This is my father, John Wise just four months before I was born. He joined the Army the year before, did his basic training at Ft. Knox, advanced training was at Ft. Benjamin Harrison, followed by his duty assignment at 21st Replacement Battalion on Rhein Main Airbase in Frankfurt, Germany adjacent the Frankfurt Airport.

The story goes that he was along for a ride with another soldier who was visiting a girl in my mom’s barracks in Wiesbaden who turned out to be one of my mom’s roommates. For the first six months of their seeing one another, dad would travel the 18 miles from his barracks to my mom’s barracks. He told me the dirty face was battle makeup worn for a field exercise. His job was in administration involving some computer programming, training of other soldiers, and logistics work.