The White Falcon - 11.02.1977, Qupperneq 3

February 11, 1977
Page 3
P-4A trucks increase NATO Base firefighting capabilities
Two fast-moving, yellow creatures
have come to Keflavik. And, the multi-
spouted bodies which they possess can ^
emanate a powerful stream of a spe-
cial substance called "A-Triple-F."
These strange-looking newcomers that
came to the NATO Base in December 1977,
are better known as the P-4A multipur-
pose firefighting truck, manufactured by
the Oshkosh Truck Corporation.
Costing $87,000 each, the trucks can
hold 1,500 gallons of water and 180 gal-
lons of AFFF foam concentrate which will
mix with 3,000 gallons of water.
For a refill batch of foam, the P-4A
g:akes on more water from a "nurse truck"
a hydrant. Likewise, the P-4A may be
Refilled with foam concentrate from a
nurse truck.
If needed, the truck may also be re-
supplied while actually combatting a
fire.
To explore the capabilities of the
P-4A, key civilian and military fire-
fighters from Navy and Marine Corps air
facilities in the United States and
overseas attended a week of training
sessions at the Naval Weapons Center,
China Lake, CA last August.
According to the director of Navy
fire protection, Bob Darwin, "The
beauty of the P-4A is its large capacity
and ease of operation."
The truck’s extinguishing delivery of
foam or water may be made through the
handline on the truck or its two turrets
—one of the roof and the other on the
bumper. The handline and the turrets
can be used one at a time or together.
The roof turret operator can spray
750 gallons a minute.
Inside the cab, the driver may con-
trol remotely the bumper turret up to
250 gallons a minute.
Transportable by C-130 aircraft, the
P-4 was developed by Aircraft Ground
Fire Suppression and Rescue System, a
triservice group charged with develop-
ing firefighting equipment.
Weighing about 31,000 pounds, the
truck weighs about 45,500 pounds when
fully loaded, and can move at 50 mph
with all accessories.
Both cab and body are aluminum and
fully insulated; the windshield fea-
tures laminated safety plate glass
plus defrosters and a pressurized
washer system which clears foam from
the windshield.
Mr. Darwin comments, "The vehicle
is operational at temperatures as low
as -40 degrees Fahrenheit."
TWO FIREMEN REFILL the P-4A fire truck (above). A fireman checks a hatch on
top of the truck (left). To demonstrate its fire fighting capacity, Company
One members operate the P-4A on a simulated fire run.
Abraham Lincoln’s death retold;
subsequent events resurrected
On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln
was assassinated by actor John Wilkes
Booth while sitting in a box in Ford’s
Theater in Washington, D.C. The result-
ing furor over the assassinated Presi-
dent and the subsequent events surround-
ing the principals in the infamous deed
have left a series of mysteries and un-
explanable tragedies that perhaps will
never be resolved.
Two weeks after the assassination,
iBooth was cornered by a Union cavalry
^nit in a Virginia farm building. Af-
ter he refused to surrender, the troops
set fire to the building, but before the
flames reached him he was killed by a
bullet from a gun wielded by Sergeant
Boston Corbett.
For most people the entire story be-
gins with the shooting of Lincoln and
ends with shooting of Booth. But there
is far more to the tragic chain of
events.
Members of Lincoln's party in Ford's
Theater included, besides Mrs. Lincoln,
the President's aide, Major Rathbone,
and the major's fiance, a Miss Harris.
Mrs. Lincoln lost her mind after the
war, a.surprise to few persons, as she
had long been considered an eccentric.
Major Rathbone married Miss Harris,
and several years later shot and killed
his wife and himself.
Booth's killer, Sergeant Corbett,
back in civilian life some years later
as a doorkeeper for the Kansas legisla-
ture, one day locked the door of the
state house chambers and began shooting
at the lawmakers with two revolvers.
When his guns were empty, he was cap-
tured and sent to an asylum.
Then there was Mrs. Surratt, who was
indicted as one of the conspirators who
had aided Booth. Tried by a military
court and condemned to death, she should
have been acquitted, according to the
evidence.
Friends of Mrs. Surratt, attempting
to see President Johnson on her behalf,
were barred by two senators—Preston
King of New York and James H. Lane of
Kansas—by the use of force. They had
not been assigned to do this.
Several months later, Senator King,
who had by then been appointed as a cus-
toms collector in New York, weighted
himself with lead bars, stepped off a
New York harbor ferryboat and drowned.
That was on November 12, 1965.
Senator Lane killed himself at Fort
Leavenwcrstn, KS, on July 11, 1866.
Lincoln's Secretary of War Stanton
died in 1869, supposedly by cutting his
own throat, although this was generally
denied by friends and relatives.
One of the persons who suffered long-
est and hardest from the tragedy was the
physician who set Booth's broken leg,
Doctor Benjamin Mudd. Tried as one of
the. conspirators, he was spared the
death sentence, however, and was im-
prisoned at Fort Jefferson, one of the
most isolated areas of the Florida Keys.
There he worked hard to save other pri-
soners from the trials, rigors and
disease of tropical prison life, and
eventually was granted a pardon. He
died several years later, penniless and
in near-obscurity. Finally Congress
exonerated him.
The doctor left his mark on American
history, however, in the everyday ex-
pression, "Your name will be Mudd," used
as a warning to persons who are about
to enter into a risky venture.
What is Black Love?
Nigger-child
when yet a young
black child
asked by a young
white child
what do you
feel
how does it
feel
being a
nigger
that word meant
shame
The Lady
The woman I love
Is like no other I've known.
Temper like an erupting volcano
and passions equally as fiery
A righteousness Emblazoned with Honesty
and Truthfulness.
The inner strength of convictions
and ever awareness.
The inquisitiveness to look for the
constant changes of life
the intelligence to accept nothing
as simple or trite
yet young was
i
not defeated by
life
a nigger knew
no
was i
me
an answer gave
i
came from my
heart
a nigger was not
me
now older that
child
that once was
me
a nigger still
i
yet no longer bring
shame
a change that
life
did bring was
wonder
for now i
know
to be a nigger
is me
Cheryl 1 R. Hardison
Sgt USAF
A Beautiful Black Woman Whose Under-
standing
Is Love
The Lady...My Wife.
George W. Hall Jr.
POSTING THEIR VALENTINES, Ewan Miller
and Roberta Bartlett place them in
separate boxes.