HomeMy WebLinkAboutCharles Opersteny Radio Transcription #1City of College Station
Heritage Programs Oral History
Interviewee: Charles Opersteny
Interviewer: Tom Turbiville
Place: College Station, Texas
Project: Veterans of the Valley
Transcriber: Brooke Linsenbardt
00:00: Tom Turbiville (TT): All who served our country were not in harm’s way and those jobs were equally important in our conflicts. Charles Opersteny of Bryan served during the Korean
War spending most of the time in Newfoundland as a medic. But much of his training came right here, back in his hometown at Bryan Air Force Base. Today Charles Opersteny serves as the
commander of the American Legion, post 159 in Bryan. And tomorrow he’ll talk more about that post. But today you’ll learn more about Bryan Field. After World War II the Army Air Corps
became the U.S. Air Force and during that span, in between, Bryan Field was largely inactive. Hi, I’m Tom Turbiville, this is Bravo Brazos Valley brought to you by Meis and Associates.
Charles Opersteny was at Bryan Field, he remembers.
00:46: Charles Opersteny (CO): And of course Bryan Field was pretty much desolate at that time so we had a lot of rebuilding program to do. So I spent a lot time doing carpentry work
in the hospital so we could get it back up functionin’ again.
TT: Bryan Air Force base was located where the A&M Riverside campus is now, used mainly back then as a training facility.
01:05: CO: It was, reopened for pilot trainin’. At that time, they started in T-28s which was a propeller driven plane. Had a tricycle landing gear and after they apparently learned
to land with the tricycle landing gear, then they moved up to the gyp, which I think was the T-33, which was their final learning phase. And of course after that they what, were transferred
to wherever the Air Force needs ‘em. I guess flying jets and so forth and etc.
TT: Charles Opersteny recalls an accident at Bryan Field and the Field was really not ready to handle it then.
01:41: CO: And unfortuanely we did have a crash and, of a T-28. I was manually having to give traction to a person’s neck because he had a fractured uh cervical vertebrae. Pretty hard
to, we didn’t have the equipment to do these things. But fortunately the C-47 came in from San Antonio and we were able to transfer it, both the pilot and the student.
TT: Charles Opersteny thought that he would be headed next to Greenland but instead went to Pepperrell Air Force Base at Newfoundland. That’s where he learned to love physical therapy.
02:15: CO: My goal was when I got out of the service I would finish up my college education, which I did at Sam Houston State and then applied and was accepted at Herman Hospital School
of Physical Therapy and I went there for a year.
TT: And for 43 years he practiced in Houston before returning home to Bryan. Tomorrow Commander Charles Opersteny will talk about the American Legion. I’m Tom Turbiville for Meis and
Associates. This is Bravo Brazos Valley.
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