"Gone With the Wind" star

Former Carswell base commander Bill Mohr, now in Azle, reflects on life, love and timing

by Cynthia Henry Hoopla Publisher

“Let’s talk about being at the right place at the right time,” said former Carswell Air Force Base Commander Bill Mohr. He said it’s a common theme throughout his life.

Bill went to Western Kentucky University on a football scholarship. While he was there, he spent a lot of time thinking about a girl named Betty, who was back home in Louisville. It didn’t start out as anything serious. He took her out whenever he was in town — if she wasn’t dating someone else.

“Timing is everything,” he said.

Luckily, Bill was at the right place enough times that the pair started to miss one another while he was away at college and Betty was in nursing school.

So they began spending more time together and sharing their dreams.

Bill’s ultimate goal was to teach industrial arts. The pay for that position was better than most teaching positions due to a shortage in the field, plus he enjoyed some of the related classes he took in high school.

“I thought it would be fun to teach others those skills,” he said.

While he was finishing up his bachelor’s degree in education, he decided to sign with the Air Force for a few years. It was during the Vietnam War, and he wanted to do his part.

“I had no intention of staying in the military for 30 years,” he said. He passed the entrance exam but was 50 pounds overweight. That’s when Bill took up running, something he continued for decades. And, by the time he graduated, he’d lost the weight and officially committed to the Air Force.

Why the Air Force? Why not?

“I liked the color of the uniform better than the green,” he said. Bill and Betty married a few months after he was recruited — in October of 1957. He needed a temporary job while he awaited his first assignment, and as luck would have it, they needed someone to roll cigarettes down at Brown & Williamson, where his dad was a machinist. He didn’t apply for the job. Bill has never applied for a job. He’s just always in the right place at the right time or knew the right people.

It was only a week after Bill and Betty’s wedding that he received his first assignment. The couple moved to San Antonio AFB for the next six weeks.

“We went on a honeymoon to the Air Force,” he joked.

Bill says, even though he didn’t plan a career in the military, he was fortunate to fly for 30 years. His assignments included Vietnam, where he was in a super secret organization that helicoptered out every day to communicate with mercenaries, who told them where to make strategic air strikes in Cambodia and Bill Mohr Laos. There were a lot of close calls. But, usually, Bill was at the right place at the right time. “It’s been an interesting life. I’m very lucky though,” he said. After Vietnam, Bill was reassigned to Michigan, where he was the director of training. His unit was awarded Best Flying Unit In The Command, an honor that he considers his big step to success. Despite that success, he still longed to teach, so he earned a master’s degree in education from InterAmerica Uni-

COURTESY General Minton Alexander (left) at Mohr’s retirement ceremony, 1987.

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