[R-390] Memorial Day

[Don Reaves]

This is the weekend to honor our veterans, and say thanks for their service
to our country, and we honor the vets who hang out here on the R-390 list.
One of those was Wally Chambers, who became a silent key last year.  Someone
is posting some of Wally's test equipment and radio gear on ebay, and the
following bio is lifted from an auction description. 

--
Walter M. Chambers Jr. (better known as Wally) was born in Shreveport, LA in
1926. He was interested in radios and electricity from an early age. After
graduating from Byrd High School and a short enrollment in college, Wally
enlisted in the US Navy whereupon he was sent to Chicago for Radio School.

During WWII he was stationed in the Pacific Arena on various types of ships
and 1 submarine as a radio operator. Wally received a sword from a Japanese
officer when the officer surrendered to the US Forces.

After the war, he enrolled at LSU on the GI Bill and completed a degree in
electrical engineering.

Wally began his radio collection and was especially interested in WWII
radios. He collected all types from various war vehicles but especially
command sets from airplanes. Each receiver or transmitter covered only a
small range of frequencies, therefore he had to have (in his opinion) all of
their frequencies.

After Wally retired his favorite occupation was repairing old radios. Each
one was like a jigsaw puzzle that he took apart, testing each part to make
sure it was working properly and then reassembling the whole.

Wally was active in the amateur radio community and loved to go to hamfests
around the country and e-mailing friends and acquaintances about radios. 

--

Wally was a friend, having met him at many local hamfests and sharing a
common interest, and I miss him.  There are no more late evening landline
calls from Wally, where all I had to do was ask one question, and sit back
and absorb his stories of R-390 adventures, from pushing many of them out of
the back of cargo planes fleeing VietNam into the ocean for destruction
(orders!), to his common sense approach to repairing and enhancing the rigs.
RIP, Wally!  

And thanks, veterans, for your service to the USA.

---
Don Reaves  R-390 list administrator
<mailto:r-390-admin at mailman.qth.net>






 

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