Greg and the Statue of Liberty

The top on the ferry, the middle the Statue en route, and then me standing on the base of the Statue.  After the climb all of the way to the top, my calves were sore for days.

 

As I mentioned, I must have left NYC for Binghamton and then back to Minot.  Pat and Sandra would change residences in the winter and move to Florida.  I lost track of them after that.  This was, of course, the era of land lines only, so when someone moved and shut off phone service, you could not keep track of them as easily.

 

I don't know whether they continued working for TWA after the strike or if they stayed with TWA until even after it was bought up by American Airlines.

While I was able to find Beth and Den Zito on Face book, though she has not responded to my friend request over the past week, I doubt it Pat would be involved with a social network like Face book.

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Pat Byrne & Greg atop the Chrysler Building, 1976

As you can see, Pat was having no part of getting his picture taken atop the Chrysler Building.  We had stopped at a local record chain where, as usual, I made a few purchases, including The Cyrkle's first album that was previously out of print.  (I'd worn out my first copy of the vinyl record.)

 

We also stopped at a Pickwick bookstore where I bought Paul Fussell's THE GREAT WAR AND MODERN MEMORY.

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Pat Byrne & Greg at Rockefeller Center

I pretended to be setting the focus for the shot of me and quickly snapped the top picture of Pat at Rockefeller Center--you can see he's not posed to have his picture taken.  He took the bottom one.

 

Sandra always marvelled at living in New York City, or at least nearby NYC.  One night when we were returning to their place late, she was able to stop in a grocery store in the city and purchase some pasta for supper that night.  She exclaimed how convenient it was and how you could get almost anything, regardless of the hour.  We had pasta, and also for the first time for me, artichokes.

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Greg at the UN, 1975 or '76

We spent some time at the United Nations building.  I bought a U.S. flag, a U.N. flag, and a flag of the U.S.S.R. in the gift shop.

 

In those days I also collected albums by the Soviet Army Chorus and Band on Angel Records.  Being a missile officer, while also studying Russian and Soviet history for my Humanities Master's Degree at Cal State Dominguez Hills, I might have come under suspicion.  Especially in today's super paranoid era.

 

As you can see, with Pat taking many of the pictures using my camera, I did not lack for photographs of myself in NYC.  In fact, I had to cheat a bit to actually get a picture of Pat Byrne.  I don't have any of Sandra from the visit.

 

I always wondered what happened with the two of them later when TWA went on strike for a period of time.  Sandra was in a plane crash at the Rome airport.  The plane broke apart upon landing, but fortunately no fire broke out.  However, as they extricated themselves from the wreckage, she said that while standing around, with herself and a few others with aviation fuel on the clothes, some of the more stunned passengers automatically started to light up cigarettes.  She told me over the phone that she and the rest of the crew had to yell at them to put their cigarettes out.  

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Greg in NYC in 1975 or 1976

My trip to New York City to spend a week with Pat Byrne and his girlfriend, Sandra, could have taken place in 1973, before I joined the Air Force.  It could also have taken place in 1975 or 1976, but at the moment I am not so sure which year it was. 

 

All I do remember for certain was that the two of them were living on Long Island, not far from JFK where they both flew out of for TWA on their international routes, especially during the peak summer season.

 

What I do know for certain is that I took a TWA 707 non-stop from LAX to Newark, which was a really stupid thing to do.  Pat and I corresponded by mail in those days, whenever those days were.  I had asked him which New York area airport I should fly into.  He probably told me either LaGuardia or JFK, just not to fly into Newark.  I, of course, misremembered his instructions and had my ticket made for Newark.

 

At LAX, I arrived early and the agent actually sent my suitcase on the JFK flight, which was the flight I ought to have been on.  However, being a good friend, Pat dutifully drove all of the way from Long Island to Newark airport and picked me up in Sandra's car.  We had to stop on the way at JFK; and there, in front of baggage claim, sat my lone suitcase, having arrived well before I did.

 

The two of them were wonderful hosts.  Either Sandra and Pat, or Pat alone, took me on the subways everywhere:  I had chocolate mousse for the first time at a restaurant in Greenwhich Village.  We took in a Broadway show, SHERLOCK HOLMES, although A CHORUS LINE had opened a few months before and just down the block, though tickets were too hard to come by the day we were there.

