Luzum Assistant Vice President for Facilities Registered Professional Engineer in Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Facilities-Administration (1990-2000)
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Gerald D. “Jerry” Luzum Assistant Vice President for Facilities Registered Professional Engineer In Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Facilities-Administration (1990-2000) U. S Navy Captain Civil Engineer Corps (July 1961 –September 1990) Born in Postville, Iowa. Graduated from Iowa State University in July 1961 with a Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering and commissioned as an Ensign in the Navy Reserves. Three days after commissioning he was married to Rosemary Kelp in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Within a week he and Rosemary had to report to Port Hueneme, California, to attend a three month Civil Engineer Corps Training School. On their way to California, they spent a three-day honeymoon at Yosemite National Park and learned the finer points of keeping a bear out of their tent. His first assignment was that of a Project Manager for the Ship Repair Facility at Subic Bay, Philippines. This position’s responsibilities included coordinating the repair and maintenance of cranes and their tracks, roads, piers and wharfs. This job was especially challenging during the three-month monsoon season each year. Another challenge was to keep the locals from stealing the top rail of the many chain link fences they used as water pipes. However, there was the opportunity to travel to Baguio, Banoue (World Famous Rice Terraces), Japan and Hong Kong and snorkel in the beautiful bay. Rosemary, a non-swimmer when we arrived, took advantage of the nearby swimming pool and generally warm weather to become qualified as a swimming instructor and lifeguard. Jerry’s commanding officer held staff meetings at 4 PM on Wednesday at the golf course, which had such steep hills that rope tows were installed. Each player was allowed an additional club – the snake club (no explanation necessary). Rosemary baked donuts each Sunday morning, as there was no “local bakery.” Neighbors often invited themselves over for coffee and donuts. Due to her involvement in the base amateur theater, Rosemary was assigned as the dressing room assistant for Lana Turner, who was part of the Bob Hope USO show. Before leaving the PI, we ordered a VW bug from Hong Kong (at a cost of $1500), to be delivered to Boston, where Jerry had accepted orders after deciding to extend his active duty obligation. At the First Naval District in Boston, he was responsible for the repair and maintenance of all antennas located in that District. This included the Very Low Frequency (VLF) Transmitter array located in Cutler, Maine. There were actually two arrays suspended 1000 feet in the air, about 3000 feet in diameter. They were designed with a 60 Hz deicing circuit, so that each array could be deiced independently while the other transmitted. Each one could be lowered to the ground for repairs and maintenance. The transmitter operated at a frequency of 24 kHz with a power of 2 megawatts. At the time, it was the most powerful radio transmitter in the world. This transmitter provided radio signals to the Navy’s Atlantic submarine fleet while on the surface or submerged. Flights from Boston to Maine were often exciting, as the airplane (airline’s name withheld) door didn’t always close properly so it was wired shut. Jerry also became acquainted with the character of the local Maine residents when one of them demanded compensation because the antenna had turned his piano red. A quick thinking arbitrator assured the agitated man that a Navy antenna would have turned his piano BLUE (Navy colors are blue and gold) so there must be another explanation. Rosemary volunteered in the Navy Relief Office located in Jerry’s office building and shocked his civilian male co-workers when she continued to drive their VW right up to the time their son, Brian, was born. Jerry received a regular commission in the navy before leaving. Next, he moved on to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where Jerry earned his Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering. This was an opportunity to visit more with family in Iowa, the closest we ever lived to them in his entire Navy career. Then he received orders to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion THREE, home based in Port Hueneme, California. The summer trip across the western deserts in an un-air conditioned VW was memorable. Jerry joined the already deployed battalion at the Gia Le Combat Base located in the northern part (I Corps) of the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) in the position of Company Commander. The Battalion had about 400 pieces of construction equipment and operated a quarry and batch plant. The unit was attached to the Third Marine Division, responsible for all their