[Interview begins]

BLUMENBERG: Good morning I'm Tom Blumenberg and it is Tuesday, July 19th, 2016. And we are we are in Hayward, Wisconsin. And it is my pleasure to be here with a friend who is a veteran and his name is Don Semler. I just want to mention that, I am not affiliated with any organization. So welcome, Don, and we will get started with this interview. Okay. So, biographic details. Where and when were you born? 

SEMLER: I was born in 1940, in [XXXXXXXXXX]. 

BLUMENBERG: Okay. And can you tell me about your parents? 

SEMLER: Yes. 

BLUMENBERG: Tell me about your parents. Please tell me about my, my, grandparents and my dad's side. 

SEMLER: Came over from Germany, and my dad couldn't speak English till he was in grade school. Could only speak German. But he was born in Toledo. My mother was born in Toledo. They had met, working in a bank. So. 

BLUMENBERG: And what were their names? 

SEMLER: Walter. My dad was Walter. My mother was ever one. 

BLUMENBERG: Okay. And they both worked in the bank. Is that right? Okay. And siblings. 

SEMLER: I have one sister who's four years older than I am. So she turns, she turns 80 the 1st of August. Wow. So I'll be 76 [XXXXXXXX]. Yeah. 

BLUMENBERG: Well we'll have to have a party. Now, I know it's been a few years, but can you tell me, some of the details of what you were doing before you entered the service? Immediately before? 

BLUMENBERG: Well, I went through. 

SEMLER: I went to Michigan State and, was in ROTC, Army ROTC. 

BLUMENBERG: Okay, let me let me just, let me just interrupt for a second, because this is your, this is your history, and I'm going to pass this on to your family. So if you want, you can you can go a little bit farther back, like, you know, you went to grade school and things like that. 

BLUMENBERG: I did go to grad school. They didn't have kindergarten. So. 

BLUMENBERG: He did not he then not graduate from. 

BLUMENBERG: Kindergarten. Yeah. Well, they, they grew. 

SEMLER: Up in Toledo, and had started my dad died when I was 16. Okay. He had a heart attack. And my mom worked in, one of the public schools in in Toledo. She was a clerk in one of the schools. And I remember having summer jobs. I think my first real job was a caddy when I was between fourth and fifth grade. So. Hated that. 

BLUMENBERG: Caddyshack. Yeah, I didn't like. I didn't like sitting around all day and then not getting out and. 

SEMLER: Having to go home at the end of the day with no money. And then I worked in, in a shoe store. When I was in high school. I worked in a shoe store. I worked in a grocery store. I worked in a gas station and, a well-rounded, nonacademic. 

BLUMENBERG: Experience. German. 

BLUMENBERG: German work ethic. 

BLUMENBERG: Yeah, yeah. And I grew up. 

SEMLER: In a well, up until, the first, first grade. No, first grade was, was in in the city of Toledo. And then we moved out into the county outside Toledo. And now it's all part of Toledo. But, the end of our road outside Toledo, all the farms starts was so, you know, really in a rural community. 

BLUMENBERG: Right? Right. 

BLUMENBERG: And it's a mix between the city and. 

SEMLER: Yeah. And in the city we grew up in a it was a German neighborhood and with, a local grocery store, we didn't have the big, big supermarkets at that point in time, local bakeries and meat markets and stuff like that. 

BLUMENBERG: Okay, so you did that. You graduated from high school, went in 1958. 

BLUMENBERG: 58. Okay. 

SEMLER: I was a junior when my dad died, and then I graduated the next year. 

BLUMENBERG: Okay. And then, what happened to you after high school, years. 

SEMLER: After high school, I went to college and went to Michigan State. And it was kind of interesting because my both my sister and I, we knew we were going to college. We never discussed anything other than the fact that we were going to college. The only discussion was, what do you want to major in? And I wanted I had selected. Kim engineering because I was like messing around with chemistry sets and stinking up the house. Oh, so that's I went. I started at Michigan State in the fall of 159, you know. Yeah. 

BLUMENBERG: Okay. And then did you actually graduate from Michigan State? Yeah. Okay. And when was that? 

SEMLER: I graduated in December of 62. I changed majors, I started out in chem engineering, and after my sophomore year, decided to find out what a cool engineer did. 

BLUMENBERG: Other. 

SEMLER: Than play with chemicals. And went back to school in the fall. Well, that would have been the fall of 58 and discovered I didn't want to become an engineer, so I switched and hotel and club management. 

BLUMENBERG: Okay. For one term, you know. 

SEMLER: Because at that point in time, then I went out and interviewed hotel managers to see what they did, and they said, you know, if you want to be successful as a hotel manager, you should plan on, raising your family in a hotel and moving around the country every couple years or so. And I thought, that doesn't seem to be a real swell of vocations. So I switched into business administration, majored in marketing, and that's when I graduated in, in December of 62. 

BLUMENBERG: Okay. Then December of December of 62. Then how did you end up in the military? 

SEMLER: I went through ROTC at Michigan State. Okay. 

BLUMENBERG: So you were you were in ROTC and then you immediately went in. 

SEMLER: No, I had a six month gap, from when I graduated. I went on active duty in June of, of 63. Okay. And so I worked for Procter and Gamble for six months during that period of time. And, I was married my senior year in, in college at Michigan State. 

BLUMENBERG: Okay. 

SEMLER: So we lived in married housing, and my wife then graduated in, in the spring. And then I went, from working for Procter and Gamble on, on active duty in June of 63. 

BLUMENBERG: Okay. And that was Army ROTC. 

SEMLER: Yeah. 

BLUMENBERG: Okay. And when you entered, then what what rank did you have? 