 

Looking up A CHORUS LINE confirms that the trip was either in 1975 or 1976, when A CHORUS LINE was on Broadway.  All I can imagine was that I flew from LAX to NYC after spending some time with my mom in California first.  During that same trip, I must have then flown to Binghamton, NY, to visit Den and Beth Zito.  Perhaps I flew there on Mohawk Airlines--I simply do not recall the flight or the airline.  When that visit ended, I must have flown back to Minot because I do recall looking in both locations for Dahlquist DQ-10 speakers, speakers I would later acquire and which appear in later photographs.

 

Pat and I also went to the top of the World Trade Center.  A few of the other places we visited are in later pictures.

More scenes around Cooperstown and the flight home

The lake in Cooperstown and fall leaves.  The bottom picture must have been of my flight back to Minot.

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Near the Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY

The parking lot and steps near the HOF in Cooperstown, NY.

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In front of the Baseball Hall of Fame

In front of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

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Den and Greg at Baseball HOF

The obelisk is probably to honor baseball players who were veterans.

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More photos of Den and Beth at Baseball Hall of Fame

More pictures in the Hall of Fame.

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Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY

We all spent the afternoon at the Hall of Fame.

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Picnic in the park, Binghamton, NY

We had a picnic in a park, and obviously went for a walk down a country lane.

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Visiting the Zito's, 1975, Binghamton, NY

Before that extensive trip in November of 1977, I undertook a less ambitious trip back East in 1975.  It might have been late summer or early fall, or, more likely, in early spring of that year.

This was well before Eric was born.  If Beth was pregnant, she wasn't showing.

Den had left the Marines after his two years were up.  He had gotten a job with Frito-Lay.  The reason they were in Binghamton, NY, was because that was the Frito-Lay training facility, I think.

The top photograph is of Den with his reliable red Fiat.  The other two are pictures of the countryside around Binghamton.

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Eric Zito's first Christmas, December 1975

Given that Eric looks at least two years old in those Thanksgiving pictures from November of 1977, this must have been their Christmas card from 1975.

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The Liberty Bell, November 1977, Philadelphia, PA

The top picture of me standing beside the Liberty Bell confirms that this lengthy trip took place in November of 1977 rather than 1976 or 1978. 

The glass enclosure for the Liberty Bell was built across the lawn from Independence Hall for the crowds that turned up for the Bi-centennial of the nation celebrations in 1976.  But they left it up for quite some time after that year.  Had this been 1976, we would have had a tough time and a long line to deal with to see this.  But this being a year later, the crowds had diminished considerably.

The bottom photograph is of a fountain not far from Independence Hall.

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Two views of Independence Hall, Philadelphia, PA, November 1977

I was colder in Philadelphia, PA, in November than I felt in Minot, ND.  Part of it was being near water.  With the cold wind blowing off the river, the bitter cold seemed to blow right through me.

Back from Thanksgiving with his family, David Zito took me on a tour of the city.  Except for the cold, I had a wonderful time.

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Two more people mover pics, Morgantown, WVA, 1977

Two more pictures of the Morgantown, WVA, people mover.

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Morgantown, WVA, automated people mover

OK, I neglected to include these photographs from the Morgantown, WVA, visit to Chuck Gover.  These people movers ferried students from one part of the campus to another.  Chuck told me about stories in the beginning of the people mover when someone would be taken to the barn and locked in when the cars decided it was the end of the day and needed to return to storage for the night.

In my one photo album, I added that this was 1978.  I seriously doubt if that is correct.  In the fall of 1978, I was at the Academy and did not make such a November trip.  A couple of Philadelphia pictures yet to come lead me to believe that this lengthy trip was in the fall of 1977 for a couple of reasons that will soon become clear.

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Den and Eric Zito, Thanksgiving 1977

Eric is about to score a touchdown in the picture on the left.  Indoors in the picture on the right.

Hard for me to believe that all of these kids that my friends were having in the mid-1970's are now nearing 40 years old.

The time does go by fast.

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Den Zito, David Zito and Dennis' son Eric, Thanksgiving 1977

After leaving Morgantown aboard the twin-engine Beechcraft for Pittsburgh, I flew on to Philadelphia, PA.  David Zito picked me up at the airport.  The next day we drove to Dennis and Beth Zito's house for Thanksgiving.  Dennis has grown a moustache and fathered a son, Eric.

We were playing Nerf football in the backyard before dinner.  That's when I met Den and David's parents.

Like so many of my contemporaries, I imagine that their parents are now gone.  So many of them are.

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