Stories of a Lifetime- A Collection of Fascinating True Tales

By Randall Howlett

Everyone loves a good story and telling a story is core to our existence as human beings not to mention being universal in scope. Since the dawn of civilization, it’s been a way for us to connect with each other and to later generations. This book is a collection of 24 absolutely true tales from 15 different storytellers. Most have a take-away message for the reader. The stories range from wintering-over in Antarctica, to surviving Nazi occupied Norway in WWII, to just missing being a 911 WTC victim, to nuclear bomb testing in 1960s Pacific Ocean and even one storyteller’s horrifying experience of being kidnapped by Muslim terrorists in Afghanistan. This is not your typical fictional narrative, but rather, each chapter is a reading adventure of actually true events.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Randall Howlett
• Release date: Jan 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005967543

Randall Howlett

I’m a retired American living in Bangkok. I’ve taken up writing now that I’m finished with the bar business and have written several ebooks with one also converted to audio format. Please note that I wrote Five Crazy Years under my pen name R. G. Gordin (using my middle name) whereas most all my other books are under my real name, Randall Howlett. Stay tuned as I will soon upload the following ebooks I’ve also written:- Refuse To Get Old - Living Longer & Better (in audio also on Audible.com)- Green Tea White Tea- Taking the High Road- Leadville to Vail in 100 Years

Book preview

Copyright © 2021 Randall Howlett

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or in any means – by electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without prior written permission.

Acknowledgements

I wish to sincerely thank all the Storytellers,

without whom this book could not be written.

Roren Stowell

Peter Boczar

Les Strouse

Robert Tannert

Chung Truong

Kriengsak Khasrithong

Lt. General Bunchon

WIlliam Place, Jr.

Charles Hubbard

Yolradee Berry

Charles Troxel

Wayne Trujillo

Ha Tran

Robert Howlett

Tove Rudd Howlett

Foreword

R

andall Howlett is

a great storyteller, whether telling his own stories or re-telling those of others. So, I was excited to hear about his upcoming book, Stories of a Lifetime. It’s a compilation of unique stories by unique characters living in diverse places during interesting times. Typically, they also involve a dose of danger. What also makes the collection so special is that Randall does more than simply capture peoples’ chronicles. He adds his own personal insight and perspective, be it historical or scientific.

Did you know that ricin, a favorite assassin’s poison, comes from castor beans? The same beans that provide the castor oil your mom spooned you as a kid to soothe your upset stomach. Did you know that tornados are not just a Wizard of Oz phenomenon in Kansas or the Midwest, but also occur in some of the most unexpected places around the world? Or that criminal execution by the sword in the Middle East is a family tradition, requiring specialized training?

Randall grew up in Norway, Spain, Germany and throughout the US. After attending universities in Colorado and California, a stint as a captain in the US Marine Corps, and a successful career in business, he retired to Bangkok, where he bought and managed a go-go bar in Patpong. Randall recounts that experience in his non-fiction memoirs, Five Crazy Years; a practical, business nuts-and-bolts description of managing a go-go bar as a legitimate business enterprise with bottom line results, all while doing so in an exciting and exotic part of the world. The book is written under his pseudonym, R. G. Gordin.

I met Randall about a year ago in Bangkok working as a volunteer guide at the Patpong Museum. The first of its kind, it’s a proper museum dedicated to the heritage of the Patpong nightlife area and all the history and stories that go along with it. Randall came across as a mild-mannered, humble narrator totally out of character with Patpong’s cowboy culture, but immediately impressed me as natural but formidable and savvy storyteller who describes the details with an insider’s authority. Learning later that he also served in the US Marines humbled me.

