contributed by Larry S. Jones, SMSgt Ret.

Photos below are c. 1965

Hit 3 times in a ground blizzard going to Plentywood Montana from Westby. Accident happened less than a mile west of Westby. Car was totaled. My wife was slightly injured and got a light frostbite on her fingers. Even today she says they hurt sometimes. The squadron policy was to carry our parka, leather gloves with wool inserts, some food, and whatever else was necessary. The gloves and parka saved me from any frostbite. The third time we were hit (by an enormous well-drilling rig) the force spun us around a few times and put us in the ditch. I blacked out for a few seconds. Note the bag of grain n the back. We could get all the grain we could carry to feed the Chinese Ringneck pheasants when there was a heavy snow cover. Lots of deer and pheasants and other upland game birds, not to mention ducks and geese in season.

QUAMS Motel in Westby, Montana. We had a VERY small apartment; bedroom, bathroom and match box sized kitchen. BUT IT WAS WARM when the temperature got down to 20-40 degrees below zero. Propane was used for heating, and it took us a while to get used to the smell. I visited the area two years ago (1998) and the hotel is no more. A large Lutheran Church is now on the site. Westby seemed to be growing some whereas Fortuna was deteriorating. I felt sorry for my wife having to live in these cramped quarters for a month or so until we moved into base housing. We had a TV, but it was so snowy that we didn`t watch much.

Snow in the base housing area. Very small housing, but adequate with good heating equipment to cope with the severe cold weather. We would get a few good snowstorms per year.

A beautiful Montana sunset. Weather in spring, summer and fall was wonderful, but the winters were very severe. We had to plug our cars into electrical outlets to keep the engine from freezing. The device we used was called a "tank heater" and worked very well.

We could see incoming weather a long way off. A few heavy hail storms per year were the norm.

"Amber waves of grain". Lots of feed for the deer as well as humans.

Venison BBQ on Labor Day 1965. The dining hall was closed and everyone adjourned to the NCO Club for venison. The cook in the foreground with the red plaid shirt is me, TSgt at the time, and NCOIC of the GATR site. Why so much venison? Don`t care to discuss how the meat was obtained, but the game warden and local farmers gave us full access to hunt deer whenever. `Nuff said... A real hunter`s paradise!

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