About the 776th

It was considered a remote assignment, but if you were married, your family could accompany you there. Children went to the elementary school located in the town of Point Arena. I really don't recall where older kids went. Because of its remoteness, the site itself had many recreational amenities onsite. If you wanted to leave the hill, you had to have a car.

The drive to get there remains one of my favorite drives on the planet. From San Francisco, you travel north across the Golden Gate Bridge on Highway 101 to Santa Rosa. At Santa Rosa, you head west, on Highway 116 following the Russian River, one of the California Viticulture areas. Highway 116 ends at the town of Jenner By the Sea. Head south and you encounter the town of Bodega Bay, site of the Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Birds. The schoolhouse used in the movie still stands today.

Head north on Highway 1, about 50 miles, to the town of Point Arena. This is a twisty, windy road, with many switchbacks and tight turns. There are places where you can actually hit 60mph for a short time. Mostly it is 30-40mph, with many 15-25mph turns. If you see an arrow sign, be prepared to make a 90-degree turn in the direction of the arrow as the road follows a fjord in the coastline. In many places, the road hugs the coastline and it's redwoods on one side, Pacific Ocean on the other. In the right car, this is heaven on earth. In 1968, however, it was somewhat clogged by underpowered pickup truck-mounted campers and people dragging bulbous Airstream trailers up or down the coast. People were a bit less aware that they were impeding traffic then and I remember several hair raising moments trying to dodge one of these moving roadblocks. It seems better today, or maybe I've become more patient.

Today the site is deserted, and a civilian caretaker lives onsite to try to prevent the remaining buildings from crumbling completely and as a deterrent to vandalism and squatting. Many of the buildings, such as the barracks, orderly room, and chow hall are already gone. The radars have been dismantled, although their structures remain. Some of the other buildings, such as the bowling alley are crumbling under their own weight.

My Time At the 776th

I was not particularly disposed to staying on base when I wasn't working, so I really didn't avail myself of many of the amenities there. The truth is that I was passing time (even though I was less than halfway thru my enlistment) until my DOS. I worked at the GATR (Ground Air Transmitter Receiver) site, which diminished my understanding of the rest of the site even more. I had relatives in San Francisco, and I met a crazy Hawaiian guy, W. C. Lake. We quickly became good friends. He got out in late 1968, got married, and lived in the city. I would leave the site anytime I had a couple of days off to visit him. With the commander's blessing, I got a job repairing amplifiers at a music store in San Francisco, Don Wehr's Music City, on Columbus Street, just up the hill from the orignal Tower Records store at Columbus and Bay streets. I was able to work there anytime I wasn't needed at the radar site. Realistically, because of the distance, this really required a weekend, Friday through Sunday. I was a shift worker, so my weekends weren't always mine, but I could work in the city any time I had enough off time, and shift workers had longer breaks. We worked a combination of all three shifts, with a long break between day shift and mid shift, and a shorter break between mid shift and swing shift. On Wednesday, October 1, 2008, I met my old friend, W.C. Lake (we're both getting old now, as well as having known each other for a long time) in Point Arena and drove up to visit the old radar site. I learned who the caretaker was, and with his blessing, we were able to wander the old site. It was cool and clear, which you can see in the pictures. I have visited the site in other years, but aside from driving up the hill, was never able to visit inside the gate. Not so this time.

Left to right: rear: A1C Rick Chinn, A1C Ron Tietz, A1C Steve Clift, Sgt Bob Buthod (white jacket), unknown, Tsgt Phillips (black jacket), Msgt Maurice Carpenter (NCOIC), Tsgt Bob Dupont, A1C Les Ritzman (holding Samantha, AN/K-9, site mascot). Front row, kneeling, A1C Rodriguez, A1C Jim Eyles, unknown, Sgt Charles (Chick) Gibbs aka Froggy. Photographer: Tsgt Victor Oder.

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Picture page, from October 2008 trip. These pictures mostly from the site. 
Picture page, from 2004, 2006 trips. A few from the site, more from the surrounding area. 

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Last modified 04/14/2014 22:08:54.