Kagnew Station Blog

I remember being on Mids for my first assignment and seeing I was a newguy and they needed someone to switch tricks and pull a lawnmowing detail I was chosen. Funny how that changed my life. It was August 1966, and being from NYC on a detail I knew nothing about. Cutting Grass. Seems on the third and final day of the detail something happened. I had been told by the Trick Chief not to get any rocks in front of the mower, So, I didn't I brushed the rocks away from the front with my foot, and guess what a little too close and I cut my little toe off. The guard called the trick chief immediately and he ran towards me. I asked if I was ok and he said that I didn't need that toe anyway. I was now the brunt of jokes on post from then on. Never will I forget Kagnew or Tract C. Sarge the turtle will be guarding my toe forever. So a little part of me was left in Asmara.

I remember first arriving at Kagnew. After checking into Stratcom and having a long deserved rest I was greeted by another follow. He took me on a tour of Kagnew and downtown. From the start I found everyone friendly and nice to be around. Those where the best 18 months of my life. We had everything on base from movies to our clubs. Wish I could have stayed in touch with some of my friend. Too bad we did not have e-mail back then. I wish to thank these friends for alot of memories

I too remember how everyone was friendly, the base with everything you needed. The trips downtown, the people, it was a different world then. I extended 6 months so I spent 2 years at Kagnew. I wouldn't trade that time for anything, it truly was 2 of the best years of my life. I guess email would have been great then, but just being isolated from the states and home made the time more memorable. I enjoy reading about other Kagnewites on the homepage and their stories. Reading and remembering the times seem to transport one back. A great place to go as we get older. Hope you get in touch with some of the guys you served with, if not enjoy the memories.

As usual, checking Kagnew daily, I am suprised that the Front Gate Photo has taken a day off with a new photo. A Happy Year New shot from Kagnew. Very nice and appropriate for the new year and decade. A photo someone had from their time at Kagnew. We should all look into our Kagnew Stash and see if we have other great photos. Also check for Photos taken at the club etc by foto brini ( ihink that was the photo store that took the photos). I am sure there are many great photos out there. Let's go and start the decade off with a bang. Happy New Year to all. Just remembered the Oasis club would have free drinks on New Years Eve for a time before the New Year. At least that is what I remember. Did it really happen?

New Years eve was was a great time at Kagnew. I do believe you are right that there was a round or two of free drinks before the new year. By the time the new year came in everyone at the Oasis club was out of it. The two new years I spent there was great. Going to the club with your friends always was a great night. If you did not bowel or go to the movies, you spent the night with your friend at the club. Never did has much drinking has I did then.

We had a great movie theater at Kagnew also. Saw many great movies there. It was nice because they had afternoon shows, eve shows and 1 in the morning show. So you could always catch a movie you wanted to see no matter what time you worked. An there was always the freshly popped corn that was sold. I donot remember anything else sold at the theater. Thanks for the great memory of this and all of Kagnew. I miss my friend that where there. Wish I could remember some of there names

For many of you I am sure that you remember your duty and off duty activities, but for me as a young teenager growing up and living on the old Kagnew station there were many different things...having a horse to ride...watching from a distance as the PX burned down, living in a house that was a converted night club, going to Massawa and even with our roads out here in the southwest that road from Asmara to Massawa still brings shivers to me, meeting Haile Selassie, going to a 3 room school house, celebrating the 4th of July with hard boilled eggs that were not quite hard boilled, having Dr. Bellas sew up a part of my left thumb (the scar that I carry to this day). I guess this is enough for now.

The 18 months I Sprny in Asmara were very memorable. I met friends that I have stayed in touch with for almost 50 years. I remember the golf course as if it ere yesterday. I will always remember the trip I took to Addis with 7 local guys to represent Asmara in the National Golf Tournament. A 21 year old American with a bunch of great Ethies. What fun.

