Thinking back on some of the worst food I ever had the opportunity to eat my thoughts drift back to the hamburgers at the Post Exchange (PX) at Fort Stewart, Georgia. These were premade, packaged in foil and piled under a heat lamp at the deli section of the PX. They came with a slice of pickle on the meat and the buns were good and soggy. How long they had been under that heat lamp nobody knows and at the time nobody seem to care, plus they were cheap, maybe fifty cents and went down good with the cheap PX beer. There was a condiment bar where we could apply mustard, catsup, mayonnaise and relish to go along with that slice of pickle. No fresh slices of onions, tomatoes or lettuce in sight. How many of those burgers I consumed I can't recall, but every day after returning from the field with our ambulance from helicopter pilot training exercises we headed to the PX for burgers and beer. I don't even care to count those days and amazed that I survived this long.
A collection of stories from the life of Michael Burke. He worked for the Forest Service in Alaska, California, and Oregon. He lives in Oakland, OR. His wonderful wife, Celia, passed in May of 2021
Tuesday, June 14, 2022
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FOUR YEAR ANNIVERSARY
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It is four years today when Celia left this word, something I think about every day. It is not all sorrow as I think back on her humor, w...
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One of my most memorable Thanksgivings was when I lived in Eugene from 1991 to 2000. My two children were with me on Thanksgiving of 1992...
Great deals in the PX! Growing up as a Navy brat in Japan in the 50s and 60s, I've spent my share of time eating burgers, SOS, gravy rice & gravy fries in the Yokosuka and Yokohama NEX snack bars. When I was near broke, I'd buy a couple slices of white bread for about a dime, and then proceed to the condiment bar and make a great veggie sandwich with lettuce, tomato, pickles, relish, onion, etc. As a high school senior, I more often hopped on my motorcycle and cruised with friends over to a small Japanese restaurant for "oyakodonburi" (chicken, egg & onion on a big bowl of rice).
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