We've enjoyed reading Downhome for many years now, especially the letters and stories from the past. While stationed with the Coast Guard in Argentia in the early '60s, I met and wed a young lass from Harbour Main, Gert Hawco, the love my life. When we were courting we occasionally dropped by the O'Club bar and were entertained by fellow aviators with solemn renditions of the Ode to Argentia. I don't know how many of your readers have heard it (sung to the tune of My Bonnie Lies...) but, based on the flying weather we often encountered, there's a bit of reality in the lyrics. Here 'tis:
 

Ode to Argentia

(Tune: My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean)
 
Enroute from Goose Bay to Argentia
The Pilot was singing the blues,
While circling the town of Placentia,
The Tower gave forth the bad news. . . .
 
Chorus: Rolls in, rolls in, my God how that fog bank rolls in, rolls in,
Rolls in, rolls in, my God how that fog bank rolls in!


Argentia was zero and zero,
Torbay had forgotten the sun,
I wish to God I was a hero,
I’d try to make Bluie West One. . . . (chorus)
 
I asked for the weather at Gander,
They said that the ceiling was low,
The forecaster’s lost on the runway,
He thinks that it’s going to snow. . . . (chorus)
 
Torbay has a hole in the ceiling,
They say that it’s forty feet wide,
But I have this God-awful feeling,
The whole thing is just local pride. . . .(chorus)
 
Goodbye to my dear aged mother,
Farewell to my young ball and chain,
When they pull my arse from the wreckage,
Please tell them I mentioned their name. . . .(chorus)
 
Warmest regards, 

Tom Finnegan, CDR, USCG, Ret
  Submitted By: NULL