Carl S. Kretzer
General Information:
School Activities:
Freshman Year - Baseball
Junior Year - Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta
Senior Year - Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta (President), Courtesy Car Club, Cheer Club, Cheer Bloc
Carl S. Kretzer
About 50 years ago, while working hard to get through that pesky sophomore year at CHS, attending as many Kahok basketball games as I could, and contemplating the wonderful things that were going to happen when I got my driver's license in a few short weeks, I kept hearing about this little place in Southeast Asia called Vietnam. A little research and occasionally listening in class told me that it wasn't a place I really wanted to go right after high school, even if it was an all-expense paid trip. So I made up my mind to get to work and delay that trip by going to college.
Shortly after the Kahoks were crowned Illinois State Champions, I was accepted to Illinois College, a small liberal arts college in Jacksonville, IL. After a fantastic summer having one of the best jobs on the planet (chauffeuring Mary Suppiger or one of her equally cute sisters around in Supp's Mobile Unit & eating as much ice cream as I wanted), I set off for Jacksonville to major in math and chemistry and set the world on fire.
Well into my second year (that pesky sophomore thing again), I changed my major to wine, women, and song with a minor (very minor) in academics. The song part didn't work out too well since I can't carry a tune, but the wine and women part was great. It was certainly a lot more fun than 8:00 AM chemistry labs. While at Illinois College, I learned that it was the Alma Mater of Mrs. Wilma Scaggs, Coach Vergil Fletcher, and Mr. Karl Monroe (Mike Monroe's dad and Collinsville Herald editor). Having a job was a necessity, since scholarships and student loans didn't cover all the 'lab'? expenses of my new majors, so I worked a variety of jobs in the college dining hall, sort of like Animal House, but the food wasn't as good. After several epic battles with numerous professors, I finally accumulated enough credits, with the required grade point average, to graduate. Much to my surprise, industry recruiters were not beating my door down to give me a job that paid 6 figures. I had a diploma and a little card that said I was A1 (or was that 1-A). It quickly became evident that I probably wasn't going to be able to put off that trip mentioned above much longer.
So, it was decision time. Did I want to walk or drive through the jungles of Vietnam, or would it be better to fly over them? The latter choice got the nod, so I joined the Air Force. Many years before, I had told my 6th grade teacher at Caseyville, Mr. Roy Lee (John Lee's father), that I wanted to be a jet pilot. The Air Force had a few more rules than college, like attending ALL your classes, not just the afternoon ones. And we had to wear weird clothes. But I managed to finish flight school and get my wings. Weekends were pretty good during training, and yes, the Officer's Club scene from Top Gun wasn't that far off, even though I couldn't sing as well as Tom Cruise. And finally it was off to Thailand at the end of 1972 to participate in the events over there as the war was starting to wind down. I didn't know at the time that I was putting so much trust in Glen England, Steve Hampsch, and any other classmates who worked on the amazing F-4 Phantom that I was about to fly in combat. My year long tour ended with only one minor incident of battle damage and all the formal hostilities had ceased. I'm sure I scared them into submission.
After a brief posting back in the USA where I married a lady (Sandra, a.k.a. Sam) I had met before I went to Southeast Asia, it was off to Europe for most of the rest of my 20+ years in the Air Force. We started with a 3 year tour in England. One of my squadron mates lived in a house that had been built in 1645, over 125 years before the Revolutionary War started. My base, RAF Woodbridge, had been a crash recovery base in World War II, for battle damaged bombers that couldn't make it to their home bases. And for all the movie buffs, the bar scenes from '12 O'Clock High'? were filmed in our Officer's Club bar, which was still a WWII quansett hut in 1976. Weekend drives in the countryside were always exciting, as we kept running into places we had heard about in history and literature. One of the castles where Mary Tudor was imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth I was only 15 minutes away from our house. London, Stratford-on-Avon, Boston (where the Pilgrims were originally persecuted), Oxford, and Cambridge were only a couple hours drive (on the wrong side of the road). In the 2 county East Anglia area where we lived, about 90 miles NE of London, there were 99 World War II air bases, most of them closed. It was hard to drive more than 5 or 6 miles without passing one.
After living in the middle of history for 3 years, my next assignment was to Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, just across the White Sands from the site of the first nuclear explosion. We regularly flew past it, thus my now 'glowing'? personality. Three years in the desert was enough, so it was back to Europe to live in Germany for my last 8 years. You have to love a country where you can drive 100 miles per hour on the highway and get passed like you're standing still. And a pretty good bottle of Mosel wine only cost about $4.00. No wonder I stayed so long. We drove all over Europe, vacationed in the Alps or on the Mediterranean beaches and just had a great time. Once again we were able to drive into history or literature on a Sunday afternoon. The battle of the bulge in 1944 was fought about 45 minutes down the road. 'A Bridge Too Far'? was only about a 2 hour drive. We went to Berlin and the room where the treaty to end WWII was signed and we were still in Europe when the Berlin Wall fell and the Cold War ended.
Even though few things in life are as exhilarating as flying a supersonic fighter 50 feet off the ground, I decided it was time to retire from the Air Force and go back to the US. My Air Force retirement became effective a couple of weeks after our 25th reunion, on Aug 1st, 1990, literally the day before Saddam and his thugs invaded Kuwait and changed everyone's lives forever. I was fortunate enough to eventually land a flying job with a little company in Memphis, TN called FedEx. Not having to put up with passengers is great, the packages almost never complain. The job has been great and I have occasionally been able to drop in on a classmate or two for a free meal and a great visit. And I work part time as a clandestine pilot for Elvis when he wants to get out of his secret hiding place and visit Graceland or go to Vegas.
Life has had its ups and downs (no pun intended), but I was extremely fortunate to be able to serve our great country doing a job that I absolutely loved while living and learning in some wonderful places all over the world. That experience prepared me for my civilian career, and even though the work hours are odd (middle of the night), it's been extremely rewarding and I still haven't had to grow up and get a real job. And it gives me an extremely flexible schedule so that I can attend '65 Kahok reunions and birthday bashes.
Carl S. Kretzer
"They may try to stop you by their words and deeds, but like air you will rise above it all. You are unstoppable.” Bernard Kelvin Clive