Korean War veteran reflects on life

Tal Black was set to play college basketball when he got the call to join the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War.

Black, now 88, had a full scholarship at a fledgling school in Mississippi, Delta State Community College, in 1951. However, Black, a Homewood resident, was in the Air National Guard, which was not unusual for teenagers and young men in that day.

Called to active duty, Black reported to the Hanford Site in the state of Washington, where he served on a radar unit.

Black and his fellow airmen plotted each aircraft that showed up on screen, running behind a screen after seeing the aircraft and writing down their identifying numbers. In doing so, they helped ensure there were no attacks on American soil during the war.

“We were still nervous about the war,” Black said.

The Hanford Site is a decommissioned nuclear production complex and was established as part of the Manhattan Project, the country’s first nuclear development program that started in World War II with the building of the atomic bomb.

Black said they were never told much about the site, but he can remember looking down a hill and seeing it. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the B Reactor, the world’s first full-scale plutonium production reactor, was built there, and plutonium manufactured at the site was used in the first nuclear bomb.

There were radar stations about every 50 miles in the area, Black said, and his group was situated on a hilltop, allowing for a wide field of vision.

Black spent about a year in active duty, then came home and went to Howard College, now Samford University, where he met his late wife, Carol. His two brothers also served in the military in different locations and branches, he said.

The dedication to service continued with Black’s son, Barry, who retired in 2019 from the FBI after serving as an agent in Oklahoma City, where he played a major role in investigating the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and the subsequent conviction and execution of bomber Timothy McVeigh. Barry Black is now teaching law enforcement classes in Oklahoma, his father said.

Black worked his way through Howard College, with the help of his wife.

“She was a good student,” Black said. “She kept me straight the last three years.”

In addition to meeting his wife in Birmingham, Black was introduced to a rising fastball while playing city league fast-pitch softball, something he said caused him to wonder, “What have I gotten myself into?”

For 38 years, Black served the South as an insurance claims adjustor, visiting different sites hit hard by hurricanes, including Galveston, Texas and Mobile. In 1956, Hurricane Flossy hit the Gulf Coast, and Black went down to help out with insurance claims. He said he still remembers seeing a Holiday Inn with the roof torn off and the building partially damaged, but not damaged enough to keep Black from spending the night on a bed in the back of the building.

Black and his wife built multiple homes in Homewood, including the one where he now resides. The home is set up exactly the way his wife wanted it and is a nice spot, elevated enough to not be damaged by the rains and presenting him with a pleasant view outdoors, he said.

Black is the “last of the Mohicans,” he said, noting his seven siblings have all died. He spends time enjoying Alabama football, doing crossword puzzles and visiting the Homewood Senior Center. The city of Homewood, for many decades now, has been good to him and his family, he said.

“It’s a great place,” Black said. “I think it’s super.”