105
Item
-
Title
-
105
-
Transcription
-
TRIP TO TURKEY 1955
The flight to Washington left Denver at noon, via Chicago, where the temperature was 100 and humidity 95. It was the first ride on an airplane for Verna and Ken. Dale, Peggy and Gordon returned to Longmont, but within a week they would be going their separate ways. Dale went to Antioch College, Peggy to Ohio and Gordon returned to Nebraska Wesleyan University.
We arrive in Washington in the rain and wind, the end of a hurricane, we had a very rough ride. We spent the first night in the President Hotel, where Verna got a bad burn in the bath tub, when the hot water faucet wouldn't turn off. We rented an apartment from a friend of Peggy's who was going on a vacation, and were able to keep it for the two weeks were in Washington, D. C.
The next two weeks were spent at orientation courses, that were required of all personnel going overseas. My assignment was IRRIGATION ADVISOR to the Turkish Government (FDA), Foreign Operations Administration. It later became The Agency for International Development, and we were to be stationed in Izmir.
We left the U.S. on Sept. 3, 1955, with a stopover in Copenhagen. We then flew to Istanbul on Sept. 5th. A driver from the American Consulate met us at the airport. He was a Greek by the name of Leo, a very friendly and intelligent man who talked a lot on our way into town. When we got close to the city he became very quiet. There were crowds of people milling around in the streets and carrying clubs and signs. Obviously, something was wrong, and Leo was not telling us anything.
The slow trip into Istanbul soon came to a halt at the Galata Bridge. The police refused to let us cross the bridge and Leo left us, to find some one who would escort us to the American Consulate, while three of us were left sitting in the station wagon with the Turks milling around the car and looking in the windows as if we were monkeys in a cage.
It was at least a half hour before Leo returned, and when he did, he asked for my passport, he said he could get help if he could prove that we were Americans. We had been instructions in Washington, to hang on to those special passports, but he finally convinced me that he could get police help, so I turned my passport over to him. We reached the Consulate after driving thru streets that were strewn with refrigerators, typewriters, and many other item that were hard for the Turks to get.
-
Rights
-
To inquire about usage, please contact Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries. These images are for educational use only. Not all images are available for publication.
Metzger Memories
