Tom Lyons

As Langerkopf was beginning to gear up for the transfer from U.S. to European Control many of us were reassigned. I had been at Langerkopf for about 18 months when I was transferred to Tyndall, AFB Panama City, FL.  I was assigned to the 4756 Drone Squadron until my discharge. The 4756 was a training unit both for Controllers and Fighter Pilots. Most days we had missions scheduled with several fighters running intercepts on one another. Additionally at noon on almost every day we shot off a Drone and had a gaggle of fighters that could run intercepts and try and shoot it with missiles that had no war heads.  While there I worked at a bar on the beach called “The Bahia Beach Party” it was fantastic. When I was discharged in August 1966, I returned to Oklahoma City and enrolled at Central State College in Edmond but didn't last out a semester due to money problems.  I moved to Miami , FL where after a few months, I was hired as a Police Officer, by the Dade County Public Safety Dept.  I was on the department there for 14 years. It was an exciting job and an amazing time and place. Overall, I found it very satisfying and rewarding. During those years I met and married a United flight attendant got a college degree and finished about half the requirements for my Masters.  I was a Detective Lieutenant when I took early retirement in 1980. 

I joined the FBI as a Special Agent and after training in Virginia was reassigned back to Miami .  We had a daughter Nicole (Nikki) and after a few years divorced and they moved to Colorado to be close to her family.  I was promoted to supervisor in 1986 and went to FBIHQ in WDC where I evaluated programs and made recommendations on management issues to senior management. Around this time I met Jeanne who owns a tour company specializing in historical tours of D.C. After a lot of encouragement and wine she consented to marry me.  The preceding part should be in bold as Jeanne has been the highpoint of my life, right up there with the birth of Nikki.