Given Randall’s worldwide experience, it goes without saying that he has a few stories of his own to tell. But Stories of a Lifetime also features a potpourri of characters, events and experiences, from flying clandestine missions with Air America in Laos during the 1960s, nuclear bombs accidentally falling from a NATO bomber over Spain, and his friend getting kidnapped by militants in Afghanistan, to name just a few. And my personal favorite, the story of his father, a career US Air Force sergeant who engaged with the KGB, but as a double agent for the American side. Unfortunately, doing so for twelve years, he had to keep the whole matter secret, receiving little recognition or reward.

Therefore, Stories is not just your usual straightforward narrative. It’s very much an exciting reading adventure.

Peter Boczar

Author, Searching for Uncle Larry: A Missing Airplane Mystery

Contents

Foreword

Introduction: Beauty and Benefits of Storytelling

1. Living in The Past

2. A Question of Balance

3. Looking for a Liberator

4. Stamping Out the Boogeyman

5. Wild Times in MacTown

6. Starting Over Again

7. Our Own Double Agent

8. Against All Odds

9. Where is Julie Cunningham?

10. Telling Ghost Stories

11. They Say That Time Heals

12. Know Your Enemy

13. The Wrong Path Taken

14. Uncle Bill Burma Sniper

15. The Impetuosity of Youth

16. Life and Death in the Desert

17. Devil Down in Georgia

18. Laugh and Bear It: Part 1

19. Above All Clouds

20. Semper Fidelis Remembered

21. By Chance or by Design

22. Days of Broken Arrows

23. Truth Often Lies Buried

24. Laugh and Bear It: Part 2

Epilogue: Eternal Passage of Time

About Me

References (Chapter 23)

Introduction:

Beauty and Benefits of Storytelling

The need to tell and hear stories is essential to homo sapiens, second in necessity after nourishment and before love and shelter. Millions of people survive without love or a home…almost none do so in silence.

Reynolds Price - American poet, novelist

E

veryone loves a

good story, and telling a story is core to our existence as human beings, not to mention being universal in scope. Since the dawn of civilization, it’s been a way for us to connect with each other and to later generations. While often entertaining in nature, stories are also educational and can elicit a variety of emotions while reinforcing key aspects of our culture. They provide and reinforce moral lessons that enhance social cohesion.

I conceived the idea for this book after thinking of the many things that I really wanted to tell about my own life which, aside from friends or relatives, would never become known. I would take those memories and life experiences to my grave and they would be lost forever. I thought, what a loss that would really be. I also realized that other people of my generation might feel similarly, and I’ve asked those I know to share their tales so others could enjoy and benefit from them as well. A few of the stories in this book are fairly short and several are quite lengthy, but every single one of them have one thing in common. They are all true...from the standpoint of the storyteller.

Almost all the stories herein also have a moral take-away. Some are quite apparent while others are less obvious, hidden within the context of the overall narrative. So, gather around and we’ll get started. I have some interesting stories to tell you.

1. Living in The Past

S

ometimes after reading

a book or watching a movie, we may imagine ourselves living in another era, a different time and place. We might wonder, what would life really be like back then? Maybe better or possibly worse, but it would certainly be different. Of course, we have the advantage now of looking back in hindsight, so we know how various events in history eventually turned out. What was it really like back when the world turned the corner into the 20th century, about the same time as when the first Olympic games began?

About 120 years ago, America had its own speedsters just as we do today. In that earlier era, some were held up as being the fastest man on earth. Sprinting was a relatively simple activity, not so different from what it is today. One simply needs to run and do so as fast as they can. They did have some odd distances, however, such as the 250, 300 and 500 yards, which eventually fell by the wayside as accepted events. Even yards gave way to meters. which became the universally endorsed measurement. Lon Myers was considered the greatest sprinter of the 19th century while Archie Hahn was said to be the best during the early 20th century. They are shown respectively left and right in the images below. Myers was maybe the first in the lineage of noteworthy early sprinters. Born in 1858, for over 21 years he garnered 28 national championships and set 11 world records ranging in distances from 50 yards to 1 mile. It’s really unheard of nowadays to have a sprinter also run the middle-distance events since sprints are anaerobic and the longer events require endurance beholden to a different body type and running style. But Myers ran them all.

