Wagner, John L.

After graduation, I began a 30-year career in the Air Force. I was a Cold War warrior who spent time rotating between fighter pilot cockpit assignments and staff assignments at the Pentagon, Pacific Command (PACOM) Headquarters, the Air Force Academy, and Pacific Air Force (PACAF) Headquarters.

My Cold War assignments involved pulling tactical nuclear alert duty in the Far East and the United Kingdom against targets in both western and far eastern regions of the then Soviet Union. Combat experience in a hot war involved over 200 F-4 missions against North and South Vietnam, Laotian, and Cambodian targets.

A couple of unusual events occurred during my years of service. I thought I was immortal until the day my F-100 came unglued and I had to “punch out” during an air-to-air combat training mission. I proposed to Adele the very next day and we were married in 1959. (Read John’s Caterpillar story on his bio page!)

In March and April of 1970, during my 4-year tour in the Pentagon, I ended up as part of a strike-breaking joint task force instituted by President Nixon during the postal strike. The operation was named Graphic Hand. I was one of two Air Force officers on the joint service task force in the Pentagon. Only a very limited number of people were involved up to the point where we activated and fully manned all the service command posts in the Pentagon to receive the President’s announcement.

[Editor’s Note] Just before midnight on March 17, 1970, a letter carriers’ local disobeyed national leadership and voted to strike. The strike threatened to bring the nation to a standstill. Mail was still critical to the nation’s communication infrastructure. Wall Street feared problems that would arise if brokers could not send out confirmation orders for buying or selling. In a world without personal computers or direct deposit, expensive long-distance phone calls or telegrams became the only communication choices for businesses and individuals alike. Even small-town Americans felt the sting of the strike, as most mail traveled through large city post offices that were the target of the strikers.

On March 23, 1970, President Nixon1 addressed the nation by television. He declared a state of national emergency and called upon the military to assist the Post Office in maintaining essential postal services and ensured that pension, welfare and social security checks would go through.  Nixon ordered 25,000 soldiers into New York City to get some mail moving. By the night of the president’s address, the strike had disrupted mail service in at least 30 cities in 13 states. More than a quarter of the nation’s postal workers had stepped down in protest. According to the Chicago Tribune: “Pentagon authorities stressed that the army would not take over the supervision of postal operations but that military personnel would be put at the disposal of the post office department.”

Although the strike had spread across the nation “Graphic Hand” was centered in New York City. There, between 40 and 60 million pieces of mail were stacked up waiting to be processed. On March 24 “some 400 sailors, 300 air force men, and 100 army troops were taken to the general post office on 8th Avenue and 33rd Street, and began orientation studies of its operations.” The men were directed to assist at clerk windows where needed, selling stamps and money orders. But most would be busy loading and unloading mail and sorting outgoing mail. Wearing fatigues, they were easy to spot among the postal supervisors and non-striking workers. Military personnel transported mail to substations delivered bulk mail to businesses and charities but did not make any residential deliveries.2

Following Air Force retirement, Adele and I remained in Hawaii and I registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as an investment advisor. This led to my managing Pacific Options, a hedge fund, for family and close friends. Pacific Options survived the 1987 stock market crash and when closed in the mid-nineties, provided a positive return for all participants. I stayed involved in the stock market as a day trader up to the present.

In 1999, while living in Hawaii, I served as foreman on the jury that convicted Byran Uyesugi, a Xerox service technician who opened fire inside the Xerox Building in Honolulu on November 2, 1999. With a semi-automatic weapon, he killed his supervisor and six co-workers. The experience of examining the lives of Uyesugi and the other persons involved in this tragedy is something I doubt I’ll ever forget.

In 2003 Adele and I moved to California to be close to our only granddaughter as she grew up. We have lived in two condominiums since retirement, one is in California and one in Hawaii. Condominiums were a new form of homeownership which started in the 1960s. It has been a learning curve for us and other condo owners as the volumes of condominium case law proves. I have served as Homeowners Association President for both properties and my primary task has been attempting to resolve homeowner disputes without ending up in court!

It’s funny how the memory works. I can remember in great detail many things from my time on active duty. After that, the years have just seemed to fly by in a haze.

Surprisingly, the possibility of another postal strike in 1978 had President Carter ready to mobilize troops again. The Cincinnati Enquirer noted on July 20, WASHINGTON (AP)-The Pentagon is prepared to mobilize up to 90,000 or more troops to help move and protect the mail-in event of a nationwide postal workers strike, administration sources say. A Pentagon plan Is ready if President Carter Issues the necessary orders…

Sources: National Postal Museum, Wikipedia).