Well getting sent to Kagnew was just like when I was sent to Sinop. I had to get the map out to see where it was. I was Stratcom and woked mids on the Carrier gear in the room next to the teletypes and crypto gear. I hung out with a bunch of guys from AFRTS Radio station in my off hours. I was there in 1972. I remember once a group got some supplies(ac unit pipes tools wood and stuff) and we drove to Kerin to work on repairs at a hospital/clinic, and visited with a locak couple from the states that ran an orphanage there. I filled in a coupe of times on the AFRTS radio station that was fun. I bought a fixed up a FIAT 1932 sedan an drove the crazy car all over. I remember a guy bought a Lancia Fulva car, whow was that cool.

When my twin and I graduated from high school (1968) Vietnam was going pretty strong so it was either wait for the draft or join and have a little bit of choice of what we did for our time with Uncle Sam so we joined. Got talked into signing up for the Army Security Agency which sounded alot better than being a grunt. We went through basic training (Fort Jackson), Advanced Individual Training (Fort Gordon) Signal School (72B) and our first overseas tour (4th USASAFS Asmara) AFRICA together. After working and partying for 18 months over there Uncle Sam decided to seperate us.

He sent me to the 7th RRFS and my twin (Brady) to Fort Devens where he stayed about 4 months and where it also snowed several times while he was there. So he put in a 1049 for Vietnam which they ready processed. He arrived there in December of '70 and was stationed at the 224th Avaition (BearCat) just outside of Saigon.
In working in the CommCenter at Operations I had access to the "Class A" phones there. So when "at work" I would call him to see what he was up to.
The hardest part was getting pass the Vietnamese phone operators in Saigon. The first time I called I asked the operator for the 224th and she says "you mean BearCat"? Not knowing they used cover names I said "no I want the 224th" whereas she said again "you mean BearCat"? That time I said "yes" and was connected to the CommCenter at the 224th.
After calling him "a few times" all I had to do was ask for Brady and (if he wasn't working) they would go get him so we could talk for awhile at Uncle Sams expense (of course)

In God We Trust,
All Others We Monitor!
ASA - Army Security Agency

Just thinking about my first tour in Asmara (48-50). It was drilled into us about how classified our work and assignments were. I am sitting at a Pos collecting dits and dahs, looked out
the ground level window and there was one of our native security guards staring back at me.. Another memory, Burning classified trash in an open pit with the wind blowing classified residue all over th place. An excellent tour and it led me to believe that the whole Army was that way, I think I was mistaken; however, I stayed in for 22 years.

I have just been thinking about Tract C. We had our own pets, remember Virginia Deary (VD) the gazelle, David the dickless Dik Dik (female), and Sarge the large tortoise, my favorite. I remember taking the bus (green ?) out to the site. I remember burn bag detail. The snack bar where if you were on guard duty,you either walked around the site between the fences or sat in the snack bar and watched the indigenous personnel (the Ethiopian cooks from the Oasis Club). I loved the hamburgers and fries. This was where we worked and it was very memorable. Different rooms, different jobs and always copying 24/7. Who would think that these memories would linger on for over 45 years. Thanks Kagnew.

My father was James Hawkins stationed at Kagnew twice,in the early 60,s and late 60,s. To me it was a beautiful place. In the early sixties it was a little frightning. We lived off base on the Kasibanda,our windows and doors all had metal shutters that were closed and locked every night six foot fence around the yard with three foot of barbed wire one gaurd dog and a night watchman. I remember our school bus was a big canvis covered military truck with two M.P.,s helping us get into the back every morning. The second trip there we lived on track A just inside the main gate. The people at Kagnew were so friendly they made you feel like family.I am glad I had the experience of living there and meeting all these wonderful people.

