From the interview with William H. Hambrock of Bluffton, IN conducted by Wendy Los by phone from the Fort Worden History Center on March 22, 2005. Mr. Hambrock served in Company E, Shore Battalion, 369th EASR at Fort Flagler from 1951 to 1953. He also spent several months at Camp Desert Rock, NV during the atomic bomb tests. Here he recounts a memorable experience while at Flagler:

“In ’51 before we were shipped out to Nevada, we had an inter-company golf tournament. I played in it. I didn’t have any clubs so I had to borrow a set of golf clubs, I am left handed, from a fellow there. It ended up that I played the fellow who loaned the clubs, he was left handed. I played him in the play-offs. We were sharing the same clubs.

It ended up that I had a big lead, but I got a little over anxious and I let him catch up with me. He won the tournament and I came in second. They called all the companies out on the parade ground at Flagler to present me with my runner-up trophy. I thought at the time it was wild to have all the companies lined up out there on the parade ground. I’ll always remember that.”