O/T It's a small world after all

37chief · Jan 27, 2012

I was driving on a six lane highway packed with cars going 20-30 mph today. I look over in the next lane there is my 80 F350 I sold three years ago, looking just as it did when I sold it.(beat up) but still running. I hauled my MF and mower a lot of miles with that truck. Ever been some out of the way place and see some one from your past? I was stationed in Japan while in the Navy, and meet the sister of a girl I went with. Her husband was stationed at the same base. Iwakuni Marine air station. Stan

bobs old iron · Jan 28, 2012

yep: was in San Diego with my [late departed/rip]girl friend, walking down pier when two guys pass by, one says hey, he has a [trucking logo] jacket from Colorado, stopped and talked for a minute, realizing they were from OLD NEIGHBOR-HOOD when in grade school...

Wardner · Jan 28, 2012

I was at Camp LeJeune, NC and got a four day weekend. I decided to go home (MA) and got a car ride to Washington, DC. I was left out at a street corner to await the bus for the airport. Walking up the street came my brother. He was stationed aboard the USS Forrestal which was under going repairs at the Norfolk Naval Base in VA. Neither one of us knew of the others plans.

Odds on that happening are greater than winning a national lottery. Maybe a billion to one as I didn't even know where he was assigned. It had been several years since I had seen him last.

Ultradog MN · Jan 28, 2012

Yes,
Our ship pulled in to Palma de Mallorca and we were out on liberty. Stopped by a little sidewalk cafe and I heard someone call last name.
I looked two tables over and saw a guy from my hometown. He was on another ship and was tied up next to mine. I didn't even know he was in the Navy.

806man · Jan 28, 2012

Well, I went on a trip with a couple of buddies of mine to a big car show. Over 300 miles from home. We decide to eat, go into this Golden Corral and when get seated the waitress set us next to my ex-wife and her husband. Glad my hunger over ruled my manners!!!

oldtanker · Jan 28, 2012

Couple of times.

1st was on my first tour of Germany. We had a guy in the unit from the Twin Cities who took great delite in introducing any new guy from MN to the other guys from MN. He brought a guy around one evening. New kid tells me he's from near Battle Lake MN and his mom was doing ceramics in town at a shop run by a woman who's son in law was stationed in Germany. He was supposed to look the guy up. Only one ceramics shop in town.....yep my mom in law owned it.

2nd was a guy from the south who took early retirement in 94 during the 90's draw down. I was the platoon SGT when he retired. I ran into him at the Subway in Pelican Rapids (small town middle of no where, not even on the interstate) MN in 03. He ws driving for Snyder at the time. Kinda fun seeing him, good guy.

Rick

PetemiddleTN · Jan 28, 2012

Indeed a small world, I still wouldn't want to paint it though.

Russ from MN · Jan 28, 2012

My wife and I were hiking up a mountain trail in AZ and I ran into a salesman that I knew very well from the paper mill. He is retired too, lives in WI, spends the winters in AZ.

Goose · Jan 28, 2012

I've run into people all over the world. Once, when I was in the Marine Corps, I was riding an LST from Japan to Taiwan.

Sitting on the deck one day, I noticed a particular sailor and thought the guy looked familiar. When he turned so I could see his name on his shirt, it turned out he was a guy I'd gone to grade school with in a one room country school. He was a crew member on the LST. (I sure as heck didn't envy him that duty assignment!).

'Nother time, in North Carolina, 1500 miles from home, I got to talking with a Marine across the table in the mess hall. We figured out we'd not only gone to competing high schools, we'd played high school football against each other.

There are more instances, but I don't want to be boring.

Tom in TN · Jan 28, 2012

I had two older half-brothers who are now deceased (one from mom, other from dad). The respective families lived in two different states and had no contact with each other. My half-brothers were both aviation machinist mates in the Navy. They were in the same class in A-school and met each other there for the first time. They had a good, long-lasting friendship for many years after that.

Tom in TN

Anonymous-0 · Jan 28, 2012

My dad always said he couldn't go somewhere without meeting someone he knew or who knew someone he knew. Back around 1980, we were driving up Washington St. in North Denver and someone hollered at him and it was a guy from our hometown. Some years before that we were in a shopping center in West Denver and ran onto one of mom's cousins who only lived 5 miles from us in Decatur County Kansas.
We also have a picture taken in 1945 in the Philippines of Dad and his twin brothers.

TVB · Jan 28, 2012

In "98 my buddies and I decided to check out Australia, so we flew to Sydney rented a car and started driving. One night we stopped in some 1-horse town got a room and walked across the street to the pub. We found some of our high school classmates sitting at the bar, they had the same plan as we did fly into Australia drive around.

JMS/.MN · Jan 28, 2012

In "64 a neighbor and I took draft physicals the same day, he waited to get drafted, I enlisted. Fall of "65, I"m waiting at a bus stop in DC, see this familiar figure headed to the stop- yup, it was Reutzel!

Billy Shafer · Jan 28, 2012

This one happened to me and I still don't believe it. My sister was in the Air Force. I was in the Navy. Took a day off with a buddy and went from Subic Bay to Manilla to see his family. Stopped at the town square to take some pictures.
When my sister left the Air Force and came home. We were looking at some pictures she took. One caught my eye. Got out my photos. Found the same picture but from another angle. Same clouds and buildings. Turned out she was TDY to Clark AFB. We were most likely about twenty feet apart. Never knew it until we got home

Unruh · Jan 28, 2012

The odds of knowing a mutual aquaintance in the United States is one in four. You may have to visit a while, but there is one in four chances that you both know somebody. -other than external_link.

MSD · Jan 28, 2012

My dad was in the army in France during WW2. He was in the 5th Armored Division serving as a tank mechanic. He heard that the Seventh Infantry was close so when he was able to get some time off went out walking a street just in case he could find him when somebody hollered at him. It was his brother he hadn't seen or heard from since the beginning of the war. His brother was a machine gunner who was captured twice and escaped both times.

Mike (WA) · Jan 28, 2012

Stangest for me was walking down the boarding ramp into a plane- the pilot was ahead of me, and from the back I was pretty sure it was a neighbor of mine who flew for that airline. Was about to sprint up and say HI when a voice behind me called my name- and it was the guy who I had thought was the pilot up ahead!

Anonymous-0 · Jan 28, 2012

went to Alska in july 2000 with serveral Indiana pals to go fishin , My sister who moved to Dallas Texas 1977 was at the anchorage airport getting ready to depart when we arrived from Indiana .. neither of us knew of the others plans,she had been to DENALI , as part of the alaska Cruise ,,.

O/T It's a small world after all

37chief

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bobs old iron

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Wardner

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Ultradog MN

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806man

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oldtanker

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PetemiddleTN

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Russ from MN

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Goose

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Tom in TN

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Anonymous-0

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TVB

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JMS/.MN

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Billy Shafer

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Unruh

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MSD

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Mike (WA)

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Anonymous-0

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