I wish I would have taken a little more time to smell the coffee while I was in Eritrea.
I do remember the women roasting beans and the rich smell everywhere, but didn't like espresso back then.
Now it is a daily event at my house.
Rich smells and wonderful memories have enriched my life

Rick, your blog site is great for bringing back old memories and reading other teresting tales.
I recall Radio Marina(1948) and drinking a lot of unknown, (at east to me) beers. Also, heading down to Massawa to unload the ship with our many cases of these unknown beers, (withother critical essentials).Having surplus beer was gret as we were able to trade with the British for their ration of Gin.
Their supply of beer was very limited; hoever, they did have an abundance of Gin.
I member drinking Maloti beer with quite a few unknown objects floating in the bottle.

As with most of you, my first memories of Kagnew seem to be the most lasting, but every post I read, or picture I see, on this site brings back more and more memories. There are many - arriving by plane from Frankfurt at the old Quanset Hut Terminal with the dirt floor, the kids with faces covered with flies, the trip back up the hill with my car from Massawa driving on the wrong side of the road, the day we changed to driving on the right and the notice that was passed around that the change would take place over a seven day period, with the side you drove on optional for that seven days, the night the unexpected rains came while the roof was off the receiver building at Tract B and the whole place was flooded (but we kept passing traffic), the nearly year long softball seasons, the smell of zigini and wat, the heat at Massawa, the trip to Axum in a convoy of Land Rovers from Special Services, the trip to Kenya with a friend from Tract B and one from the Navy CommSta. Lots and Lots of memories. I certainly thank you all for this site. I discovered it while looking for the coordinates for Kagnew Station so I could locate it in Google Earth. Glad to see this site so active.

So here I was passing some time before the games begin this afternoon and just for laughs I downloaded Google Earth and went looking for Asmara. The map is pretty detailed but I couldn't seem to locate Kagnew or any remnants so I Googled Kagnew and this site pops up. What blast from the past. All the memories thanks to all the comments. I was there from July '65 to January '67. My memories include things like the dik dik that begged for cigarettes, the halfway house halfway down the moutain and the incredible lemonade they made, monastery mountain near Nefasit where Andy and I got lost, the temperatures on the beach near Massawa dropping to a crisp 100 degrees at night, the '53 (or was it '54?) Chevy convertible that Pete (the pollock) and I owned. Did anyone figure out the GPS coords for Kagnew?

Just saw Dick Hoge's comments, remember him well. I was the guy who got lost on monastery mountain with Dick. I remember coming down and seeing two guys yelling to each other on the hills, an Ethie walking the hills with an ox. Lucky since I was a new guy and he was an old timer he knew some Ethie. We finally got a ride with a truckdriver about 5 k's down from Nefasit. We stayed over in Nefasit. I will never forget. If Hoge is checking images on Kagnew he will see the ad that he left when he was selling his chevy. Just wondering if he remembers going down the mountain when we welded a can opener on the bumper and had to stop to open our beers. Great memories.

Just thought of one of the most important things we did when we left Kagnew. Of course the short timers party at the Oasis Club. That was great but the thing I remember was trying to be the last one on to the plane at the airport and giving the flop to Ethiopia. I remember when one guy left, a male steward on the Ethiopian Plane came back out and did the flop himself. What a way to leave, and now I am sure there are a bunch of us who would love to return even for a couple of days. Since we probably will never do that, it sure is great to have the Kagnew homepage to reminisce and relive with the help of fellow "Kagnewites", the place in the clouds.

Ok, the memeories fade sometimes. It was Borruso that I got lost with on Monastery Mountain. Remember Miller beer? It was the only US beer that we could get in bottles because they hadn't started to can it yet.

Just remembered the bus we would take out to Tract C. It was the Bluebird. Also I forgot but remembered the duties we pulled in the barracks. CQ and CQ runner. Thanks again to Dick Hoge for remembering it was me who got lost with him coming down from Monastery Mountain. Thinking back now, it was scary, but I never realized how things could have gotten worse with the Shifties back then. Thanks again Kagnew for the memories.

Looking for Kagnews on google Earth was how I found this ite also. the most reliable coordinates that I have been abvle to come up with are 15degrees,19minutes and 47.67seconds north by 38 degrees, 55 minutes, 14.11 seconds east
but it looks nothing like I remember it from 1963....

