Russian Lullaby—
Do the Russian leaders really want peace or to lull us into a sense of false security?
We Americans want to believe that the Kremlin peace overtures are sincere. We hope that the Soviet government genuinely desires to settle the differences between East and West in a peaceful manner over the conference table.
But, while we listen willingly to any of their peace proposals, we must not let ourselves be lulled into a sense of false security. Not while the Kremlin still has about 1000 long-range bombers which can strike any part of the United States.
Our Air Force and Army Anti-Aircraft defenses are on round-the-clock duty guarding against the threat of enemy air attack. But they need the help of an active and alert Ground Observer Corps to spot low-flying enemy planes that might sneak under our radar network.
So, if you are not already one of the 300,000 civilian volunteer plane spotters in the Ground Observer Corps, join now. Remember, so long as the Iron Curtain exists we must always be on guard. Never forget that eternal vigilance is still the price of liberty.
—Newspaper post in January 1955
First a bit of history...The United States created two Ground Observer Corps. First, during World War II as a part of the Civil Defense Program of the US Army Air Forces and the second, in 1950, prompted by a similar organization, the RCAF in Canada, during the Cold War as an arm of the US Air Force Civil Defense Service. The GOC supplemented the Lashup Radar Network and the Permanent System radar systems.
In 1952, the GOC expanded and was renamed Operation Skywatch with 750,000 volunteers, ages 7 to 86 years of age working in shifts at over 16,000 posts For ten years, these volunteers looked to the sky with their naked eye and recorded the aircraft overhead, reporting them to a filtering station which then relayed the information to the Air Defense Command ground control interception centers. As the GOC and Operation Skywatch ended in 1958 with the advent of automated Army and Air Force radar systems, GOC volunteers were encouraged to continue as members of the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES).
This is a close up of the FOR MERIT medal awarded to volunteers. As they served for more and more hours, that center section was updated:
Greenwood was one of those 16,000 posts. Surprised? Local families served as observers. The Murray family provided the post building and quite a large number of volunteers. One of those tourist cabins used for guests when the Murray Station was JE Armstrong & Son became the hub for the Greenwood post. The Lamphier family out on Rock Creek also participated as observers. Why Greenwood? The nearby Corning Glass Works was producing parts for the US military and was deemed in need of protection during the Cold War. When the GOC expanded in 1952, the Greenwood post and these families responded to the call for volunteers to help protect that facility. For more information on the Corning’s innovation, see here: https://www.corning.com/emea/en/innovation/culture-of-innovation/the-history-of-corning-innovation.html
Stanley Murray and Stan Jr outside the post hub.
The post hub contained a desk with a phone and a chair where whomever was “on duty” would hangout waiting for a plane to fly over. Don’t know if it was the GOC’s rule or just Stanley Murray’s; however, the Murray kids only earned credit for hours served when they actually stayed at the post hub. My dad, John Murray, shared that as the GOC shut down operations in 1958, he was just shy of 500 hours served. His family racked up hours in the 1000s. Ellen with 750 or more, Catherine, at least 250, Stan Jr and Sally, had their shares and Margaret and Stanley, countless as they were on duty while the kids were in school.
Here is my dad, John Murray, with his merit medal, unearthed in his jewelry box after 60 plus years.
The Lamphiers monitored from home, from the school, wherever they were. As Janet (Lamphier) Jackson shared, “I spent a lot of time helping my dad at the school, and we would hear a plane, record the information and I would run down to the post hub at the Murray Station to call it in.”
Speaking of calling it in. This is how my dad described that collect call, “Hello Blanche, please connect me with the United States Air Force Defense Command Ground Control.” Of course, Blanche had a lot of the information right there in front of her as many of the observers were children. As noted above, the youngest known was 7 years old; that very well could have been Stan Murray Jr. Once ground control interception station personnel picked up, “This is post… John Murray speaking, we have a single engine identified with...and they would fill in the number from the wing of the plane...flying East.” While dad can remember a lot of the telephone numbers in town, he does not remember their post number. I am thinking maybe Blanche provided it more often than not when she connected the call so the kids did not have to.
You may be thinking, how could those kids just sit and stare at the walls in that cabin waiting for a plane to fly over. They didn’t always. As they served mostly after school and on the weekends, they may have finished up their homework. Yeah, I laughed too when that was mentioned. Yes, Ellen and Sally, I can see it. But, come on...the boys, I don’t think so. You could find them playing out back of the station, killing time waiting.
On a normal day, there may have been a crowd of kids pushing each other around on this old “woody” station wagon frame. John Murray described it as a totalled car that they stripped down to the frame, steering wheel, and tires. Then they added a couple of crates for seats. Now it was a big ol’ toy. A couple kids in the crates and a few more pushing it around and around the station. Some days you may have found Stan Jr, Brian Waite, Curt (Erskin) Waite, Catherine, and even Sally and Ellen Murray along with my dad, taking turns in that old car.
Once the station closed for the evening, the Murrays and I am sure the Lamphiers too, spent some time on the porch, looking to the sky with their binoculars, waiting for the tell tale sound of an engine, slip of paper and pencil in hand.
It always amazes me to hear the stories of Greenwoodians. They were hard working folk who not only volunteered for so much around town, they also found the time to volunteer for our country, as soldiers, airmen, and sailors as you have heard me tell; and to do their civic duty in ways we today may have never even known existed. The GOC was that and it fascinates me. I hope you found this tidbit interesting as well.