Thomas Allen Wacht born 1/21/1925 in Redfield, IA

Married Helen Francis John on December 14, 1946 in Tucson, AZ

Had 2 children:

Thomas Allen Wacht, Jr. (My father) born 10/20/48
William John Wacht born 6/12/50

Both sons have passed away. William died in 1991 and Thomas, Jr. (my father) passed away in 1998.

Thomas A. Wacht, Jr. married Lakorn Taraj on October 11, 1972 and had two children:

Phanom (Amber) Taraj Wacht born 4/28/72
Arwen Wacht born 10/5/76

My uncle, William John Wacht, didn't have any children.

I married Aaron Michael O'Brien on February 14, 2002 and we are
expecting Aaron Thomas O'Brien on Jan 9, 2003.

My sister, Arwen, married Daniel Comer on Nov. 5, 2000

Tom Wacht remembers many humorous incidents during the days on Guam. In particular, the following are most prominent in his mind:

"The first thing that comes to mind are the austere living conditions on Guam. All of the Quonset huts were infested with good sired rats that kept us company. In an effort to control the population some of my crew, and other crews as well, used to shoot the little buggers with their Colt pistols. This was OK when we were supplied with bird shot ammo but left holes in the roof when we were issued tracers. It resulted in omnipresent leaks during the frequent heavy rain on Guam!

I think the most amusing contrivance was our primitive sanitary facilities. Situated at the edge of the jungle, 'these multiple-holers inspired many stories from those whom they accommodated. David Shaffalo, our radar operator, had many encounters with the large flies that infested the latrine. The rest of us, somehow, tolerated these winged swarms, but not Dave. He referred to them as 'damn dive bombers' They were particularly annoying to him when he was in the act of doing "#2." Each time when nature called he would gather all available paper or other flammable material, set it afire, and drop it into the pit below - home base of these 'dive bombers.' We all wondered when these incendiary attacks would ignite the building, and possibly Dave along with it. His reply would always be the same, 'Don't worry about me, and if the whole damn shack burns down, let them build another.

The water truck would generally come around at erratic times to replenish the suspended shower tanks. It would pull up between two duckboards behind the hut, blow its horn, and begin the filling operation. He seemed as if the procedure was purposely limited to one minute. The operator would then shut off the water and move on to the next set of duckboards. If a showeree had arrived a little late, he might have to follow the water truck au natural to finish rinsing off the suds. This happened many times, much to the dismay of the bathers.

When we had our grand opening of the Officer's Club, our CO selected two unmarried airplane commanders to act as escorts for two young females to the affair, John Harvey and I were the chosen two from the 62nd Squadron. As I recall, John was paired up with a navy nurse and I with a Red Cross lady. My date was not particularly attractive - in fact quite the contrary. She had the proboscis of a puppet in the fairy tale. There were remarks from my crew about being able to chin one's self on her nose, and other unsympathetic comments regarding my predicament. The merriment ceased, however, when I allowed them to share my pleasure by stepping forth and dancing with the young lady. Come to think of it, though, the request came more in the form of an order.