In January of 1968, I was sent TDY to the British training center in Bletchley, England to learn the skills I would need to work a Morse Search and Development position.

On the return trip at the end of February, I spent a couple days in Rome and then went on to Athens to make connections with the 1:00 AM Ethiopian Airlines flight to Asmara. I met a lady at the airport named Evette Zells who was on her way to Johannesburg to work at a university there. Ms Zells asked me if I knew a guy named Joe Kimbro that she had met while on tour in Palestine. When I told her that Joe and worked on the same trick she decided to lay over in Asmara for a few days and visit, I was elected the official tour guide.

My good friend Rich Wilkie had left me the keys to his very clean ‘65 Buick Skylark while he was away with the Post basketball team competing in the Mediterranean Tournament. I used the car to drive Evette around the city and show her what life was like in Ethiopia.

Evette had started her travels several weeks earlier in North Carolina and since it was winter, she had some heavy weight clothes. Since she would not need them for the remainder of her trip, Evette asked me to ship them back to her parents in the States. I agreed to do so, but procrastinated as usual. My tardiness then got me into trouble. When the basketball team returned to Asmara late one evening, they decided to go bar hopping and visit some of the local talent. What good fortune for Wilkie and Odell Cramer to find a nice fur coat and other items of clothing in the trunk of his car. A bunch of them managed to get laid with all of those goodies and now I'm screwed.

Several weeks later a letter arrived from Johannesburg stating that none of the clothing had arrived back in North Carolina. I thought that maybe if I did not respond Evette might blame the poor mail service in Africa and the problem would go away. No luck! Another letter arrived and she said that if I did not reply she would contact the Post Commander. At that point I sent a letter explaining that her clothing had been stolen from the trunk of Wilkie's car ... after all, it was the truth. I hope she never found out that some fine Ethie bargirl was wearing her fur coat.