SEMLER: Second lieutenant. 

BLUMENBERG: Second lieutenant. Okay. 

BLUMENBERG: That's just scary. 

BLUMENBERG: Did you have any options or branches to to answer about it? 

BLUMENBERG: Yeah, I. 

SEMLER: Did, and I, my first choice was, was the Army and specifically air defense artillery. And that's what I did go into. 

BLUMENBERG: Okay, so you got what you wished for. 

SEMLER: Yeah. 

BLUMENBERG: I just that apparently is not the case for everyone. 

SEMLER: And I think a lot of, a lot of people, so, like, non-combat arms. But I was interested in, in the missile field. But I remember one time going through officers basic, I went to Officers Basic at Fort Bliss, and we were, had an exercise and that we rotated commands that I was battery commander that day and where to go to in place of Hawk Battery, which were all loaded on, trucks with, you know, launchers on the, the bed of the truck. So the first sergeant and I were in the lead Jeep and headed out into the desert. And if you've ever seen a map of the desert. 

BLUMENBERG: There aren't a lot of contour lines. So we're heading. 

SEMLER: Out into the desert. And I said, the first Sergeant, let's stop and and place the battery here. And he said, well, sir, how do you know that this is the spot we're supposed to be? 

BLUMENBERG: And I said, how do you know it is in front of you? And he said, you're right, sir William placed the battery. 

BLUMENBERG: So there it was. 

BLUMENBERG: Yeah. There we had our heart battery. 

BLUMENBERG: No, no. Can I back you have the second picture. You were in ROTC. You went directly into the Army at Fort Bliss. 

SEMLER: After six months with Proctor and. 

BLUMENBERG: Gamble. Right? Okay. Then you were at Fort Bliss and. And what did you call that? Was that it was not boot camp. 

SEMLER: No. Officers. Base. 

BLUMENBERG: Officer base. Yeah. Okay. 

SEMLER: Yeah. We. Because at that point in time, you know, during between my junior and senior year, I went through the ROTC summer camp at Fort Riley, Kansas. 

BLUMENBERG: Okay. 

SEMLER: And it Fort Bliss. Then it was specifically focused on, missile training, both the Hawk and, Nike Hercules. And I was on them Nike Hercules side. 

BLUMENBERG: Okay, then. Since you are an officer. 

BLUMENBERG: Well, I hope. 

BLUMENBERG: You just give me some recollections of your your time at the Officer Basic. 

SEMLER: Training. One of the things that you mentioned when when I was writing that the first sergeant out into the desert with the battery, I could, but he had kind of a scar on his face. And I said, Sarge, what's the matter? And he said, no offense, sir, but there's nothing worse than a second lieutenant with a map. 

BLUMENBERG: Okay. 

BLUMENBERG: Well, that's a good start, but you're a good map reader today. 

BLUMENBERG: Yeah. So you said then what was your what was the question today? 

BLUMENBERG: I wanted to, have you give any recollections of your time while you were there in your your officers basic at Fort Bliss? 

SEMLER: And I was there in the summer, and Fort Bliss. 

BLUMENBERG: It was very, very hot there, you know? 

SEMLER: Paso. I remember, you know, some days that we'd get up to 110, 112. So it was a little exhausting. 

BLUMENBERG: You know, we. 

SEMLER: We sweat a lot, you know, but I remember when I was at Fort Bliss, I was thinking, you know, I might make the military, or I'd always been interested in the military. As a matter of fact, I had a I wanted to go to Annapolis, and, but they weren't taking any candidates from our area. You know, I was at that time. So I took the test for West Point. And I think there are about 200 people in college taking the test. And I came in second. So I would have gone to West Point if the person they said, if the person who came in first didn't go for some reason, I would have gone to West Point now. But, I was interested in in the military and at Fort Bliss, we had all, you know, we had the officer, a club and some commissary. And I thought this, you know, this isn't too bad of a life, until later, when I was on active duty and some of my friends were getting killed. 

BLUMENBERG: I thought maybe I should look for an alternative. 

BLUMENBERG: Right? Yeah, I guess we'll get into that a little later. 

SEMLER: But it was, you know, with a lot of our training that, it was focused on, the missile field and fallout tables and depending on what kind of weapons you were firing, you know, what the impacts would be, and. 

BLUMENBERG: But, physical check, in that kind of heat was an issue. But then a lot of it was, you. 

SEMLER: Know, we lived off off base, in an apartment complex with a swimming pool. And so it was it was and and we would go into, Juarez, which is just across the border from El Paso and go shopping and, and at that point in time, you know, it wasn't the same situation we've got now with the drug dealers and everything, because I'd go in, I usually got my haircut in Juarez. You get back off the first main street, which is all the bars and tourist traps. And it was department stores and hardware stores, and it was just a regular. 

BLUMENBERG: Regular town. 

SEMLER: A real large town. I think the population was over a million. And whereas, yeah. 

BLUMENBERG: Now this is a little different than the other interviews that I've done because your basic training was different, but you still had instructor as well. You were at Fort Bliss. What recollection do you have of those folks? 

SEMLER: You know, nothing really stands out in my mind in terms of the instructors. We did get instructions, however, that, you know, if you're going to go into Mexico, be careful what you eat. Here's a list of, you know, okay, restaurants to go to. One of the things I remember, they said, that be very, very careful. If you take a cab when you're in Juarez, because you'll see that the cab windows, window might be broken, and the driver will point to a cop and say, you know, you know, pay for the window. And if you don't. My brother, who is a policeman here, is going to take you to the warriors jail. And my wife and I went to got in a cab to go out of town to the bullring. Are you going to go to a bullfight that day? And, he was off all of the major roads, going down the alleys and back roads and out of broken window. 

