Picture Tehran, Iran in the early 1970s. The Shah was still in power. The students had not yet taken 52 American citizens hostage at their own Embassy. While there was tension between Iranians and foreigners, it had not yet gotten to the point where it was unsafe for them to be there.
My father worked for an aerospace company who had sold helicopters to the Shah’s Air Force. He was assigned to set up a repair and maintenance program for those helicopters with the Iranian Air Force. Since it was to be a long assignment, my mother and the 3 boys still at home went with my father to Iran. In fact my middle brother, Mike, graduated high school there. The graduation ceremony for his class was held at the American Embassy that was later to become the site of the prolonged diplomatic crisis. Richard Helms, the former CIA Director, was Ambassador to Iran at that point and gave a speech to Mike’s graduating class.
As my brother Mike puts it living overseas was always a bit upside-down. In America our family was middle class. Go overseas with a good American salary, per diem and other perks for taking on such duties in countries such as Iran you are vaulted into a different social stratum. While my parents and brothers were in Iran they lived in North Tehran, the “rich” part of town. The houses in this section of town were behind walls and gates. Continue reading “Ali Goes Home Early”
