Master Sergeant David Bigbee Retires From Air Force
By Stan Lynch
BurbankNBeyond
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Master Sergeant David Bigbee retired from the United States Air Force after nearly 25 years of service, in ceremonies held recently at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota.
MSgt. Bigbee and his family are well-known in Burbank. He is the son of former longtime Burbank residents Rollin and Sue Bigbee, of Morro Bay. His father, Rollin Bigbee was a longtime physical education teacher at Luther Burbank Middle School. His mother was a teacher at the Burbank First United Methodist Church pre-school for many years. His late grandfather, the Rev. Morris R. Bigbee, was pastor at the Little White Chapel Christian Church from 1942 to 1967.
David was born and raised in Burbank, graduating from John Burroughs High School in 1982. He is married to the former Cynthia Tarello, also from Burbank. The couple has two children, a daughter Rachel, and a son, Joshua, who is currently serving in the U.S. Navy.
After basic training at Lackland AFB in Texas, where he received the Basic Military Training Honor Graduate Ribbon, Bigbee was trained as an Air Launched Missile Maintenance Specialist at Chanute AFB in Illinois. He spent the next 8 years at McConnell AFB in Wichita, Kansas, where he worked as a Weapons Support Specialist, Missile Technician, Shop Trainer, and Maintenance Bay Chief. While at McConnell he performed maintenance on missiles and the B-1 Strategic Bomber.
In 1995 MSgt. Bigbee was assigned to Malmstrom AFB in Great Falls, Montana, where he served for 15 years. He was promoted to the rank of Master Sergeant at Malmstrom in 2008. In May of 2009, MSgt. Bigbee was assigned to Minot AFB in North Dakota.
During his outstanding career in the Air Force, he was awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal with three oak leaf clusters, the AF Achievement Outstanding Achievement, Good Conduct, National Defense Service, Global War on Terrorism Service and other medals. Bigbee also earned the Strategic Air Command Munitions Master Technician Award and the ICBM Master Technician Award. At his retirement ceremony, MSgt. Bigbee received the Meritorious Service Medal, one of the highest commendations that can be earned by a member of the Air Force.
Following his retirement from the Air Force, Bigbee has accepted a position with Boeing Aircraft at their Malmstrom AFB Division in Great Falls, Montana.
The Big Quake 40 Years Ago
By Stan Lynch
BurbankNBeyond
February 9, marked the 40th anniversary of the 1971 Sylmar Earthquake. Hard to believe that it was 40 years ago, as it is nearly as clear in my mind today as when I experienced it. I guess one just doesn’t forget something that scary.
Striking at 6:00.55 a.m. the earthquake caught me asleep in my bed. Waking instantly, I was immediately aware that it was a big quake. The wild, side to side swaying of our house and the roar like a freight train coming through my room was another dead giveaway. Rushing down the hallway to check on my younger brother, the quake slammed me into the linen closet door with its diamond-shaped knob, leaving a small bleeding gash in my forearm.
My family stood together looking out the window at the flashes from power lines in the pre-dawn sky accompanied by the noise of high-pressure steam venting from emergency valves at Burbank’s power plant. To our horror, 6 ft. high waves were splashing in our nearly new swimming pool. Then we felt the water on our bare feet. To our relief, not the pool, but the 10 gallon aquarium in the room, had splashed water on the carpeted floor. An even greater relief was that the pool rode out the quake undamaged.
As a free-lance newspaper photographer, I immediate took to the streets of Burbank to survey the damage. As my friend Bill Stevens and I drove around town, it quickly became evident which houses had swimming pools—there was water flowing down the their driveways. The most damage we saw was at the old Pacific Evangelical Home on Glenoaks, which was later razed and replaced with the modern Pacific Home that now stands on that spot.
Police officers were out in force, including Chief Rex Andrews in his coveralls with “POLICE” emblazoned on the back. Our own meeting with the police came a little later that morning when we stopped at the corner of Avon St. and Magnolia Blvd. My friend, shoe store owner Les Langley had flagged us down, inviting us to come in and see what the quake had done to his shelves of inventory. Hundreds of shoes and boxes, shaken off the shelves by the quake were piled on the floor. As we took pictures and Les showed us around, Police Reserve Captain Starr came through the front door with his gun drawn. Apparently mistaking us for looters (armed with cameras and strobes?) he was ready to shot us, until he recognized Les and put the gun down.
One of the most amazing, and scary things we saw that morning, was the way people drove. The traffic signals were out, but nobody seemed to notice. Back then there was “Lockheed Traffic” each workday morning and afternoon, when the shifts changed at the plant. Drawn by the sound of crashing cars, we stood near the intersection of Verdugo Ave. and Buena Vista St. and watched as drivers not knowing how to deal with an uncontrolled intersection crashed into to each other several times that morning.
I remember watching coverage of the 6.6 magnitude quake on television, as rescue workers tried to find survivors in ruins of the old San Fernando Veterans’ Hospita were 49 people died. We wondered just how strong the quake must have been to have virtually destroyed the new Olive View Hospital, where 3 people died; and the huge overhead connectors where the 5 and 14 freeways meet. The very same connectors fell 23 years later in the Northridge Quake.
The next big quake is coming. I used to think one came every 19 years due to the 1933 Long Beach Quake, the 1952 Tehachapi Quake, and the 1971 Sylmar Quake, but then that Northridge Quake waited 23 years. So by my highly un-scientific calculations, the next big quake should have been in 2009, or will be in 2013 or 2017. I don’t think anyone can yet accurately predict the big quakes, but I do know it is a very good idea to be prepared.