BLUMENBERG: We're kind. 

SEMLER: Of sweating where we were going to end up, but he. 

BLUMENBERG: Did go out to the border, and you. 

BLUMENBERG: And you didn't have to pay for the window. No. 

BLUMENBERG: No. But I really. 

SEMLER: Don't remember, you know, the instructors, per se. 

BLUMENBERG: Okay. Pretty much. 

SEMLER: Classroom, work most of the time. 

BLUMENBERG: All right. And then how how would you categorize your specialized training? And or you said the hot battery, and. 

SEMLER: And we learned about two, two basic kinds of missile, the Hawk missile, which some of the people in my class and a fraternity brother of mine, went to a Hawk battery and I was on a Nike Hercules side. And the Hercules were transportable. Those were permanent sites with the missile stored below ground and would bring them up on elevators if you were going to fire them. But, yeah. So we learned about both types of, of missiles, because no one knew at that point in time, you know, where you were going to end up. 

BLUMENBERG: Sure. Yeah. 

BLUMENBERG: Well, you know, it was a big change from, Toledo and, Michigan State to Fort Bliss and El Paso. What how did you and your family adapt to that military life? 

SEMLER: Like we like the military life. We, at least. In at Fort Bliss in El Paso. We didn't think that it would be a great place to raise a family. And we didn't have kids at the time. But it was, I remember when we were coming over the mountain, to go to Fort Bliss. We could see it in the distance, and we said, oh, you know, there's El Paso in front of us. We'll probably be there in 15 or 20 minutes. And it was, I think we were about 70. 

BLUMENBERG: Miles away at the time. So it took a lot longer. 

SEMLER: Than we had anticipated. And, the hotel we stayed at that night, had, cockroach and and prop symbol. 

BLUMENBERG: Oh, yeah. 

SEMLER: That was our first introduction to El Paso, but. And the desert. Yeah, but the place we stayed there, we'd heard stories about, you know, sandstorms, little sand on the side of your car. We never experienced any. Yeah. 

BLUMENBERG: And your social life. There was, bullfights in Juarez, and. 

SEMLER: We went to one bullfight. 

BLUMENBERG: What else? You know, that was enough. We felt sorry. 

SEMLER: For the bulls. But we knew some of the other, you know, officers going through. As a matter of fact, one of the, officers and in my class ended up in the same, missile defense, area in the Twin Cities. So that was, we there were probably 2 or 3 couples that we traditionally did things for. It was a it was a good it was a good social life. Yeah. 

BLUMENBERG: Okay. Any other recollections that you want to share in the early days of service? 

SEMLER: Not from Fort Dodge, probably. Other than I remember. We went shopping with a friend of ours or another couple, who was going to buy a, wedding. Wedding gift for a friend of theirs. Went into a shop in Juarez. We found this casserole dish with a cover on it, obviously handmade and hand-painted, and it was marked $20. And he said to the woman, I mean, the the shop, I won't give you any more than $10. And her eyes lit up and she said, sold. 

BLUMENBERG: I'll wrap it up for ya. Jerry said later, I think I should have started out a little older. 

BLUMENBERG: Had a lesson in negotiation? 

BLUMENBERG: Yes. 

SEMLER: That covered in the coursework. 

BLUMENBERG: What happened to you after Fort Bliss? Where did you end up? 

SEMLER: I ended up in Farmington, Minnesota. And that was the missile site that I was assigned to out in the middle of the cornfields. We had, four firing batteries around the Twin Cities and the four points of the compass, and our battalion headquarters was out by the airport. 

BLUMENBERG: Okay. And what what was the attachment that you had? I mean, what was the, your regiment. 

SEMLER: Or. I was in battery B, third Missile Battalion. Okay. You know, in the Twin Cities, So. And the Twin Cities was designated as, potentially prime target if there was an attack on the U.S. because of Honeywell and control data and some of the other large military, you know, related corporations and the work that they did. 

BLUMENBERG: Then then please tell us about, what your duties were while you were stationed there in Farmington. 

SEMLER: I was initially assigned to be the platoon leader. Fire control platoon leader. The the battery was divided into two basic sections. Fire control, which are the, the plotting boards, the the radars, the control, actually, the control center and the launching platoon that was responsible for maintaining the missiles. If we would come to a hot status, missiles were stored on rails underground. They would roll for the missile over to an elevator. The elevator would bring it, up to the surface and then roll it over to a launcher that would elevate it in an upright position to be fired. And I had the fire control. I had the radars, computers, plotting boards and stuff like that. 

BLUMENBERG: And how many people were with you at that facility? 

SEMLER: Probably totally, I would guess maybe 250. 

BLUMENBERG: Okay, so the. 

SEMLER: Answer was you could say, yeah, you know. 

BLUMENBERG: What kind of friendships did you develop? Well, okay. I forgot to tell you. Turn off your cellphone. Oh, there. 

SEMLER: Let me put it on. 

BLUMENBERG: Stand by. 

BLUMENBERG: It's one of. It's one reason I use this room. Because there's no phones and no interruptions. I forgot to mention it to you. 

BLUMENBERG: I'll put it in airplane mode. There you go. 

BLUMENBERG: Now we're in. Okay. Now we're at airplane mode so we can have that. 

BLUMENBERG: Not missile mode. 

BLUMENBERG: What kind of friendships did you develop while you were stationed there in Farmington? 

SEMLER: Primarily with the other officers. You know, our battery commander. 

BLUMENBERG: We would know who was. 

