Part 9 of a Series on Islamic Doctrines
By Mike Scruggs- I spent three years as a USAF intelligence officer
after graduating from the University of Georgia in 1961, but by the
summer of 1965, I was navigator in a C-124 Globemaster squadron,
stationed at Charleston, South Carolina. Although we were heavily
involved in the Vietnam buildup, we occasionally got a mission to Europe
we could really enjoy. After several months of grueling trips from
Charleston to Southeast Asia and back, we got a dream mission. Our route
stops included the Portuguese Azores, Madrid, Crete in the
Mediterranean, Wheelus AFB in Libya, Izmir on the Aegean Sea in western
Turkey, Athens, and back to Charleston via Madrid and the Azores. We
usually stayed overnight at each place, which should have made the trip
less than ten days. Due to some serious engine troubles and extended
maintenance delays in Greece and Italy waiting for parts, we were gone
more than a month.
Nobody had ever heard of Izmir, but I found out
that it was the third largest city in Turkey, one of the most famous
international ports in the world, and before 1928 was known by its Greek
name of Smyrna. Western Turkey had been firmly Greek in language and
culture for centuries after Alexander the Great had defeated the
Persians there in 334 BC. Smyrna was, in fact, the Biblical city
mentioned in the book of Revelation as the home of one of the seven
churches of western Turkey.
