Page 48 - Winterling's Chasing the Wind

radio, or from my weather experiences outdoors. I observed the wind and rain with two
tropical storms, one in 1944 that passed through Jacksonville, and the second one in
1949 that passed well west of the city, but shattered several store windows in
downtown Jacksonville. Fortunately, my next assignment would be to enroll in the
USAF Weather Observers School at Chanute Field, Illinois.

CHAPTER 12 - Starting in Meteorology
I had a two week leave to spend back to Jacksonville. I spent most of that time with my
girlfriend, sometimes waiting for her to get off work at the concession stand in the St
Johns Theater, then walking with her from the downtown theater on Forsyth Street
through Confederate Park to Walnut Street. She lived with her parents in a house on
Walnut Court. With no TV, we often would walk and talk around her neighborhood.
Once I visited a Youth for Christ meeting at Berea Baptist Church on Phoenix Avenue.
One evening, we were sitting in the swing on her front porch when we heard on the
radio that North Korea had attacked South Korea. That was on June 25, 1950, the
beginning of the Korean War. We wondered what effect that would have on the 3½
years I had left on my enlistment.

I soon left for Rantoul, Illinois, and Chanute Air Force Base. It was there that I met Jack
Hall from Palo Alto, California. He, like me, loved the outdoors and we became good
friends. To keep up with the news from Jacksonville, I had subscribed to the Florida
Times-Union, my hometown newspaper. While at Chanute, I learned that two tropical
storms hit Jacksonville, one in September that dumped over 10 inches of rain, and a
second one that passed west of the city delivered wind gusts up to 85 mph.

One Sunday morning, I decided to visit a church in the town of Rantoul. Before then, I
had only attended chapel services on the base. I didn’t know where the Baptist church
was, but while looking around I spotted a Nazarene church. I had never been in one of
that denomination before, so I walked in just as the service was beginning. After we
had sung a few familiar hymns, the pastor asked us to stand for prayer. As soon as I
bowed my head and closed my eyes, I was surprised to hear nearly everyone in the
building praying aloud at the same time. Many stayed in their pews, but a several were
walking and praying around the pews and in the aisles. I didn’t know if this was just a
denominational thing or a regional practice, but it left a lasting impression of a different
form of church prayers from this church in Illinois.
40