SEMLER: His parents were Mexican. He was on active duty because of some courses he took to the army, and so he incurred, I don't know, maybe a two, 3 or 4 year obligation to be on active duty. We would have dinner over there, and I learned to cook some good Mexican dinners. I got some good recipes from Jose, his wife. There was a warrant officer that, I was good friends with, and, and one of the other lieutenants. So we didn't do things outside of that, although we still had, you know, one of the people that I went through Officer Basic with was also assigned to the third Missile Battalion, and he was on a different site, but we would still get together with, with that couple. And we've, we've gone camping with them. Up in the Boundary Waters we had would do things on weekends, sometimes with them, but usually with, with the officers on, on site. Yeah. And I, I would go fishing with, one of the sergeants on the local lakes down there. Although I was told you shouldn't fraternize with. 

BLUMENBERG: The non cubs, but that. 

SEMLER: Didn't seem like a big thing to me. Yeah. 

BLUMENBERG: Yeah. Now that, we had, talked a little bit earlier about, your time there, and you had mentioned you were on duty when President Kennedy was killed. 

SEMLER: Yes. 

BLUMENBERG: Can you, tell a little bit about that? 

SEMLER: It was, I mean, obviously it was a shock to everyone when he was, when he was assassinated. But, I think we were the one we had for firing batteries. And one of the four was always designated as the hot battery, which meant you had a full manning crew on site. You ate your meals, you swap, etc., on site. And when Kennedy was shot, as soon as he was shot, orders came down for all four batteries to come up to, the hot status, the Defcon level, you know, went up to the the top because nobody knew what was going on. Was this an enemy involved in an assassination? You know? So we had and most of the information we got was from TV. We had TVs, watching what was happening, etc.. 

BLUMENBERG: Yeah, little bit different times and two with 24 over seven coverage. We have now things things were not quite the same. Yeah. 

SEMLER: Exactly. 

BLUMENBERG: Well, do you have any other recollections of your your time there or any other stories you want to add? Are there any stories that you are able to put on this movie? 

BLUMENBERG: Most of it. 

SEMLER: Most of them are kind of funny or humorous stories. I remember while I was an officer. After our. Well, that's another story. And Lieutenant Miller was the exact officer when I was a fire control platoon leader. And then he got orders from Greece, so I took over as exotic officer. But one of the we had we had tons of extra duties. So not only was I fire control platoon leader, I was the, security officer, the mess officer. 

BLUMENBERG: The officer. The property book. 

SEMLER: Well, property officer. I was taking over from Lieutenant Miller. When? Before you moved out for Greece and taking over the property books, I had to inventory all of the assets on the property. Books on site. And when I finished the inventory, I went back to talk to Lieutenant Miller. And I said, it looks like everything is in proper order, except we're missing a missile is okay. 

BLUMENBERG: I said, I've done it. I've done it several times, and I keep coming up one missile short. But that would obviously affect his his rotation over to Greece. And we finally traced it down that we had turned. 

SEMLER: In one of the missiles to be refurbished, and it never had been taken off the property books. We hadn't gotten the proper paperwork. 

BLUMENBERG: Because he was. 

SEMLER: He was. 

BLUMENBERG: Relieved. But. 

SEMLER: Then a zigzag officer, I remember one night I was home when I got a call from, from the battery, and it was PFC Williams. He said, Lieutenant, somewhere, I said yes, he said, if we find somebody trying to break into the exclusion area, can we shoot them? And the exclusion area is an area with chain link fence. It's barbed crossed barbed wire on top. It's where we store the missiles below ground. And I said, is somebody trying to break into the exclusion area? He said, yes, sir. I said, do you know who it is? He said, yes, sir. I said, who? It's Mr. Logan, chief warrant officer at the gate. Who none of the men like, because he would he would go through the snow in the middle of the winter and walk 2 or 3 miles to try to catch a guard sleeping on duty. And I said, where is it? And he said, well, he's on top of the barbed wire. 

BLUMENBERG: On the fence. Oh, no. Can we shoot him? No, you can't shoot him. He said, well, then, can we release the dogs? No, no, you cannot do that either. You help! Come down. He's the duty officer. 

SEMLER: I was duty officer one night, and I was in the middle of the winter, and we were down in the launcher area, and the dogs, patrolled every night, after dark, year round. The dogs patrolled the exclusion area with a handler. And one night in the winter, as I mentioned, the dogs saw me and started after me, pulled the handler off his feet and was dragging the handler across the snow coming for me as I was running for the guard shack, pulling out my. 

BLUMENBERG: 45, thinking, you know, if I don't make the shack in time, it's going to be the dog, not me. But I knew the Army would rather lose a second lieutenant. That occurred because it cost a lot more to train that guard dog. 

BLUMENBERG: So yeah. The training. 

BLUMENBERG: Yeah, I made the I made the guard. 

SEMLER: Shack and slammed the door just as the dog hit the. 

BLUMENBERG: Door. 

BLUMENBERG: And but the handler was, a little bit distraught. 

BLUMENBERG: Yeah. Well, they use. 

SEMLER: You know, they don't use choke collars. Just used a leather working collar shearing. And when he jerked the handler off his feet in the snow had been packed down. So the handler was just bouncing along behind the dog. 

BLUMENBERG: Any other memories of that place? 

SEMLER: I remember one time we used to use tours, or conduct tours for local organizations. I remember the, the Farmington Women's Garden Club. Yeah, the garden club came in for a tour, and we had a movie showing what the Night of Hercules look like and show and show them being launched and so on and so forth, and or in the dayroom. And the captain, thought we had too much light, so I went over the window to the. Under the pull the drapes. As it pulled the drapes. The cornice board fell. 

