Abroad for Her Country: Tales of a Pioneer Woman Ambassador in the U.S. Foreign Service

Bogotá, Colombia, 1947–48 (Third Secretary—Economic)

Three Bogotá, Colombia, 1947–48 (Third Secretary—Economic) Departing Trinidad to Chase Hurricanes through the Clouds I accepted a freebie military plane ride back from Trinidad to the United States aboard an Army hurricane reconnaissance plane. The flight would be mapping the winds from the extreme southeastern Caribbean up to the east coast of Florida, and it sounded like much more fun than returning by commercial airline. The Department of State granted my request for a brief leave in Florida to be with my family at Christmas. Under a starry sky at the U.S. Army air base in Trinidad my Marine and I clung tightly to one another in a long and tender farewell embrace. We both seemed unsure of our futures and not yet ready to commit. Yet we each cared deeply and sincerely for one another. I broke away, climbed aboard a waiting World War II bomber, and turned to wave, somewhat limply. I was drained of emotion. The doors shut and the plane rolled along the tarmac to lift up and away from Trinidad. I was confused and sad yet wiser, yes, far wiser and more experienced than when I arrived. Nonetheless, doubts filled my mind as I winged my way home in the cavernous cargo section of the old bomber. Aside from the crew up front, I had the entire plane to myself and lots of time to reflect on my personal life and to wonder where it was headed. 44 Absent any passenger seats, the crew made me comfortable on an improvised lounge composed of a pile of old khaki padding and mats used to secure cargo. I felt a bit like the Queen of Sheba, atop a throne however inelegant, though my tearstained face suggested it might not be a happy kingdom. We flew a complicated, zigzag course, gradually heading north by moving east and west, testing the winds over the waters of the blue-green Caribbean. Occasionally a crew member with a big grin and a cup of coffee would duck back from the front cabin to check on me. Was I OK? We had to shout to make ourselves heard. I would point out the window in a downward direction and simply mouth the word beautiful as the sun glistened on the white coral beaches and outcroppings in the sea below. After a few hours of zigging and zagging, we made it to the British island of Antigua, where I was told we would refuel and overnight. I was put up temporarily at the home of a rather surprised but hospitable American consul and his wife. Early the next day I was picked up in a Jeep and taken to the airfield, where I was put back in my “private salon,” the same old converted reconnaissance plane, to do the second leg of the “hurricane watch” journey into West Palm Beach, Florida. Again I was checked on periodically, sometimes with a sandwich to go with the coffee. It was late afternoon when the pilot called me up front to ask if I wanted “to help land the plane in West Palm Beach.” The copilot offered me his seat, and I had the excitement of pretending I was flying the plane to touchdown. Later, when I told the story to my brother, a World War II B-26 pilot, he didn’t believe me. It seems there were military rules against such behavior and my brother was a by-the-rules guy who drove his subordinates and family crazy. He failed to appreciate why rules had been broken by another pilot wanting to show off to a young woman. Brothers are always such killjoys! It wasn’t until many years later that my brother took his own turn at bravado, flying up to northern Wisconsin from Racine in a Civil Air Patrol trainer to our home town of Rhinelander just so he could show off. He flew me around the many lakes that dotted the landscape and over the old cottage where we grew up, swooping down over “our” lake. He laughed heartily as he pointed out a huge boulder some distance from the shore where he had perched me precariously one day while he went off to fish Bogotá, Colombia, 1947–48 45 with the guy next door. Fearful that he might be up to more tricks—this time with a plane—I signaled it was time...