If only we had known how good we had it at the time, I'm sure we would have enjoyed it even more. Young and filled with ambition, I, as probably many of you, was in a hurry to get back home.

After having suffered "sudden cardiac arrest" and having been miraculously resucusitated three times, I have now gained sufficient strength to attempt a completion of the History of AFRTS in Asmara which I began several years ago.
A great new source has found me through this site, Rev. Peter C. Richards. We've spoken again today. He served two stints there and, then, in 1994 he and his wife returned and did mission work under the guise of optical services until forced out by the government in 2004.

I see some wonderful new "scrapbooks" since my last visit and thank those who have added photos from the radio and TV operations. Hopefully, even more will discover this project and contribute to the history, which after all, encompasses the U. S. Army's "first" broadcast TV station.

Thank you for your patience Rick! I'm continuously amazed at what you've accomplished for us. /s/ Sam

SamHale@gmail.com

I got off of Shemya in June, 1968, & got assigned to Vint Hills Farms Station . At the time, it was merely a dumping ground for excess SIGINTER’s. I wanted to get out of there quick since I still had two years left in the ASA. I got lucky to get assigned to a trick in the “BARN” with a guy named John Huertebese (sp?), and his friend Herb, who were short timing it to ETS, out of a place called Kagnew Station. We palled around quite a bit and he said to put in a DA 1049 (now called DA Form 4187) for Kagnew. He said he was known as “Atah Scissorass” there, and he told be to tell everyone there to go “piss up a rope.”

I got to Kagnew in December, 1968, and got on a trick headed by SSG Art Jones, and got OJT’d by Steve Weigel (now retired CSM) and Jim Taylor out of Houston. They showed me the old “ASA Super tune” skills and I was “good to go” in MOS (059) 05K20 H2 NMSD. Those were the good old days and the next 28 years in the Army (INSCOM) were never the same.

Terry Hicks, former SP5
ASA ’66-’70 Kagnew late ’68 – mid 1970 Tract C.
CWO3 USA, RET 05K, 05H, 05D

it is good to hear some of the comments of dear old Kagnew. i was there 69-72 and worked at tract c as an 05k20. i was married and lived off base. i remember all the good friends i met and their wives. we took many trips together to keren, massawa and just drives to the surrounding area. we all had motocycles and went to places i am sure we should not have been. kagnew was truly the hilite of my army career. i would like to hear from anyone who might remember me. thanks for the chance to hear the stories.

I WAS A SEA BEE IN LEAVE TO SEE DAD A U.N. WORK ER IN ADDIS DID YOUR PX SELL GUNS & AMMO

Just been thinking about Kagnew and here is what came to mind. I remember that there was a time when they shut off the water to the barracks. No showes no flushing. I remember no potable water at Tract C. I remember burnbag details, I remember the snack bar at Tract C, meals being brought in when I was on Mids. Life at Kagnew was far from normal, yet it really was a good time. Just some thoughts are you wondering about some too. Let us know.

I served at Kagnew Station durning 1954 to April 1957. I was NCOIC of the old Kagneu Station Hospital. I served with Maj Bellas , who later was later a full Col. I also served with Capt Grahm, MD. I remember Martin G. Miser who is listed as #467.

I served at Kagnew Station durning 1954 to April 1957. I was NCOIC of the old Kagneu Station Hospital. I served with Maj Bellas , who later was later a full Col. I also served with Capt Grahm, MD. I remember Martin G. Miser who is listed as #467.

Yes: I remember when they turned the water off to the barracks during part of the day. You stayed away from the barracks at that time, if you were off work. This was 66/67 when I was there.