BLUMENBERG: On the window and hit him in the head. Oh, no. He hit the homer and knocked off a chunk of his tooth, and the women were screaming in the garden club. It was kind of a typical day on the side. Well, one of the more. 

SEMLER: Interesting things, I think, is we ran we ran missions with SAC. The SAC bombers, they would have a target like the Twin Cities, and they would do practice. It was called our BBS rate, our bomb scoring. They would have a target and. They would I think we would pick them up on our radar when we. They were about by Eau Claire. And then when they would send us a tone signal, then they released the bomb, and we could, tell by our plotting boards where they released the bomb and where that bomb would have actually hit, and then gave them a score on how well they did hitting their target. They didn't have laser bombs and stuff back there, back at that point in time in those missions, you know, those would run maybe eight hours long, eight, 12 hours long. So we would be, be working with the SAC bombers and would be talking to the pilots at that point in time. Those those were interesting, missions that we ran because with what SAC would do with the people on the bombers would do, would be to Wellman. We would acquire we had we had a big circular radar acquisition radar to kind of see on TV with a sweep going around and a blip would, pop up showing the plane, and we would put a crosshairs over that electronic plane and then transfer that information through the computer to target track radar, which was a radar that would swing around and lock on that particular plane. And they had their own radar, that showed where the plane was. And it would show us, a bullet in the middle of that screen and they would walk, and then the bombers would try to jam our radars. So it was a practice for them to jam our radars and practice for us to track through the jamming, because they would do things like they would, they would release chaff, which is little tiny pieces of aluminum, like aluminum foil and our acquisition radar. The whole screen would light up and you couldn't see anything on the screen. They could drop decoys that would go down and maneuver back and forth. And so it's kind of like the old shell game, you know? Okay, which one is the real target? Because they all look the same on the, on the radar. So it was interesting because I went to a, a course back in El Paso. They called that electronic countermeasures where they're trying to jam our radars. And I went to an electrical countermeasures controller. 

BLUMENBERG: Course of how you. 

SEMLER: Jam or work through and keep tracking the, you know, the targets when after they've tried to jam or release decoys, etc.. Yeah. 

BLUMENBERG: Well that's interesting. Where where did the exact planes come out of Strategic Air Command? You know, the base? 

SEMLER: No, I don't know what they were. 

BLUMENBERG: They I know there was one in, Upper Michigan. There was one down in, Kansas, I believe. 

SEMLER: I'm not sure. 

BLUMENBERG: Yeah. Okay. Well, it doesn't really matter, I guess, but just follow me. 

SEMLER: Okay. Came out of. 

BLUMENBERG: Somewhere underneath that one somewhere. So maybe I got lost in in this interview because it's it's interesting to me, but what actually were the capabilities of the missiles that you had? What was what was the real bottom line function of that? 

SEMLER: It was it was not, a surface to air. We weren't concerned at that point in time. We were concerned about ICBMs coming up. It was planes that we were okay. So it would be a plane that would, that, you know, had been tracked probably up in Alaska or Greenland, coming in that would be vectored for the Twin Cities. So our job was to destroy the plane in the way that worked is if we if we acquired it, target like on the acquisition radar. 

BLUMENBERG: Switched it over. 

SEMLER: To the missile track or the target track radar. There were two identical radars, went to target track radar, and one was a missile track radar. The target track radar would lock on the target when we elevated a missile, the missile track. It would lock on the missile, and the information from both of those radars fed into our computer. And once we launch the missile, if the target was coming in, the missile would launch, going to a high elevation and dive toward the target. And when the computer sensed that the missile was at its closest point to the target, not necessarily hit the target, but at its closest point, it would send a detonate command to the to the missile and it would self explode and destroy itself, and hopefully that the target could also. 

BLUMENBERG: Do you get a chance to practice that when you were at Fort Bliss? 

BLUMENBERG: Yeah. 

SEMLER: We had what they called snap at, short notice annual practice, where they would notify a battery that you're on short notice. Snap. And we would pack up the battery or the the prove we wanted to take with us. We would go back to Fort Bliss to build a missile and fire the missile, on the White Sands Range. The the drone aircraft would come down, wasn't manned. 

BLUMENBERG: So it would come. 

SEMLER: Down the range and we would fire. We would fire a missile and we could see it take off, but we'd see it on the plotting board. So you'd see the the two pens, one pen tracking the target, one pen would go up and track the missile and watch them come together and explode. 

BLUMENBERG: And that was White Sands in New Mexico. Wow. So you're talking how many hundreds of miles? Yeah. Okay. So interesting. How long were you on duty there in Farmington? 

SEMLER: I was on active duty for two years. And then in the reserves for six years. Seven years, maybe 4 or 7. Civil affairs unit. Okay. And then was promoted to captain when I was in that reserve unit. 

BLUMENBERG: And you were still in the Twin Cities area? Yeah. 

SEMLER: Yeah, yeah. Fort Snelling. I remember one of the. Well, this was still when I was on active duty. We had Major General Hewitt, visit our our command, visited our missile site and some of the others. And we had a reception for him at the Fort Snelling officer's club. And, you know, as the officers congregated, you know, usually the lieutenants or together captains or together. 

BLUMENBERG: The. 

SEMLER: The general's wife and the colonel's wife were together, and my wife was with some other lieutenants wives, and she had kind of a dregs of a man had. And then she would typically talk with her hands. 

BLUMENBERG: And help. 

SEMLER: Her drink went over her shoulder and down the front of the general's. 

BLUMENBERG: Wife. And you could have. 

SEMLER: Heard a pin drop when that happened. I don't I don't know how everybody knew in exactly that moment what had happened, but everybody did. And the whole the whole officer's club was silent. And the colonel's wife said, I hope nobody slips. 

