Both of us were born in the island of São Miguel, Azores, a group of nine islands
belonging to Portugal.
The Azorean archipelago is located in the North Atlantic Ocean, between Europe and the United States,
roughly at the same latitude as Richmond, Virginia, in America. Although the Island of São Miguel is the largest and most densely populated
many americans are more familiar with the Island of Terceira because that is where the United States maintains an Air Force
base in the place of Lajes.
Another airport of note is the one located in the Island of Santa Maria which, during the Second
World War was also an American base and played a major role in the overall war effort.
At that time jet aviation had not yet begun and so most planes traveling between the Americas and Europe had
to stop at Santa Maria to refuel. As a child, I loved to spend my vacations in Santa Maria, the island where my father was
born, just so I could watch the planes take off and land roughly at the rate of almost 2 to 3 every hour of day or night. In those days, it was perhaps
one of the busiest airports in the world and, considering that only the more affluent levels of society could afford to travel
by air, it was not at all unusual to come across famous people disembarking at the airport while their planes were refueled.
To be continued.....
As you read further please keep in mind that this whole thing
started more than 60 years ago
At that time, color pictures didn't exist
and digital photography was not even dreamed of.
Having a "Kodak" box was a luxury
Anyway, in those days, some of us walked around
obviously not knowing what to do with ourselves
and here is the result<>
A little later
when we began to realize that we even existed
attitudes began to creep in