Thanks for confirming. I was there from July 66 Through July 68. There are probably many things we tend to forget, but it sure is fun remembering about our Kagnew days. I remember going down the mountain and stopping at the halfway house, anybody have some pictures of how it looked. To me it was like a reststop on a long drive. I am sure it was just a small place on our long drive. If you have pictures get them to Rick it is great seeing visual reminders. Didn't know it then, but we were really at an Oasis of our lives. Of course that is just one man's opinion. What's yours? Thanks again Rick for a great site. I also remember going down the mountain before the rainy season and seeing an Ethiopian riding a camel on a dry desert path under a bridge on the main road. After the rainy season I saw a fast moving river. Did I imagine that or were my eyes really seeing it?

I really don't remember much of my time at Kagnew and before Kagnew, I was on Shemya. I recently got in touch with someone who said I should post a part of my email on here. I don't know if it will be interesting to anyone else, but her it is.

Just to show that it is really a small world. My brother lives in Indiana and he served in Iraq. When he returned in Dec. 2005 he sent me an email. Here is a small portion.

I was Demobilizing and met a buddy of yours in Indiana from Ethiopia. Anyway he knew my records said I was from Indiana, but he asked if I knew a Tom Trussell from New Orleans. I said I think so , he is my brother ... he liked to fell out of the chair and was more than pleased.

That was Jim Hinds.

I left Shemya on 28 April 1968, but didn't get to Kagnew until October. I went home on leave to New Orleans and was waiting for my port call. After 30 days I still didn't have it. I took my records to the Naval Base and they arranged for me to be paid. I stayed home a couple of more weeks when my mother got worried an called a recruiter. They had me go to Fort Polk, where at first they thought I was AWOL. Once they had heard my story, seen my records and called Shemya, they figured that I wasn't AWOL. I hadn't received a port call because I hadn't applied for a passport and there was nothing in the paperwork saying that I had to. They said that they would fix the problems and assigned me to the barracks where they had people awaiting court martial, but didn't need to be in the stockade. I was working in the office doing paperwork. A couple of weeks after I got there, my uncle (5 months older and had just gotten back from Nam), was assigned to Fort Polk as a truck driver. At the same time, my no-good cousin was assigned to the barracks awaiting court martial for punching a Lieutenant. For some reason, it took them 4 months to get me out of there. During that 4 months, my uncle and I were in New Orleans on a 3-day pass every weekend. It was a rough life.

Spent 26 months at Kagnew1956-58,mostly at old post.SFC Chabot was motor Sgt. and Capt.Kisch was Trns.Off.Can;t forget trips to Massawa,Cheren,Axum,and hunting trip with Holy Name Society to Adua.Lived in HQ barrascks next to motor Pool.There weren;t many of us then,but was like a big family. Hard to relate to those that arrived after 1958,too many changes. We had our troubles- fire that destroyed PX,movie house,and library.Hauling water due to shortage in Asmara,forcing a dress code on us,had to wear string ties and jackets,we weren;t as bad off as the MPs, though they had to wear class A's and Sam Brown belts,but good times were had by all,Fiore Alpino and Melloti,were always available.

Some quick things I remember when I first got to Kagnew. As a new guy, we were called "Normans". Then going to the site, where when we finally got our new badge with our picture on it, someone would grab it and everyone would get "Face" from it. Then maybe at the site, we were sent for the "Nil Call Sign Book" or to get an average count of the "chads" per room. Maybe a window cleaning detail. (no windows at the site). I also remember watching a movie at the "Bird" when one of the guys in a beach movie said they were going to "jump" someone. Also maybe you were the "unlucky one" who may have had everybody "clap" for you when you came to the "bird" at a midnight show, we know what that meant. We had so many words that meant something else to us as Kagnewites. Anybody else remember any of them?

I remember my first day at work. I was in tape relay. One of the first things I was told was we had to find assholes. I looked at my fellow worker like he was nuts. Then he told me what they where and what we were going to use them for. I was welcome into the group from the start. Those were the days

Greetings, I was in ASA, Stonehouse fixing the computers from 69 to 71 and a year with Radiation, Inc a division of Harris Inter-type. My wife came over from the states and we got married downtown and in the chapel. Had the whole trick at the reception in the NCO club. Names I remember, Lenny Ellis, Cathy Hoff, Ed Rabine, Ferrel Shanks, BF Rutherford. There was Mike(?) the motorcycle guy always in a cast. The trip to the Blue Niles Falls. So many good memories.

