The Ravens: History

The Ravens History: 1969
by John Anthony

As the holiday season ended it was back to school. As a fourth year engineering student the curriculum had become tough to stay up with. Between that and the band winding down I decided to withdraw from UConn. Within no time I received my 'Greetings Notice' from the draft board and was told to report to the induction center in New Haven, CT.

It was Natural for a Couple of Ravens to Join the Air Force

If I was going to serve I wanted to join a non-ground combat force and enlisted in the Air Force. Joe also enlisted in the Air Force and on February 11 we headed off to New Haven in the middle of a huge blizzard. 24 hours later we arrived at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas. Eight weeks after that we finished basic training together and moved on to our next duty stations.

Joe wanted to be a graphic artist for the Air Force. Instead they employed him as a MP (Military Police). Apparently the Air Force needed lots of them in Vietnam. He spent time at Otis AFB in MA guarding Bomark nuclear missiles and later on was in Thailand at Utapao air base just south of Bangkok. Last duty station before mustering out was Wurtsmith air base in Oscoda, MI. Joe and his family ended up moving to Milwaukee, WI after leaving the Air Force in February, 1973.

I wanted to work as an electronics tech of some type and ended up in a unit that operated classified electronic surveillance equipment. I spent a year in training at Lowry AFB in Denver, CO followed by two years at an operating site in Ipswitch, Australia. I had the good fortune to hook up with three great aussies in a band called Savas while I was stationed Down Under!
My last year was spent back at Lowry as an Instructor, training new airman how to operate and maintain the surveillance equipment. My four years were up in February, 1973 and our family moved back to Danbury.

Jeff joined the Marines and ended up playing football for a colonel in San Diego who really wanted to have a winning team. So Jeff who'd been co-captain of the DHS football team and still had good moves, never got selected to go overseas. He kept playing until he injured his ankle so badly that he got a medical discharge and came home.

Richie was a decorated veteran at home in Bethel and as far as I knew at this time, Bruce was living up in Vermont.

Here ends the story of the original Ravens.

Go To: 1968 1973-75