biglakejake Report post Posted June 20, 2011 firecamp-sketchy stories, incomplete memories, tall tales mom used to run the radio shack at Williams airport for Larry Ely and the smokejumpers during the '50s and worked at the canteen at night. lots of jokes told around the campfire about how horny slurry bomber crews and jumpers could get during fire season. dad bossed the dozers and sherman tanks with blades that were based at navajo ordinance depot. his favorite tales were about the dozer and tank drivers that would stay on the line with fire all around them after the trucks and crews had to leave. many of them had crewed with patton or in the pacific and could not wait for the next fire. kinda like modern day hotshots. the one thing i heard over and over was that it took men and women on the ground to put out the fire but the only thing that could stop it was rain or a fleet of slurry bombers. like dozens of liberators and catalinas making dozens of drops each every day. anybody remember the catalina tanker base on roosevelt at porter springs? today we have less than a dozen bombers making runs for an entire country and fires go on for weeks. good reads-'young men and fire' by MacLean, 'Fire on the mountain' by MacLean Jr., and a short story from the '20's by zane grey that i don't remember the title-about a crown fire racing through the pines and homesteads east of christopher mountain. dad was gone by a few months when mom called me in LA crying to tell me about 6 dead on dude. she left 60 days later. Clarence Floyd Elbert 1919-1990 LaVonne Marguerite Tiller Elbert 1929-1990 lee Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