BLUMENBERG: On that cherry. And my wife said to the general, sorry. 

SEMLER: Oh, I am really sorry. Is there anything I can do? And the general wife said, no, my dear, you've done. 

BLUMENBERG: Quite enough already. I thought it was going to get. 

SEMLER: My orders for two. 

BLUMENBERG: Grand. 

BLUMENBERG: But that never happened. 

BLUMENBERG: No, no, I stayed in Farmington. That's good. 

BLUMENBERG: Well, you know, part of the interview process here says what happens when the war ended or when you were coming home, but you were in a little bit of a different situation. But what I want to ask you about is you were you were serving while Vietnam was going on, obviously. And you just, explain how you felt or how you were received by the community around you. Being an officer in the military, well, Vietnam was in the process. 

BLUMENBERG: I didn't. 

SEMLER: I didn't sense some of the anti-military because of Vietnam. I think that, you know, I lived in Farmington and one of the other foreign officers lived in Farmington. The other officers lived in Northfield. And I think I was just an outsider in the community because I didn't grow up in the community. And my wife, after we were there for a year, my wife taught in the Farmington school system. So I got to meet. I got to meet a lot of nice people in the community, but it was a pretty typical, very, very small. I think the population in Farmington then was probably a couple hundred people. So basically a farming community, everybody knew everybody, right? The furniture store in town was also the undertaker. 

BLUMENBERG: Yeah. Yeah. So you go to the back room. 

SEMLER: We bought our furniture. From the local furniture store. But you go in the back room in addition to the tables and chairs, the caskets. 

BLUMENBERG: And stuff. Yeah, I think we were. We were treated. 

SEMLER: Very fairly and cordially, especially after we'd been there for a while and gotten to know some of the people. 

BLUMENBERG: Yeah. 

SEMLER: We lived next door to the funeral parlor in, in Farmington and got to know Jerry, the owner of the funeral parlor. And since he would get delivery of caskets at night after he had gone home, we had keys to the funeral parlor. We would let the the people delivering the caskets came, you know, come in a big semi, open the funeral parlor for him in exchange for that. And we babysat his dog, which was cut. His heart goes a little, Scotty. 

BLUMENBERG: And he would. 

SEMLER: Bring flowers over after a funeral. 

BLUMENBERG: Of taking. 

SEMLER: Care of. 

BLUMENBERG: Cutie. 

SEMLER: And opening the funeral parlor for. 

BLUMENBERG: Him. Right. So, I guess, readjusting to so-called, civilian life was not a big issue right there. 

SEMLER: No, because at that point in time, I had I had interviewed with IBM before I left college and they said, because, you know, you're you're going to be on active duty in six months. You would have just gone through some of the training and then you'd be off in the service. So contact us before you leave the service. And I had interviewed with the manager of Detroit North and sent a letter to him, and they said he's been promoted and transferred. Your files are all gone because they took all the tests and stuff from IBM. They forwarded my letter to Minneapolis. So I went in and Re-interviewed and retook all the tests. And that changed a lot of the questions. 

BLUMENBERG: Yeah. Yeah. 

SEMLER: So and because we were familiar with the Twin Cities because we, you know, had been living in that area for a couple of years. You know, it was, you know, it wasn't a big adjustment. 

BLUMENBERG: Easy transition. Yeah. Yeah. 

SEMLER: I think, you know, a lot different than somebody coming back from overseas. Served in Vietnam? Yeah, that would be a I even think of that now. Somebody that's been on active duty in Afghanistan or in the Gulf Wars or or whatever. Given the environment that they were in and somebody constantly trying to kill them to come back to the US and try to live a what we would call a normal life must be a terribly difficult road, you know. 

BLUMENBERG: Well, let me ask you, if you, still have any contact with people that you served with, either in your officers training or while you're in Farmington? 

SEMLER: No. The one person that, that I knew at officers basic and new in the military, a couple people, actually, my dentist that was, assigned to our battalion. I got out of the service in June, and he got out in July or August and set up a practice in Bloomington. So I went to him and said, now all of the mistakes you made. 

BLUMENBERG: While we were on active duty, you can fix. So I had my I had my dentist that I had on active duty. 

SEMLER: Know there was the friend that I went through officers Basic with that was in the our battalion got out at the same time I did, and we kept up a relationship for a number of years. After that he joined, I joined IBM, he joined IBM. I was in Minneapolis. He was in Saint Paul. So he was the only one that you know. Well. And then he left Niehs, I think is in Colorado now. I haven't seen him for quite a few years. Yeah. 

BLUMENBERG: Well, as time passes, it's hard to keep up with everybody. Yeah. Do you currently belong to any veterans organization? 

SEMLER: No, I don't belong to any of the veterans organizations. No. 

BLUMENBERG: Now, you, mentioned IBM, and I know a little bit about you, being a friend, but I know you've done a lot of things since retiring from the military, and. Yeah, you can summarize that if you wish. 

SEMLER: Well, I was with IBM for eight years. And I was, systems engineer, started out as a trainee and ended up as an advisory system engineer. I taught data processing for IBM in one of their district ed centers for a little over two years. And that was everything from, introduction to data processing through internals to the operating system, kind of ultra technical internal type of classes. And, and because of my work with IBM is when I rotated back to a field office after two years, I said, I'm teaching the same thing over and over again. I developed a couple of classes that I taught for IBM, but I wanted to go back to the field, and I did. In my interest, industry specialization was finance. So I always worked on the finance team before I went to the Ed Center and after the Ed Center. So I was trained and went to IBM's graduate School of Banking, was trained on finance, and my accounts were all financial institutions, everything from credit unions to savings and loans to to commercial banks in the Twin Cities. And, and I went back to the field, my account and I had one major account, and that was norwest, and I was IBM's representative to Norwest. They were centralizing and standardizing their data processing. They had 11 data centers scattered over an 11 state area, and they wanted to bring everything back into a central processing area and have standardized applications. And they had, a representative from each of the divisions within their DPS subsidiary, plus myself as a representative from IBM, to help plan and carry out that. It was sort of like a five year strategy. And our job, that committee, was to plan and begin the execution of the centralization. 

