PFC Dad

[cynyr]

This is my Dad, hard at work at Fort Jackson, 1954:

Which is a detail of this picture:

I don't know who the other pipe-smoking Joe is, can't tell if he is an officer or a buck private. It may be Major Huskey, who was Dad's CO at the time, and gave him a couple of pipes.

 

[galeon]

I long for those days. There's not a single person in my unit that smokes a pipe.

 

[numbersix]

Nice! Great pics.
My father smoked cigs but my grandfather (born in Ireland in the 1880s) smoked pipes. He would tell us terrific ghost stories from the old country that he swore were real while smoking his pipe. Nice memories.

 

[cynyr]

@Steve - A one-striper made less than $100 a month then. Granted, that c-note would have eight times the buying power it does now, thanks to our old friend inflation. Still and all, those wee simpler times. I work in a 500-man agency, and I am the only pipe smoker.
@six - the very best tales come at grandparents' knees. And as an Irishman, I'm sure he was a natural story-teller! Oh, and I am not a number! I am a free man!

 

[gwtwdbss]

Very cool old pics!

 

[terry]

Cool pics. ::

 

[pstlpkr]

Those are cool pics.
I am eternally grateful for and to men like your father.
::

 

[smeigs]

pretty awesome I must say

 

[topd]

Great Photo! I was born in '54, and made $134.40 a month in '71.

 

[cynyr]

Thanks to all - that's a picture I am very proud of! We lost Dad in 1980, and as of this week I have surpassed him in years. I posted the picture in celebration of his life well-lived.

 

[voorhees]

I too have a fondness for the older days when a pipe was a common thing. Cigarettes ruined that.

 

[cortezattic]

Your dad was a member of America's greatest generation.

 

[hawk60ce]

Great pics!

 

[garyovich]

Awesome picture, thanks for sharing it! As a current service member, I wish I could smoke at my desk...then I might look like I enjoy my job as much as your dad appears to.
@steve, what unit are you in? I have been in several where I was the only pipester, a couple times there were 1 or 2 others, definitely not very common unfortunately.

 

[photoman13]

That is a cool bit of history. The only family member that smoked a pipe before me was an uncle by marriage. I always loved the smell of his tobacco. I have converted a few cousins now though.

 

[philip]

We lost Dad in 1980, and as of this week I have surpassed him in years.

My dad was in the army in 1953, when I was born.

He left us in 1977. I am now a year older than he was then.
Thanks for sharing your pictures.