Cabin Fever sends me on a virtual trip

1956-59
Ladd Air Force Base, near Fairbanks, Alaska








I can see from the aerial photograph I swiped from Google Earth that the configuration of the barracks matches a photograph I remember seeing in my parents slide collection. My parents are in the street with our friends the Hannons, who had seven children. My mom, pregnant with me, is wearing a plaid maternity smock and very pointy, dark sunglasses. She turns to the camera and smiles, her mouth painted with the bright red lipstick she always wore. My dad must have taken the picture; some of the Hannon kids are playing in the background, their parents mugging for the camera. They would remain our closest friends throughout our military life, and after - right up until the day my father died, fourteen years ago today.