BLUMENBERG: Of. 

SEMLER: Of their data processing. And I was with him for about a year and a half, and they offered me a job at the same time, I had an offer from IBM to transfer back east to DPI headquarters in industry finance, development planning, IBM's future banking products, and decided ultimately to go with with Norwest. I was vice president of planning, the planning division, and then head was vice president of the systems to. In the Business Development division. Well, as with northwest for ten years and then left for my own business. 

BLUMENBERG: So you formed your own business? 

SEMLER: Yeah. And then I was going to be a consultant in strategic planning, business planning and strategic planning. And it was a one person organization. 

BLUMENBERG: Yeah. So you were the president? 

BLUMENBERG: Yes. Yeah. 

SEMLER: And, and then formed a second company, the first as a sole proprietorship. Then I formed a C corp, C Corporation, and hired people. And our and that's when PCs were first coming out. They called them micros. There wasn't an IBM PC. There was just Apple. Apple and Apple two and two, etc.. So I had I guess I had about 12 people working in the company. And we provided support primarily, but not limited to banks and had 80 some banks, I think, on our system. So if they, they needed equipment or a software application or training, our company provided that for. And then formed around six other companies well over a period of time. Yeah. 

BLUMENBERG: Well, and you finally retired? 

BLUMENBERG: Kind of. Well, you know. 

BLUMENBERG: I know you've been busy in the community here, so. 

BLUMENBERG: Yeah. 

SEMLER: It's, when I officially retired, probably ten years ago, we had the our place on Whitefish Lake for I think now it's 24 years, 23 or 24 years. And we were weekenders, but came up every weekend. Year-Round, except for maybe 3 or 4 weekends out of the year. And then ten years ago, I retired and came up here full time and lived. So it came up, just lived here full time. My wife, worked for another two years, I think, but she was working Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in the Twin Cities. She'd go back Monday night or Tuesday morning, depending on the season or the weather, and then come back on Thursday. And when she came back, I had done all the laundry, cleaned the house, cleaned the bathrooms and had dinner on the table for. 

BLUMENBERG: When she came back. Perfect. And. And she retired. She lost all. Okay. 

BLUMENBERG: All right. Okay. Well, then you. You were full time here, both of you. I know you were involved in community activities in a variety of different ways. Can you just give a, short rundown? 

BLUMENBERG: Yeah. 

SEMLER: Probably the first organization I got involved in was our our lake association at Whitefish, and I was on the board, and then I was vice president. 

BLUMENBERG: And yeah, now, I don't know. 

SEMLER: My years have been president. 

BLUMENBERG: Now. I thought, okay. I thought I had it solved. 

SEMLER: Because I had a very, very capable person, that lived across the lake from us, agreed to be vice president. My plan, obviously, was to have him rotate into the presidency until he put his house on the market. So it still isn't sold, but it's going to be over $1 million house. So hopefully it'll. 

BLUMENBERG: Be a few years. 

SEMLER: Before the quarry sells. 

BLUMENBERG: It. I. 

BLUMENBERG: Understand, I understand there's no term limits for, Lake Association presidents. 

SEMLER: I was thinking of putting. 

BLUMENBERG: That into perspective. I think we should get 15 minutes. 

SEMLER: That was the first organization. And then I got involved with, a couple friends and people in church gotten involved in rotary. So I joined rotary that first year that I was up here full time and took a number managed or coordinated or committee chair for a number of, of committees, and then eventually became president of rotary. 

BLUMENBERG: And then. 

SEMLER: Currently I'm working with the, Sawyer County Sheriff's Office, Hayward Police Department, and also tribal police. I coordinate the, classified as an advisor to the police. Police youth academy, and I coordinate the police youth academy in the area. 

BLUMENBERG: I didn't know. 

BLUMENBERG: That. 

SEMLER: Yeah. 

BLUMENBERG: And I'm learning a lot of things about you today. 

BLUMENBERG: Yeah. Very. 

SEMLER: And had been active in, in church since we joined. Gosh, that first year we were up here, right? We joined the church and been active in the church ever since. 

BLUMENBERG: And that's when I first met you back, I think in 1999 or 2000. 

SEMLER: Because it was 93 when we bought our place up. 

BLUMENBERG: Here. Yeah. 

BLUMENBERG: I don't forget about the school board. 

BLUMENBERG: Oh, yeah. Right on the. 

SEMLER: School board for eight years. 

BLUMENBERG: And don't forget about what do gooding. 

BLUMENBERG: Wailuku. 

SEMLER: Down in that was, you know, through the school board meetings. There was a member of the school board, the resigned to run the Sawyer County record, the local paper, Mark Dobie. And so they interviewed the, statutes call for the board if there's a resignation or somebody leaves. The current board interviews applicants. And Gretchen saw in the paper that they were interviewing and said, you you ought to be on the school board. You ought to apply for that. 

BLUMENBERG: I said. 

SEMLER: Why would anyone in their right. 

BLUMENBERG: Mind would be on a school board? 

