a trolley down a hill when it slid off!

The Army then flew me (my 1^st flight!) in May from the Stansted Airport near London out to Soltau (via Hanover) in the Bournemouth barracks on Winsener Straße, 29614 Soltau, West Germany showing today as a German immigration support center business (and others) with many rooms to stay, offices, facilities, etc, etc… it became my station for 3+ years where I also signed away 18+ years of my life to the Army

While this may all seem sort of small, my assigned station was to help ensure that the 207^th Squadron of the Royal Corps of Signals, tasked to lead the comms for the 7^th Armoured brigade in the 1^st Armoured Division (a critical part of the BAOR forces) allowed NATO to keep any possible Russian attacks under control… pretty hard to believe, looking back, but that was what it was!

I was also blessed by so many events & adventures there… out with the lads drinking in the pubs in town; watching porn in the Copacabana Club (replaced today by a restaurant, the Diner 66) with very active semi-naked hookers (!); eating breakfast, lunch & dinner in the NAAFI canteen; out with the squadron on many field maneuvers… one event of note was in August of 1974 where we were out near Kiel in Eckernförde, Germany (a couple hours north of Soltau) where I managed to step on something sharp whilst swimming back in to shore—a nerve in the 4^th toe of my right foot was cut, permanently preventing any movement of those toes; marching around the camp (swinging my arms) alone, or in a squad, etc… I also actually learned to drive whilst there (my 1^st time driving!) in an Army Landrover, as well as (compliments of a friend, Lofty Nevols, sadly now RIP) learning to "pull the sticks" in an APC439; also see the FV432s?

I recall many irritating moments with the ’effing military Ruperts—1^st was just a few weeks after my arrival (in my leg injury-based office assignment) working with the Sgt. (name forgotten) and calling him by his name where a Rupert then barked at him; another was when I was out on an exercise with Scouse Groves, where we had fallen asleep at night before hanging camo on the rebro station up on a hill; a 3^rd was a twat who told me one morning (out in the field) to “take your ablutions behind the tent,” likely offended by my muscular torso; others may arrive…

I can also remember (probably in early ’74) spotting a posting on the squadron bulletin board to be stationed abroad for a couple years in Belize, an island in the Persian Gulf… after thinking about it for a day or two, went back to apply but it sadly was already gone :(

Jane Eleanor Wood & I met when I was home on leave from Soltau, Christmas '73… Dad had gotten us together—Jane had been his nurse when he was in Boscombe Hospital for a few days (I'm not sure why) & he had asked her for her address and sent it to me—we wrote a couple of letters prior to our 1^st date

That date was almost a disaster as I wasn’t very good at being social… Jane was living in an upstairs flat in Boscombe—the owners were foster parents for babies—there sure were a lot of baby things at the house as I arrived! I knew that she was pregnant as she had written to tell me that before agreeing to get together for an evening when I got my leave. She came down the stairs in a knee-length blue dress to the hall where I was waiting, really decked out (I thought)!

We took a bus to the Bournemouth center & met there with my friends Dino, Dave Worthy and their girlfriends; we all slurped cider and rum&blacks in a bar—I guess I didn't talk to Jane too much at all as she was the "outsider" in our group, & she was shy, etc… At maybe 10 or 11, we left & walked back to the bus-stops by the gardens. Jane and I got a little amorous in a shop doorway; she was quite enthusiastic with her kisses, & had just huge boobs from the pregnancy… so my evening didn't crash after all!

I came home again in August ’74 & we got engaged. She was living at that time in a ladies nursing school in Winchester; "no boys allowed"… I think I snuck in once, though! I do remember our picnic on a hill nearby, with the big sausage… fun in the sun!

One of my many field maneuvers was at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany… On February 17^th, 1974, we loaded everything onto a train & headed South for a week or so
  Marching up & down those mountains (chasing out our early morning hangovers) was pretty chilly & quite challenging!

The snap to the left is Kevin Rankin (“Jock”), me & Ray Spence up at 5,000 feet

Snapped (right) in Sep-74 in Soltau—a part of the training that we were providing for my upcoming tour, acting as IRA suspects! I'm on the left, next is Frank Jackson, then Dave Cooke, then ???, Kim Nott, Johnno & Ginge (from "dahn sarf")
                 Muchas gracias for Dave's advice!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In December, 1974 I had my only military combat-based time: 4 months in Northern Ireland, serving as a comms guy (scroll down to view details?) with the Kings Own Royal Border Regiment, who were assigned to patrol & help control attacks by the very active IRA; we were stationed at the RUC barracks on Hasting Street in Belfast

Some pretty scary times for me during that tour, with frequent nights out front on guard duty & doing the escort-duty, riding shotgun (yeah, the guy they'd shoot 1^st… ) on the Landrover with dispatches up to the Belfast HQ—just lucky, I guess…

A couple of weeks after my N. Ireland tour, Jane & I were married (w/Simon Stone as my best man) at 2pm on Saturday, April 19^th 1975 at the Baptist Church in Eastleigh, Hampshire…
After celebrating at the church with family & friends and many photo's ( click to see some names? ), I went with Jane to her parents.
We then took a train on Monday, the 21^st out to the Isle of Wight for our week-long honeymoon… we had a room at a B&B in Ventnor (a touristy place) on the East end of the island 1^st, & then stayed at a nice little hotel in Totland, walking for miles on the headlands and along the beaches. And across a field, on a hill, where the cows were…

The Army flew us from Stansted Airport, London to Soltau (via Hanover) a few weeks later, staying w/Paul & Judy Ellis for a few days; we then moved into our Soltau home, a 4^th-floor flat at Amselweg 4, 29614 Soltau, W. Germany, living there for a few years… nearby was Karen's bar, where we enjoyably ate steak w/mushrooms & onions with beers many times!

