We moved to Panama where Dad worked for civil service installing and maintaining radio equipment in airplanes at France Field, a US Army Air Corps base. Although he worked in the zone, which America “owned”, we lived at 7.019 Calle 5, Colon, Republic of Panama.
[everest_gallery alias=”Panama pics”]
I have many memories of our time in Panama – I attended an American school, and for a short while a Panamanian school where only Spanish was spoken. I did not learn the language.
We shopped at the Commissary – a store for US citizens where we used paper chits purchased from the government to limit shopping to Canal Zone employees.
One evening e all went to the seaport to watch a PanAm Clipper seaplane arive from America. While we were standing on the dock we kept looking back at the town, where huge clouds of smoke were rising. When we went back, Bobby and I slept in the car while mom and dad brought out e\\essentials in case the house burned. We lived on the other side of a wide boulevard that proved to be a fire stop. Walking along the boulevard to school I saw hundreds of tents brought in by the US Army as housing for those who lost there homes. The fire rages for two days. Here is a headline from the time:
10,000 LOSE HOMES IN FIRE AT COLON; Wind-Swept Flames Consume Hundreds of Tenements in Path 16 Blocks Wide ARMY AND NAVY JOIN FIGHT Canal Zone Forces Assist in Stopping Blaze and Then Give Shelter to Destitute
One day Bobby and I were in the car with dad. He was intently listening to the radio – I don;t think we had one in the house. When the program ended,(it was the news) he said it looked like we were going to be in a war. We did not know what that meant, but he sounded serious.
Our parents had a friend who was a submariner based at Coco Solo Submarine Base near Colon. Bobby and I enjoyed visiting the base because we could swim in the ocean – there were shark nets to protect us, and no waves that I remember. Also, we always got Cokes (or Pepsis) when we were there – so we had a good time.