Myers was also the first person to break 50 seconds in the quarter mile, which is essentially one complete lap around a standard track. At a later race, he clocked 49.5 while running the last 120 yards without his right shoe, which had suddenly come off. On another occasion, a well-known British sprinter boasted while challenging Myers to a quarter-mile duel. On the final stretch of their race, Myers was seen running sideways while yelling at the Brit, Could you run a bit faster, please? Myers won that race by a 5-yard margin. He would go on to set the world record in the 100 yards at 10.0 seconds in 1880, having run 22.75 in the 220 a year earlier. The latter time would be subsequently lowered to 22.5, yet another world record. Unfortunately, Lon Myers in later years could not outrun sickness and poor health and he died at the relatively young age of 41 in 1899. He wouldn’t see the next century but was later honored by being inducted into the US Track & Field Hall of Fame.

Other well-known speedsters coming after Lon Myers were Thomas Burke, Robert Kerr and Nate Cartmell. Archie Hahn, as a 23-year-old, ran 11.0 seconds in the 100 meters at the 1904 Olympics and 11.2 at the 1906 Olympics. At the 1908 Olympics in London, Robert Kerr won the men’s 200 meters at 22.6, edging Robert Cloughen having the same time, followed by Nate Cartmell at 22.7 seconds and George Hawkins at 22.9. The photo at the beginning of this chapter shows, left to right, Cloughen, Kerr, Cartmell and Hawkins breaking the tape in an exciting finish of the 200 final.

Sprinters were running meter distances by now instead of yards, with 220 yards pretty much being the same as 200 meters. A 100 meters race, however, is about 110 yards in length, so one needs to add another 0.9 seconds onto a 100 yards time to make the adjustment. These accomplishments were made largely by university-age men who were hand timed while running on a cinder track. The 200 meters was typically run back then on a full straightaway until the track curve was later introduced, adding about .2 seconds onto the time. Most times began dropping by the 1920s and definitely by the time Jesse Owens came around in the early 1930s. Today, world class sprinters greatly benefit by having fast synthetic tracks, accu-track electronic timing, and sophisticated training regimens with experienced coaches.

However, they often say sprinters are primarily born, not made, and in the short distances you can only improve just so much with training. As the world population grows, the chances become greater that you’ll find more top-notch, natural-born sprinters competing—sprinters with that optimum combination of muscle twitch, stride frequency and stride length. Fast twitch muscles are best for short, intense and explosive activities, like sprinting. It’s something you’re born with and it diminishes as one approaches the age of 30. Once in a great while, someone uniquely talented will come along who has all the key requirements and also something more. A prime example today would be Usain Bolt who, at 6 ft 5 inches and 207 lbs, is the tallest sprinter ever; the typical height for world class sprinters is around 5’11’’. With height, of course, comes longer legs and an increased stride, which in Usain’s case is 10% longer than that of other sprinters. In fact, Bolt can cover 100 meters with only 41 steps to, let’s say, Tyson Gay having to take 45. His increased weight, being proportionate to his height, is also an advantage as experts today contend a key aspect of sprinting is also the power with which each foot strikes the ground. The smaller Tyson Gay is no slouch, having taken silver and setting an American record the same day Bolt broke his own world record. It’s just that a very talented Usain Bolt also had a height and weight advantage.

But let’s now go back to where we started, that being over a hundred plus years ago. While researching the first few Olympic Games, I became interested in the quality and accomplishments of the athletes back then. The first modern Olympic Games actually took place in 1896 in, of course, Athens. It was a great success with 14 nations competing in 43 events. Sixty-five percent of the athletes happened to be Greek, but the US would end up taking home most of the gold medals. The initial thinking was to hold the games every four years in Athens, but Paris had already planned to host the 1900 games, so using different cities every gathering became the norm. The next few Olympics suffered by being conjoined with other world expositions. Then, the 1908 games took place in the city of London. It had been originally planned for Rome, but nearby Mount Vesuvius erupted two years before, forcing a change in venue. Fortunately, London would have enough time to get ready.