It was also a 20-minute walk to the barracks every day (we rode our bikes too) & purchased our 1st car there in May of 1976, a Hillman Husky; Jane's income at the barracks made it available… it stayed with me until July of 1980 when I departed for America

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The Most Disastrous Event in My Life…

Two other major life events were moving to the US of A & my 1998 brain tumor

Sadly, my wonderful life in the Army (as shared above) came to an abrupt end in September, 1976… We were out in the field on the annual military Summer Sales exercise, playing as international "at war" soldiers… I was driving an APC432 (see one above—this was the petrol version) with Sgt. Gary Coude as the commander, operating as a rebro station out in the Stadtverwaltung woods, near Bad Salzdetfurth about 50km SE of Hanover

We stopped for an overheating engine, where I tried to fix the problem… I ended up taking an inadvertent swan-dive from the top of our APC that trashed both of my arms—breaking both elbows & wrists. This catastrophe changed the rest of my natural-born life

After I was returned to Soltau, the local doc didn’t do the right things for my arms & I sat around for several weeks before heading to the BMH Hanover hospital for treatment

My family also visited us around Christmas for support

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The Major Transition in My Life was in 1977…

After my January, ’77 BMH Hanover surgery, Jane & I left Soltau in March to stay at her parent’s house in Eastleigh, Hampshire for 2+ months; I drove up & back to BMH Greenwich, the military hospital in Greenwich, London, which today is the Royal Herbert Hospital.

In March of 1977 we were assigned an MQ (a 5^th-floor flat) on Balham High Road in London, as I was moved from BMH Greenwich to the JSMRU (Joint Services Military Rehabilitation Unit) in Chessington for more in-depth physiotherapy of my damaged elbows & wrists (which are today getting more & more ouchy!!), including building a table & floating my arms in the pool, etc

On October 10, 1977 at the Catterick Garrison, I received my medical military discharge after the Army had spent 18+ months attempting to repair my elbows & I was tagged at 30% disabled with their failure—we also moved out of our military MQ flat in Balham to a middle-floor flat at 103 Central Hill, West (Upper) Norwood, London SE19…

The Army granted me my **significant** life-changing event: a 6-month period of Government-funded re-training upon my discharge. Thus began my new life with computers, that lasted for multiple decades in & around London, in America & around the world!!

This new life started out at the Control Data Institute Computer HW/SW Training school (at 77 Wells St in London) in September 26, 1977, where I learned to become a mainframe-computer field engineer, graduating March 31^st of 1978 with honours…

click to view?

Those "innate intuitive technical skills" allowed me to graduate with a certificate that shows all aspects of the learning as straight-A's, at the top of my class… While the school departed a number of years ago, there were several occasions that I recall where lunch was held at a nearby bar on Oxford Street, as well as learning all sorts of new things!

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1978… My 1^st Year Outside of the Army

In March of 1978, I graduated from the CDI (above) & was hired into the Burroughs Corporation (where they held physically enormous machines in the basement of the Midland Bank HQ in North London) after an interview with Tim Bowler & others… The machines did “batch processing” for banking & financial transactions, requiring many square feet of controlled & conditioned space with dozens of 6-foot tall cabinets & hundreds of connecting cables!

We moved from our middle-floor flat at 103 Central Hill, West (Upper) Norwood to an upstairs flat at 89 Fairfax Road in Haringey, London N8… this move facilitated my drive to work for the rest of the year at the Midland Bank HQ in Staples Corner, London. In August we brought & moved into our 1^st house, an end-row terrace at 19 Albany Road, Upper Edmonton, London N18, now sadly destroyed

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1979 Was a Really Interesting Year!

After my enjoyable day- & night-shifts working at Burroughs, I was lucky enough to have been sent across the pond in October for a 6-week training session at their HQ near Philly…

I then ran into Ms. T who inadvertently caused the sad event that changed my entire life… After returning from the training session, my surprise December discovery (on one of our phone calls at the office) of that unintended & quite unexpected pregnancy brought the resultant fiasco, forcing me to move out from Jane to a flat at 33a Goldsmith Road in Friern Barnet, London N11…

After negotiating with Burroughs in the Spring, I received permission to move internationally (self-funded) to the Washington, DC area on July 30^th, 1980 where I continued to do **exactly** the same things with the same large computers at the World Bank HQ as I had been doing in London, yet with a 1/3^rd pay hike!

As of this 2024 update, I continue to think of the enormous negatives I caused for Jane… **but** the last 30+years of such immense happiness in my life simply would never have happened!!

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The End of the 70's…

Well, that's about it for the 70’s section of my eDiary; scroll back up or go to the different decades here? You could also go to my Bio summary page, the profile page that I created a few years ago, my family tree profile or visit me on FaceBook where you can scroll down to view my events year-by-year.

As I expect that parts of my eDiary will improve and/or change as I tag more year-by-year info or clarify some of the threads… watch this space!
Please also visit my privacy page to be aware of some legal stuff?

As a final thought, view some snaps of me & my family in my older album? Enjoy!! ;)