Photo By Staff Sgt. Pedro Tenorio | Ret. Staff Sgt. Darrell Nordhagen, former chief clerk of payroll at Kirtland Air Force...... read more read more
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Before us came the men and women who laid the foundation to roads and bridges they would never set foot on. To wonder what those men and women who shaped the Air Force in its infancy would think of the tiger-striped wingmen first Airmen of today is something fleeting as their generation is slowly continuing on the unseen path we all must walk one day.
Yet, on May 16, 2018, 87 year old Retired Staff Sgt. Darrell Nordhagen, former payroll chief clerk at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, and his family returned to Sheppard AFB, Texas, where he started his path to become an Airman in 1948.
Nordhagen, as a guest of 982nd Training Group Superintendent Chief Mast Sgt. Eric Dudash, was able to see the base he once called home during his basic training. Nordhagen was taken aback as the base that was once just wooden barracks with a bacon strip for an airfield was now an alive and sprawling town.
“When I was here, it was strictly wooden World War II-style barracks, 60 men to a barracks,” Nordhagen said. “It’s all completely different. If it wasn’t for the sign I wouldn’t have known.”
Memories flooded Nordhagen on his trip around Sheppard. Everything from his time remembering his bunkmates who endured with him through the training of that time to his first boss who made an everlasting impression on Nordhagen to this day.
“When not training, we would walk around town (Wichita Falls), because we didn’t have cars, of course,” Nordhagen remembered. “We spent a lot of our free time in the bowling alley, which the base didn’t have at the time.”
Nordhagen said being raised on a farm in Wolf Point, Montana, during the “dirty 30s” as he calls it, he was used to having no luxuries. He said basic training in those days weren’t so terrible for him.
“There wasn’t a lot of combat training, it was mostly classes you know,” Nordhagen said. “What I recall most of it was marching. As far as I can see, that’s still true.”
Besides the different scenery, Nordhagen was in service when the Air Force finally got its own uniform. He was in flight 184. For two years he wore the Army uniform with the Air Force patch and then finally got to wear his blues once working at Kirtland AFB.
Nordhagen had many stories to tell and gave his family a little lesson in history about one of his stops to become the man he is today.
The Airman was able to witness how much has changed over the years, specifically with the F-22 and an unmanned drone, along with the finance office, his former stomping ground.
While inspecting the F-22, Nordhagen laughed when looking for the propellers for the vehicle. The weapon systems and fire power of both new aircraft also intrigued Nordhagen, which prompted many questions about some of the design choices on missiles.
While his visit in the finance office reminded him of the days they used manual typewriters and had actual printed money stored in the backrooms.
Overall the elder Airman looked happy to see the Air Force thriving from its beginnings from being part of the Army. Nordhagen did not think he would ever get to see Sheppard AFB again and is thankful for the opportunity.
| Date Taken: | 05.18.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 06.04.2018 15:17 |
| Story ID: | 279512 |
| Location: | SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, TEXAS, US |
| Hometown: | WOLF POINT, MONTANA, US |
| Web Views: | 35 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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