John H. Keithley
After OCS I was stationed at Ellsworth AFB, SD as an electronic officer in a F 89 squadron. In less than a year, I was transferred to Malmstrom AFB, MT with the same job but with F 101s. (someone figured I liked the cold because my home state was WI---WRONG!!!) Within a year I was at Richards Gabour AFB, MO in an electronics squadron maintaining F 102s. In April '64 I transferred to Kadena AFB, Okinawa with F105s. Spent 2 years there with numerous TDYs to Thailand and Vietnam. Upon my return I went to Lowry AFB, CO to staff electronics school with subsequent assignment to a EC 121 outfit at McClellan AFB, CA. Although I spent the next 6 years there and retired 31 Dec '72, of that time, more than 3 years was TDYs to Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Okinawa, Thailand, and Vietnam. The EC 121s were used for airborne radar control and flew for the most part 50' off the deck in the gulf of Tonkin. We had main operating bases in Taiwan, Korea, and Japan off and on with forward operating bases in Thailand and Vietnam. Ken Lord was one of our pilots.
After the USAF, I went back to college at Cal State U, Sacramento and received my BS in accounting, did some graduate work, and went to work in public accounting for a little over a year, decided I wanted to work in industry instead and moved to Beaumont, CA to take the position of controller in a copper foil manufacturing company. That was in '77. In March 1980, we moved yet again - this time to Phoenix, AZ. There I was the chief financial officer for a private company that manufactured equipment used in the circuit board industry. In Dec '88, the company sold to an English firm and all of the top executives were replaced with their own. With a decent severance, I again retired!
In '90 we moved to Prescott, AZ where we now live. (we're actually in Dewey, AZ - 10 miles outside Prescott). We live on a golf course and golf practically everyday when we're here. We're here Apr thru Jun and Oct thru Dec. The rest of the time we're traveling in our motorhome. (When it's cold we go south - warm we go north) We golf, fish, visit friends and see a lot of the country we hadn't seen.