posted 03-09-2022 10:39 AM               

Space Cover 642: Cooper lands at Hickam AFB

For Christmas 1956, my parents gave me an RCA short wave radio receiver due to my, by then, long time interest in stamp collecting and foreign countries. When Sputnik 1 flew, I actually heard the beeping sound as it passed over Chicago, and due to doppler shift, I heard the beeps becoming higher and higher pitched as it flew over, and then lower pitched as it traveled beyond me.

Fast forward four years. I brought my short wave receiver with me when I shipped out to Hickam Air Force Base. During my tour there, all six of the Project Mercury flights took place: Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra and Gordon Cooper, and I got up at 2 or 3 a.m. to listen to each and every one of the launches from Florida. Because the barracks walls were so thin, I'd normally go to the barracks bathroom, perching the radio on a sink and I'd keep the sound as low as possible to avoid disturbing the guys.

Above: MATS Terminal at Hickam with the small crowd that was there.

The last Mercury astronaut was Gordon Cooper, and I had heard on a Hawaiian station that he was going to leave his recovery ship, the USS Kearsarge, by helicopter and land at Hickam, rather than stay on the carrier until it docked at Pearl Harbor. The date was 18 May 1963. But that was also the day of my last KP duty, as I got my third stripe in June and wouldn't have to serve ever again. Luckily for me the anticipated landing at Hickam was about 45 minutes before I had to show up for duty at the main chow hall.

We could see the Kearsarge about a mile off and could just barely make out the helicopter as it lifted off, heading our way. There were quite a few people out there and one woman was holding up a sign that read, "ALOHA COOPER."

Above: Cooper, his wife and Mayor Blaisdell in a convertible on their way to downtown Honolulu. Unfortunately for me, the driver hit the accelerator at the same instance that my shutter clicked, leaving a bit of a blur on the picture.

According to a note that I wrote on the back of one of my photos, Cooper landed about 50 yards from me and his wife and Mayor Blaisdell welcomed him to the island. Both Cooper and his wife were bedecked with flower leis, up to their noses.

After a welcoming address from the mayor, several layers of leis were removed from the Coopers. Gordon said a few words and they were whisked away with Mayor Blaisdell for a minor parade in Honolulu. Years later, I found the cover shown here, postmarked at Hickam AFB Station, Honolulu for the event. I've never seen another cover like this one, before or since, but I treasure this one as it was a special occasion that I have never forgotten.

posted 03-23-2022 08:45 AM               

As to other Hickam AFB Station space-related covers, here are two others, however, one has an "U.S. Postal Service, Hawaii 967" machine cancel for when the U.S. Apollo-Soyuz crew had their post-flight medical checks at the Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu on July 31, 1975. The cover had been filled-in and signed by the lead medical doctor in charge of the astronaut examinations.