The 1908 Olympic Games were noteworthy in several respects. First of all, it was the longest games by taking place over a period of six months, since it included some winter events such as ice skating as well. It was also the Olympics where, during the opening ceremonies, the United States flag bearers refused to dip the flag when passing by King Edward VII. A fellow athlete, also an Irish American, supposedly exclaimed, This flag dips to no earthly king. These games would now have 22 nations competing in 110 events, one of which happened to be the Tug of War, an interesting contest which would actually remain an Olympic event until 1920. In 1908, however, it only involved a total of five nations which could enter up to three teams each. The British, however, were the only nation to enter three teams, helping them sweep the top three medals in the final round.

Another historical event was the marathon, which had just been lengthened to 26 miles from the usual 25. This 1908 race would go down in history as a diminutive Dorando Pietri, from Italy, would initiate a late-stage surge at the 24-mile mark, overtaking the leader. When he re-entered the stadium, he was suffering extreme fatigue and dehydration while most weaker men would have simply stopped at that point. But not Pietri who, while still running, became disoriented and started running the wrong way. When the umpires redirected him, he soon fell down and they assisted him up. They helped him up four more times to cross the finish line, where he still finished first. The American team immediately lodged a complaint due to the help Pietri received, and he was disqualified. He did win over the hearts of the crowd, however, with Queen Alexandra giving him a gilded silver cup, believing it wasn’t his doing that caused the disqualification. Dorando Pietri, in subsequent years, would go on to become an international celebrity for having shown the world the true heart of an Olympic athlete.

I myself went to a small mountain high school near Vail, Colorado, which had about 30 students in its 1971 graduating class. We had no track and no coach or training regimen to speak of. Not even a set of starting blocks to practice starts with. Training would entail going down to the asphalt road leading up to the school and running my own sprint drills on the straight section. Frankly, we weren’t really sure how long that stretch was. Probably about 80 to 100 yards, maybe even a little longer. Anyway, my best 100-yard time that year as an 18-year-old senior was 10.1 seconds (hence, 11.0 for 100 meters) and 220 time was 22.7 seconds. It did get me thinking though, if I had lived over a hundred years ago, I could have medaled at the Olympics back then, not to mention the AAU or National championships.

Would I want to have lived back then and participated in the 1904 or 1908 Olympics with the potential of achieving athletic glory and fame? Probably not, even assuming it were possible. With today’s modern medicine, technology and internet, not to mention increased longevity, I believe I’m more comfortable in the time period we’re living in now. But boy... it’s sure fun to dream about those earlier times, though.

2. A Question of Balance

A

fter the Hiroshima

and Nagasaki atomic bombs were dropped, the nuclear race with the Soviet Union was on. The US exploded a thermonuclear bomb called Ivy Mike at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands on November 1, 1952. A thermonuclear device is based on both hydrogen fusion and fission and is 1,000 times more powerful than what was dropped on Japan several years earlier. It’s more complicated to construct but is lighter in weight, meaning a missile carrying it could travel much further. Aside from the blast itself and electromagnetic pulse, a major concern is the emission of radioactive particles. Specifically, Alpha, Beta and Gamma radiation, with Gamma being the most concerning as they can penetrate very deep into most any material. Also, the radioactive fallout can be far reaching and, in some test cases, somewhat unpredictable.

The Castle Bravo test, starting in the Bikini Atoll In 1954, resulted in the worst radiological event in US history. Radiation spread over 4,200 square miles, including inhabited areas such as Rongelap and Utirk Atolls. A nearby Japanese tuna fishing boat named Lucky Dragon had its crew of 23 affected. The vessel was thought to be outside the designated danger zone but the blast was twice as