One of the most memorable officer's club stories from the summer of 1958 . . . Jonathan Winters was just starting his career, and took a civilian actor assignment playing the role of an Air Force Mess Sergeant.

Filming was at Mitchel AFB in Hempstead, Long Island. Winters would be made-up and suited up at Army Pictorial Center, then taken to Hempstead in a staff car driven by a private totally unfamiliar with local area. Story goes that they got lost, ended up on Northern Boulevard with no Hempstead in sight. It is said that Winters spotted a telephone line repairman on a pole, had the driver pull to the curb and said as he left the car, these telephone people always know where they are . . . and then proceeded to climb the telephone pole (in the Air Force uniform) to ask directions of the repairman. Incident was type of sketch that could have been featured on his television programs in the years following.

LT. E.C. Pardon, Animation Branch (1957-1958), Ann Arbor, Michigan