Guest editor JJMcC, USNR (Retired), Long Beach CA: My Naval Reserve Air Group was called up for active duty during the Korean War. We spent six months on an aircraft carrier in the war zone, then returned to the States.

Because we were required to do two years (sound familiar to you Reservists of today?), we were assigned to various Naval Air Stations to serve out the rest of our time. Mine was at NAS Corpus Christi, on the Atlantic coast just 100 miles south of San Antonio. For one of our first time off base, my shipmates and I did what every San Antonio tourist does ... we visited the Alamo. We all knew the history of how Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and the other martyrs had held out against the big Mexican army for two weeks in 1836.

Since this was just ten years after the rallying slogan, "Remember Pearl Harbor," we were familiar with its inspiration from that other war, "Remember the Alamo!" Several Hollywood movies have been made about the battle, the most memorable in 1960 with John Wayne.

The Alamo is downtown, near the touristy River Walk. The original old Spanish mission is modest looking, nothing heroic about it, with a gift shop, tourists and peddlers outside. Admission was free to service personnel in uniform. Inside were musty old uniforms and weapons, a lonesome cannon and some paintings of the battle. I still remember the Alamo.