Marine Ball - © 2007 Terry Hayes

This photo was taken in 1969 when we were in Moscow and attending the Marine Ball.

We used to play a lot of sports with the Marines and they were often visitors to our club. My invitation was addressed to Sergeant Terry Hayes and wife.

All the CM’s were invited with the same rank. We had to scramble on the local market for black suits, and bow ties etc. The suits we bought were rather old fashioned with button flies.

The ties were imported from Stockmann’s in Helsinki . We used to make a weekly order via teletype and the order arrived on the weekend via train. These orders could be terribly expensive for small orders because of the freight charge. I remember ordering 3 heads of lettuce for a dinner party and the lettuce ended up costing in excess of $5 a head; this was in 1968 or 69 when our salaries had not yet been reclassified to EL.

Anna Sullivan helped our ladies make formal dresses for the occasion. Sometime before this auspicious occasion I decided to grow a beard; a good example of stupid things we do in our youth.

Terry

© OFARTS Canada 2007 Old Foreign Affairs Retired Technicians, Canada The opinions expressed here are those of the contributors. Accuracy of facts has not been verified in all cases.