MIKE WARGO

A Karamürsel Survivor

 

 

 

 

 

then

 

 

 

 

 

2007


a brief bio

I and my buddy were in Karamursel  from early November 1961 until late August 1964, almost three years in Karamursel, at least I was, because I loved it so much that I voluntarily extended my tour of duty for another eighteen months tour, but they sent me back a little early so I could go back to college. But it was great there, and I was one of the few who recognized it at the time.  Everybody else was telling me how horrible the place was, but I was really enjoying it.  I had an apartment in Istanbul and a Greek girlfriend, and my own sailboat, etc.

I remember Fort Apache, and the site down the road toward Yalova, etc.  I was there almost three years and spent a lot of time riding horses in the hills across from the base.  Sometimes I would ride from early in the morning until late into the evening, and I would really travel a great distance, sometimes in great danger in some of the hostile villages, where I would have to flee for my life, galloping the horse away amidst a hale of rocks and stones.  I don't know what they thought I was, that would be such a threat to them, but I guess that could happen anywhere, including my home town of Philadelphia.

Mike Wargo, of the Karamursel Marines