Stonehouse, Track A, Track Z, whatever, these are all strange names to me. I spent 24 months at Radio Marina in the early 1950's when there were only about 250 of us (ASA, Sig. Corp., and about a dozen Navy EM's). No amenities whatsoever, other than the Oasis Club, and whatever fun we made for ourselves.

I arrived in Asmara near the end of Oct, 1967 and extended for six months. I spent most of it at Tract C except for about four months when I was in the comm center at Stonehouse. I spent a lot of time with the SIM missionaries. I ran eight laps around the track where the on post housing was located almost every day. That was about three miles, and I eventually got to go to Turkey to compete in the Mediterranean Sports Conference championship in Ankara, Turkey. I think I crossed paths with Jerry English. He had just come in, and they moved the computer in Stonehouse (3 feet I think). He spent a long time repairing it.

Sometimes just sitting around, your mind will drift to Kagnew Memories. Well, I remember when we would sign out on Pass, I still think we did, that there might be a green box by the sign out book, In the box there was an item "silver-tex", if I remember correctly. We all know what it was, what it was supposed to be used for. Not too many people used it for the correct use. Instead I believe we bloused our Fatigues/Boots. I know that that was probably the main use. Am I wrong? I think not.

Just my mind working again and remembering Kagnew Station, I remember playing Double Deck Pinochle at the Service Club on Saturdays and Sundays with my favorite partner Phil Carter. Always tried to locate him but to no avail. I also remember playing Double Deck Pinochle at the Oasis Club so many days I could not count and with many other Kagnewites as my partner. I always enjoyed playing, so now when I saw that they played at the Senior Center where I live in Huntington Beach, Ca. I was overjoyed. I play every Tuesday and Friday and it brings back the memories. If you would ask where you learned to play Double Deck Pinochle to the guys that play, the answer would always be the same, "In the Service". So I thank you Kagnew for giving me that little something that keeps me remembering.

I was stationed at Kagnew from October 56 to December 57. Discharged 12-19-57. As with WWII vets that want to go visit where they fought, I to would like to visit Asmara again. I was in HQ Co working in the personnel office as keeper of the officer's records. Thing I remember the most was taking lots of pictures with an Exata camera that I bought there and going to Axum. At the time I was visiting Axum I was told that a brick building there held The Ark of the Covenant. Asked if we could see it the guide said you would die if you looked upon it. Being a good Catholic, I had no idea what he was talking about. Years later when I started studying the bible, I realized that I was about 3 feet from the Ark, if indeed it was there. I took a few pictures of the building, that I still have on 35mm slides. Recently bought a scanner, so that I can get them onto my computer and posted fro all to see, with my many other pictures. My most sad part was not going on a photography safari to Nairobi with a friend. By mistake he got a early discharge, I didn't want to go alone.
The picture I have posted here is me on the left and Jerry Warden on the right. Last year I tracked down Jerry who only lives about 5 hours from me in W Va. We met for lunch after not seeing or hearing from each other for 52 years. To see us 52 yrs later and a couple shots from the NCO club, go to: www.pbase.com/silfox53/asmara This is where I will be posting my slides. If anybody else remembers me, I would love to hear from you. I am now 75.

Yet another big THANK-YOU to Rick Fortney for having added a new draft of my Chronicles of Armed Forces Radio & TV in Asmara, Eritrea. I would appreciate your reviewing it and providing any feedback, additions and, especially photos (which will soon be added). Its found under the first AFRTS History tab. /s/ Sam

I too have fond memories of Kagnew. I was stationed there in Mar 1971 to Apr of 1972. I lived on Tract C.I was in the ASA. I used to love to go into Asmara. I thought it was a great city full of history.