SEMLER: She said, well, you've been in business. You can read financial reports. You've done planning. You were I was on the long range planning committee in our school district back in the Twin Cities. Was on our high school closing committee. 

BLUMENBERG: So I knew. 

SEMLER: A little bit about education, and I knew some of the people that were on the school board back there and who, two of the people on the current school board in, in Hayward. So I applied and there were I think there were four applicants. And I remember the president of the school board, after all the interviews, Roper said, I'm sorry, Mr. Semler, but you're on the school board. 

BLUMENBERG: Congratulations. 

SEMLER: So it it was it was through the school board. We had a charter school. We looked at adding it was, Ojibwe immersion language school. And there was, there was a representative from the Hayward School Board to that sat on the board who could adding a school board. And I was the representative. No one else would. 

BLUMENBERG: Have wanted to come up with a. 

SEMLER: Good adding board. And I was on, let's see. Parent Indian Education parent advisory committee. I was on that committee. I chaired the finance committee. I'd been on the curriculum committee. Yeah. I think the only committee had been on was the facilities committee. Yeah. That was, that was, that was a good experience. I enjoyed being on the school board. 

BLUMENBERG: And that was about eight years. 

SEMLER: So for eight years I got off the school board a year ago this past April, I decided not to run again. To give somebody else a chance. I wasn't dissatisfied and I enjoyed being on the school board, but I thought, you know, turnover is healthy. Get some new ideas and thoughts and I'm sure and still stay in touch with the superintendent. Meet with him periodically. I talked to a couple of the school board members, you know, periodically, fairly frequently. 

BLUMENBERG: Yeah. So you haven't lost touch? 

BLUMENBERG: No. Not yet. 

SEMLER: Someday I'm going to fully retire. 

BLUMENBERG: Just fish. 

BLUMENBERG: Well, thank you for that history. You know, what I'd like to do is just go back a step and get back to your military life and find, I know from you if you could, give or say that you have some life lessons that you learned while you were while you were serving. 

BLUMENBERG: You know, I think. 

SEMLER: Probably the biggest thing that the military gave to me on a personal basis was a sense of self-confidence and public speaking. I mean, if you're going to drill a platoon or a company of men and shout commands and run a platoon, get it, it made public speaking a lot easier for me to get up in front of a group of people and not feel uncomfortable. 

BLUMENBERG: Right. 

SEMLER: I think it was, I think it was a great experience. I mean, know, I'm glad that I was able to to serve and and spend time in that function. I think I think everybody ought to serve somehow, you know, whether that's education, whether it's public service, whether it's active military, but do something to give back. And I think that's one of the things that motivates me currently. You know, all the volunteer stuff, I didn't get involved. And I think I've been very fortunate over the years, to have had the opportunities that I've had. And it feels like. 

BLUMENBERG: You know. 

SEMLER: You owe it to your community, to the country to give back help where you can. And I'm I'm disappointed that, I mean, so many people that retire and their life revolves around their yard, or playing golf or fishing or traveling or something. 

BLUMENBERG: And I. 

SEMLER: I kind of understand it, but I don't relate to it, I think. Don't don't you feel some kind of. 

BLUMENBERG: There's a lot of opportunities out there, that's for sure. Now, one more thing. Could you, just tell me about your your overall feelings of the the military, you know, from your your perspective? 

BLUMENBERG: Boy, I think. 

SEMLER: And this is based on, you know, what you read in the press and articles and stuff. I'm concerned that our military has been degraded over the years, that it hasn't gotten the funding. I'm concerned about the the waste, not only the military, but government in general. I've read reports that, under the Obama administration, all of the senior level generals, admirals have been let go, or resigned because of political purposes. You know, that that is, is a great concern because I think and also that, you know, when you look at where we are militarily in terms of conflict, when you have politics involved, and before you can fire a drone at a target that you know should be hit, it's got to be run up to and maybe including the president before you can fire a missile. And I think, you know, if we're going to fight ISIS, we have to do more to fight ISIS on their level rather than have the politicians involved in that. I mean, when you've got a strong military and you've got experienced people, you don't want politicians calling the shot, give the military an objective and let them do their job. 

BLUMENBERG: Yeah. 

SEMLER: That's. 

BLUMENBERG: Good advice. Yeah, well, thanks for that. And, is there anything else that we haven't discussed you want to bring up now. 

BLUMENBERG: That that's reportable? Yeah. You know. 

SEMLER: I can't I can't think of anything I did, I did enjoy my time in the service. Okay. It's like one of those things you look back on and said, glad I did. Don't want to do it again. 

BLUMENBERG: Yeah. 

SEMLER: But it was a good experience. I think it was good experience for anybody that's, that's been in the military, some good, some bad, mostly good, mostly good. 

BLUMENBERG: That's kind of what I was getting at with the next part is like, what is your message for your your family, your grandkids, your future generations? What what would you like to say to them? 

SEMLER: My son was, also went through ROTC. He was in the Army and the infantry, spent his time on active duty and Alaska and, applied for Ranger school, but didn't make it. He was jumping out of helicopters and going down and rappelling down cliffs and stuff, but he eventually washed out. But it was a good experience. I think it served him well. I would tell our, our grandkids the same thing doesn't have to be military. It could be education, could be some type of public service. But put your time in giving back. And when you retire, don't stop giving back. You know, continue that. 

BLUMENBERG: I'm good. Thank you. I know you're you're doing it from your heart. And I know that you, you, lead by example so that we will close this interview. I again, I am Tom Lunenburg with my friend Don Semler in Hayward, Wisconsin on July 19th, 2016. And, and I thank you for this interview and I thank you for your service. 

SEMLER: Thank you for what you're doing. 

[Interview ends]