The Kwaj Kat Blog

In reviewing some Kwaj pictures posted on Facebook recently, I ran across a picture of a C-141 taken by someone else and I got to thinking about them again. I have a ton of pictures of these beasts from my relatively few years on Kwaj, as they were my family’s only way on and off the island (we never traveled by commercial jet). I figured that C-141s were no longer serving that purpose for current Kwaj residents, but what I didn’t know until after a small bit of online research is that they’re no longer serving anyone. I found that the Air Force retired the C-141 in 2006. I think it has generally been replaced by the C-17, which I’m sure is a fine aircraft and undoubtedly more modern and sophisticated. Still, the C-141 will remain a favorite of mine since it was my gateway to a place that I hold dear. If I were to return to Kwaj again, it just wouldn’t be the same traveling any other way.

I want to thank everyone who has visited this blog due to their interest in either me or Kwaj. I’ve really enjoyed the comments many of you have posted in the past few years since this blog went online, but things have reached a point where I’m not generating a lot of new posts on here. Meanwhile, I’m continually getting dozens of spam comments each week that I must wade through and delete, trying not to delete legitimate comments at the same time. It’s been quite a while since I’ve gotten an actual legit comment, so I’ve reluctantly decided to pull the plug on comments. I may turn it back on again in the future, but for now this seems for the best. I’d still like to hear from you, though, so please email me if you’d like to say hi or comment on one of my old posts. Thanks again for your visit!

After quite a long time of thinking about it, I finally motivated myself last week and sent off what amounts to the bulk of my slide collection from Kwaj to have professionally processed into digital format. Those pictures are now back and I just finished uploading 89 new images to the photo gallery. Unfortunately, many people who have already looked through the collection of Kwaj photos I have online will be disappointed to discover that this new batch includes a lot of duplication. For some reason I felt compelled to take many of the same pictures again that I’d already taken in black-and-white, just using color slide film this time. Anyway, they’re generally better quality than the others so I posted them again, especially since they’re in color. For now they’re in a separate album to make them easier to review, but eventually I’ll merge them with the other albums so that they’re grouped properly.

Since my first post in May 2006 I have shared as many key recollections from my Kwaj days as I can pull from the recesses of my mind, but one remains that has yet to be penned. I think it’s finally time to relate my experiences from being in Miss Beck’s band program. Read the rest of this entry »

I think sometimes my family is somewhat dismayed and confused with my interest in World War II. I can often be found watching shows on the History Channel or the Military Channel pertaining to WWII, especially if it involves the war in the Pacific. Had I not spent 3 years on Kwaj as a young boy, I doubt that I’d be so interested. Read the rest of this entry »

A small blurb in a recent issue of Time mentioned that Casey Kasem officially retired from his involvement in doing the Weekly Top 40 on July 4. In line with my recent theme of passing icons, this is another one to add to the list. In this case, Kasem is still with us and will no doubt pop up on the grid from time to time, but knowing that his years of entertaining us with what’s new and hot on the music scene are over leaves me nostalgic for my years on Kwaj when I was first introduced to him. While he was doing that long before the mid-70s, I didn’t spend much time listening to the radio before we moved to Kwaj. Once on Kwaj we tended to play the radio more than we had at home since we didn’t have TV, and it was during that time when I first began to listen to his Weekly Top 40 program that aired on AFRS every Sunday. Recently a local Huntsville radio station has been rerunning some of his shows from the 70s and 80s, and hearing some of those really takes me back to the Kwaj days. I don’t listen to current top 40 programs anymore so my daily routine won’t be affected by Kasem’s retirement, but that doesn’t stop me from feeling somewhat melancholy knowing that he’s no longer in the business. Enjoy retirement, Casey, and thanks.

Seems like a lot of my recent posts have been about lost icons from the Kwaj era, and I guess it’s inevitable that some things pass into history as we move steadily into the future. In reading the July 6 edition of Time magazine I was reminded of yet another passing that I’m sorry to see that again directly ties to my time on Kwaj. After 74 years, Kodak has finally retired Kodachrome. Read the rest of this entry »

I saw the news over the weekend that broadcaster Paul Harvey passed away. My first real exposure to Paul Harvey was on Kwaj listening to AFRS air his popular show “The Rest of the Story” and his news features. Years later I would still hear Paul from time to time on local Huntsville radio stations, but I didn’t go out of my way to always tune in. I knew all along that a day would come when I might regret not listening to more of his shows, and I guess that day finally came. In any case, Paul Harvey is another icon that I associate with Kwaj and that is now gone. Time marches on.

This announcement went out on my Kwaj Friends mailing list, but in case I missed some folks who periodically check this blog and aren’t on the mailing list, you may want to know that a new set of Kwaj photos are now online. These photos are from Kevin Koppenhaver’s trip to Kwaj in the summer of 2008, graciously shared with me in order to post them on the website so others can enjoy them as well. I’m indebted to Kevin for taking valuable time during his trip to capture these recent images of Kwaj. I had to create a new photo gallery for them since I’m having trouble adding new material to my old gallery. The new gallery currently contains Kevin’s 2008 pictures as well as 100+ snapshots from John Perkins of his time on Kwaj. John sent them to me months ago and I’m just now getting them online. Over time I plan to migrate my collection to the new gallery, but for now I’ll keep them both online. Links to both are on the main website. Enjoy these new submissions, and thank again to Kevin and John for sharing them with everyone!

I didn’t realize until visiting the Smith Family Kwaj website (refer to my preceding post) that Google Maps has satellite images of our beloved island. I posted this link on the Kwaj Kat website but also wanted to call attention to it here. Have fun taking a virtual aerial tour of the island!