(erielack) FW: Re: Surprise in 'Allies'

["Walter Smith" <wsmith5957_@_hotmail.com>]

>From: "Alfred Runte" <alfred_runte_@_msn.com>
>To: "Robert Rynerson" <rw.rynerson_@_worldnet.att.net>
>CC: "Walt Smith" <wsmith5957_@_hotmail.com>,<nancyr@truman.edu>
>Subject: Re: Surprise in 'Allies'
>Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2007 12:01:11 -0700
>
>Dear Bob,
>
>Thank you very much for sharing this.  I am passing it along to Walter
>Smith, who took the picture of the diner, and also to my publisher.
>Otherwise, I am swamped right now with several projects, but would
>appreciate the opportunity to correspond at length when you have finished
>the book.
>
>Best,
>
>Al
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Robert Rynerson" <rw.rynerson_@_worldnet.att.net>
>To: "Al Runte" <alfred_runte_@_msn.com>
>Cc: "Ed Von Nordeck" <vonnordeck-ed_@_sbcglobal.net>; <donaldl@teleport.com>
>Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2007 8:47 PM
>Subject: Surprise in 'Allies'
>
>
> > Al Runte:
> >
> > I'm midway through Allies of the Earth and finding it very interesting,
> > especially some of the Eastern material.  Of course, I'm familiar with
> > much
> > of the Western aspect of this story, but I thought you would enjoy my
> > surprise at opening the book and seeing the picture of the Lake Cities
> > diner.
> >
> > In Spring 1969 I was sent through the Personnel Management program at 
>Fort
> > Benjamin Harrison, IN in the Army, and then was in the first class in
> > years
> > that was given orders to Germany instead of Vietnam.  The Army's formula
> > for
> > leave and travel time only gave me a week to get to Fort Dix, NJ.  
>Flying
> > home to Portland, Oregon from Indianapolis and then back to Newark would
> > have used two out of the seven days that I had.  Also, we all assumed 
>that
> > after I was in Germany for too short a time, I would be sent to Vietnam,
> > with a leave in Portland and then reporting to Fort Lewis or Oakland 
>Army
> > Terminal.
> >
> > My father, Ed Rynerson, said "when the government takes over the
> > railroads,
> > the first thing they will do is to abandon the Erie-Lackawanna."  He
> > suggested that I find a way to go on it to visit my brother at Columbia,
> > and
> > then report to Fort Dix.  I knew the way to do this, because the last
> > remnant of the Big Four route went past my barracks window, the once 
>daily
> > PC train from Indianapolis to Cleveland via Marion, OH.  I inquired, and
> > learned that:
> > * Indianapolis Union Station was a Penn Central station, so they
> > refused to sell a through ticket or check baggage onto the E-L at 
>Marion,
> > but
> > * They admitted that Marion was a Union Station, with a pretty good
> > connecting schedule to the Lake Cities.
> > * I ended up buying a ticket from Indianapolis to Marion, and riding
> > the PC train: a single ex-NYC lightweight coach and a Flexi-Van.
> > * In Marion, I saw the Warren G. Harding Hotel, watched freights on
> > the N&W and C&O, and then caught the Lake Cities.
> > * To my astonishment, later on George Hilton wrote a Trains magazine
> > article about the railroad "beanery" in Marion.
> >
> > It was the best train that I rode while in the East.  I was seated for
> > breakfast about where the photo in your book was taken.  A woman seated
> > across from me treated me to breakfast because I was in uniform.  My
> > brother
> > met me at Hoboken Terminal - where our grandfather had been stationed 
>with
> > the Oregon National Guard in WWI -- and guided me underground to his 
>home
> > near 99th & Broadway in Manhattan.
> >
> > I have often thought about how most of the Vietnam veterans' stories 
>about
> > being ill-treated by their fellow Americans happened in airports.  That
> > includes my boss, who is still a bit bitter about some things like that,
> > following his return from combat experience in Vietnam.  The only 
>rudeness
> > I
> > experienced happened once in a parade crowd in San Francisco and in JFK
> > airport on my return from Germany.  I never had one of those incidents 
>on
> > trains or in train stations during my training assignments before going
> > overseas.  When I returned from Berlin via Fort Dix at the end of August
> > 1971, after not being sent to Vietnam, I had good experiences homeward 
>on
> > the slapped together early Amtrak system, with people buying me meals,
> > drinks, etc. all the way from Grand Central Terminal to Portland.
> >
> > I'll continue into your more specialized chapters with anticipation.
> >
> > -- rwr -
> >
> > Robert Rynerson
> > Denver, Colorado
> >
> > 1964-68 Lewis & Clark College and rides to visit friends in California 
>and
> > Oregon points on the Shasta Daylight and the Cascade, as well as the San
> > Joaquin Daylight. Excursion trains from Portland, trips on the Northern
> > Lines and Canadian National as far east as Chicagoland and Winnipeg.
> > 1968 - Fort Lewis, WN and the NP Pool train 408 home at Christmas
> > 1969 - Fort Ord, CA and the SP Del Monte on weekend passes
> > 1969 - Fort Ben Harrison, IN and the PC Big Four lines and the Spirit of
> > St.
> > Louis in a commuter coach-complete with advertising cards for New Jersey
> > banks
> > 1969 - Berlin Brigade Rail Transportation Office
> > 1969-71 - G-2 Division Special Project
> >
> > Essay website:
> > Rails to Berlin <http://rails_to_berlin.home.att.net>
> >
>
>

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