A/1C "Shel" Goldberg came to Bravo Flt from Wiesbaden AB, GE where he was assistant solo clarinetist with the USAFE Band. He joined the Air Force in 1956 at age 17, played in the SAC Command Band and was assigned to Germany in 1957 where he met and married Wally in 1959. OCLt Goldberg took charge of the OCS Drum & Bugle Corps in Dec 1960. Graduating in the top fourth of our class, Lt Goldberg went to Harlingen AFB TX for Navigator training and on to Mather AFB CA for Nav/Bomb school. After Survival Tng, Shel headed northwest to McChord AFB, WA and the 4thATS/MAS where he flew C-124s and C-141s and was promoted to Captain. While at McChord, Shel enrolled in the University of Puget Sound and received a BA in Political Science with departmental honors in 1967 and a graduate scholarship to the University of Wisconsin where he received an M.A. in 1968. From the lofty heights of academia it was off to even higher altitudes as he was assigned to F-4 school at Davis-Monthan AFB AZ and George AFB CA and in 1969, Shel joined the 497th TFS (Nite Owl) at Ubon RTAFB, Thailand.
Returning to the States after more than 200 combat missions, he was assigned to Cannon AFB, NM where he was made chief of the 481 st TFS Intel shop and flew F-111s ( 1970-71). Eighteen months later he headed back to Europe for a three assignment, ten-year tour that began with the 77 th TFS (F-111s) at RAF Upper Heyford, UK from 1971 to1975, then to Hamburg GE where he was the USAF advisor to Commandant, Federal Republic of Germany Command and General Staff College ( 1975-78), and finally as the AFCENT Air Staff Policy Officer in Brunnsum, NL from 1978-81. Returning once again to the States in 1981, Shel joined the Air Command & Staff College faculty at Maxwell AFB, AL as Chief, National Security Affairs Division and in 1983 moved to become Chief, Dept. of Curriculum Development, Associate School, AWC. He retired in 1985 w/2DFC, DMSM, 3MSM, 17AM, 2AFCM and more. Civilian life included part-time work as a consultant for IDA (Alexandra, VA), then the CIA - initially with the Directorate of Analysis and then from 1989 with the Directorate of Operations.
Shel retired again in 2002 with many civilian commendations and awards. He and Wally had 3 children (their youngest, Steven, died in an auto accident) and 3 grandkids, as well. "Wally, as beautiful as ever, underwent a successful kidney transplant operation in 2003 with our wonderful daughter, Kerstin, stepping up to be the donor. Son Richard, a former AF officer, lives outside Chicago with his family, where he is a team leader at Discover Financial Services. "I passed my written and oral comprehensive exams last fall and I was formally admitted to Ph. D. Candidacy on 1 February 2008. All that’s now left between my doctorate and me is the dissertation, which I hope to complete by late 2009. The title of my dissertation (if I ever finish it) is: Unintended Consequences: German Rearmament and the U.S. Commitment to the Defense of Western Europe, 1946-1955. Otherwise, I just putter on watching our kids and grandkids grow.” updated:Feb. 14,2008