This story is so amazing ...

This story is so amazing, it may make for interesting reading on our Blog. I picked up Martha Hassler Hammond today, on our way to our lunch with other CHS '59ers at The Picnic in Nashville.

We hadn't spoken in 50+ years. In the car, we started talking about where our lives have taken us since graduating from City in '59. The first thing Martha said was, she went to Vanderbilt. I told her I did my first year of college at the Univ. of Chattanooga, and I then transferred to Vandy.

Then, Martha tells me she is a nurse, and that she served 22 years as a Flight Nurse in the Tennessee Air National Guard in Nashville, and she retired as a Lt. Col. Her husband, John, was a pilot in the TN ANG. Shocked, I then told her that I served in a number of capacities in the Tennessee Air National Guard in Nashville for 25 years, and that I, too, retired as a Lt. Col. Well, we couldn't believe it.

I'm sure our paths must have crossed, but neither of us can be sure.

Martha has decided not to attend our reunion next month in Chattanooga, because of the physical demands. Isn't it wonderful, that after all these years, friends and classmates can still get together, and share memories and experiences, and plan even more get-togethers, in the months and years to come. Who could have imagined that our two lives could have had such parallels over the years.

Alvin Fox

A postscript: Col. Martha Hassler Hammond served as flight nurse on C141s flying soldiers wounded in Vietnam back home through Japan. She was also flight nurse on many Mercy Missions though the years. She doesn't do e-mail but her number in Nashville is 615/298-4621 should you want to thank her for her service to this country.