A Sophomore at Sigonella in the 60s

Here are some excerpts from a letter that came from a family friend, David, who lives in Hawaii now - but once lived at Sigonella in the 60s. His father, pictured above, was the CO of the base - Captain John Caldwell.

For those of us affiliated with the base here, it's fun to think what life was like 40 years ago! And let's hope, Sigonella parents are helping their kids have half the fun that David had in his time!

...A strong memory is of Sr. Scuderi (pictured above) coming by the house one afternoon and dropping off a live lamb as a present for my father "El Capitano." The garbage contract was set to expire, and probably he didn’t want to lose it. It was bleating constantly, and we tried to befriend the little thing. Oh well. It ended up on the dinner table later that week. As I remember, my brother (who had returned for holidays) and I refused to eat it. At Easter, we received another lamb – this time made of marzipan – about 18”long. It was gorgeous. That one, we all ate!...

...When we got to Sicily , both my brothers left almost immediately for college, my parents were busy with Change of Command and all the social engagements that go with that. So there I was pretty much on my own for the first time, with lots of freedom in what seemed like an alien world – occasional dry and sometimes gritty breezes, a sere landscape with miles of gnarled olive trees...

...Eventually, I started meeting kids – it didn’t take long. I was going into 10th grade. There must have been almost a dozen of us. The graduating class was only three (and one of them as I remember may not have graduated)! The school was small, and I loved it. It was called Stephen Decatur School back then, and we were the Trojans. I was pretty skinny and middle of the road as an athlete, but I ‘lettered’ in football, basketball, and bowling – because everyone had to play. We played against the sailor teams – who else? It was flag football but still bruising. There was a nine hole par 3 golf course then, directly behind the school. I had golfed in Florida so I spent time on the course - lots of rocks in the fairways, but still fun. ..

...There was a cart path directly behind our house that wound around to a farm behind the golf course, and we’d watch Sicilian donkey carts amble down the road in no hurry. Once, we even went to the farm to stomp grapes. I remember the owners walked barefoot through the yard and just jumped into the vats to squish grapes – not so sanitary, but we always joked that it probably improved the flavor....

...My favorite sport was bowling because we would go into Catania late afternoons, and eat rice balls and pizza while we bowled. The alleys were owned by the father of the Corvo brothers who were about my age, also at school on base, so we hung out together sometimes. They had access to a car with a chauffer so we’d ride in the back, acting sophomoric I’m sure. I remember it was a big deal when, one day, the mafia blew out the front of the bowling alley because (so I heard) their father had ‘neglected’ to pay them off. He rebuilt, so I guess they made nice-nice after that...

At school, I was appointed as assistant editor of the school newspaper, so I got to go into Catania on my own, the editor (NAF busses ran every few hours), wander the back alleys to the printing shop, and watch with fascination as they set the type, inked it, and rolled out the pages. I can still smell the back alleys of Catania , even today – though now of course it’s flavored with nostalgia.



...I thought nothing of hitchhiking back then. I remember one weekend, a friend and I decided to go to Taormina on our own to go snorkeling, so we got our gear together, caught the bus to Catania , and got out on the highway and hitched up there. I don’t know if I told my parents – 15, remember....

...I remember communist party rallies downtown – climbing a light pole one evening to remove one of the banners and being confronted by a couple of aging party members and having to give it back. I remember seeing the headlines with big photo in the Catania paper about Jane Mansfield being killed in a grisly car accident while I was at a nighttime soccer match downtown – funny the things you remember...

...I learned to eat olives there, huge artichokes too, devoured the blood oranges, and got sated on simple cheese and tomato pizzas downtown - even the wine – yes, we all got to drink the wine back then....

...I remember being dragged to the Teatro Bellini one school night to attend an opera in one of the balcony boxes - no doubt a present to my parents from someone. I took a PB&J for dinner and while I was unwrapping it, people below hissed and glared at me....

...We went to a Marionette performance; they were big and beautiful. It was the story of Roland and how he was ambush-ed (that’s how my Dad’s translator – Lydia –pronounced it and it has stuck with me through the years)...

...We climbed Etna one day. I went ahead of my parents since evening was coming on & I wanted to get to the rim of the crater – and I did, but when I got back my parents were plenty worried something had happened. I was elated and my face was covered with black ash...



(Eloise Caldwell, one of the last guests of Lord Bridport when Lord Nelson's family occupied the Castle in Maniaci near Bronte in Sicily before it was gifted to the community..You can read more about this castle by looking at our October 07 blogs).


Ciao and aloha from Aiea! - David Caldwell