construction needs – roads and bridges, POL tank farms, runways, cantonments and utilities. The most unusual request was the construction of a runway made of soil cement – sand mixed with cement and water and compacted with rollers to form the runway surface. Unfortunately, the site was an old cemetery with over 11,000 graves. So the first task was to exhume the remains and rebury them at a new site with the aid of a Buddhist monk. The construction was completed in record time. This ended the first deployment and the Battalion rotated home for a brief period before going back for a second deployment. On the second deployment, the unit was assigned to the Combat Base in Da Nang South RVN. Our Executive Officer was wounded and had to be medivaced, resulting in all the officers moving up the ladder based on rank. Jerry became the Operations Officer, responsible for all construction by the 800 man Battalion during the 9 month deployment. Three of the more challenging projects were construction of the Liberty Bridge south of Da Nang, construction of the airfield at An Hoa, and construction of the Special Forces Operating Base at Nong Son. The bridge was designed to withstand the forces of being underwater during the monsoon season. The 700 foot bridge was built from both sides, meeting in the middle with about ½ inch to spare. The 3000 foot airfield at An Hoa had to be completed in 7 days. This meant 24/7 construction operations with the site lighted at night – an easy target for mortars and rockets. The construction schedule was met. Jerry led the 150 man crew and received a Bronze Star with Combat V. The third project was fairly simple had it not been for the fact that all construction equipment, material and crew had to be airlifted to the site using helicopters. In our free time, we built schools and medical facilities for the South Vietnam civilian towns and villages. So, despite the drawback of being in a combat zone, this deployment did put Jerry further ahead on the career ladder as his operations position called for him to be a Lieutenant Commander. The family was then assigned to the Naval Security Group Activity at Kamiseya, Japan. Jerry was the Public Works Officer with a staff and workforce of about 210 to perform maintenance and repair to the facilities and antennas located at the base. Because of the limited amount of base housing, our first house was on the economy with a small living room (10x12 feet with 7 doors)/bedroom/kitchen, bathroom and 5 gallon hot water heater for showers. Base housing was then available in Yokohama – about 45 minutes distant. Eventually, we moved to Atsugi Air Station (home base for WII Kamikaze pilots), into a housing unit previously used by U-2 pilots. Our second child, Eric, was born at the Naval Hospital in Yokosuka. Rosemary had the job of traveling with the children to various photography modeling jobs – both boys were blond, blue-eyed tykes, ideal for the European advertising market, which Japan could do cheaper than any European country. They had several jobs for Seiko and various toy companies. Rosemary and Jerry taught English to National Cash Register executives. We also got to visit the Winter Olympic Games in 1972 in Sapporo. As a part of the Olympics, huge ice/snow sculptures filled a whole block in downtown Sapporo. As a farewell gift Jerry’s employees took both of them for an overnight stay at a ryokan (Japanese hotel) and treated us to fresh fish. In fact, it was so fresh that it lived in a large tank until being filleted at the dining table. Unfortunately, it was not quite dead and flopped from the serving dish into Rosemary’s lap much to the embarrassment of our hosts. Jerry then attended the University of Rochester where he earned his Masters Degree in Systems Analysis. Rosemary kept busy with the two boys and our daughter, Keira, who was born at Strong Memorial Hospital. The payback for this education was a tour in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) as a budget analyst for the Navy Military Construction appropriation program. In order to stay in Washington for the children’s education, Jerry took another tour as the financial analyst for all Navy operating accounts and major construction at the Chief of Naval Material. Deciding that this was an extra layer of bureaucracy, the CNO disestablished the office after only a year after Jerry’s arrival. Jerry was reassigned to the Naval Facilities Engineering Command as the Program Manager for Electronic Facilities. The task was to locate an area large enough to build the antenna for the Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) transmitter. This change to a lower frequency was necessitated because ballistic missile submarines were patrolling at a greater depth than before. At this new depth, the VLF signal could not reach the submarines, so a lower frequency (below 100 Hz) signal was needed for them to patrol undetected and still be in constant radio contact.