Engineer Memoirs _____________________________________________________________________
We had great apprehensions, and it was a lot of work on a lot of people's part to make it
happen. In the end, I suppose it worked out all right. I wasn't there at the end, but that was
my understanding.
The project was complex from the standpoint that we were building a major new medical
center facility, after which we would gut the old 144-bed hospital and rehabilitate it. As part
of the new facility, we had to take away all of the close-in parking, plus do all of the utilities
work, heating and air conditioning, for the whole. There was also a large glass atrium in
front.
It was a complex, ticklish project that was programmed to last over five years, in the two
phases.
Q:
I know some of the European medical centers got complicated also because they were partly
OMA funded and partly MCA funded. I don't know whether the Air Force was involved in
any of those complications.
A:
Certain equipment was OMA funded.
Q:
I have one question that we ought to have asked earlier that's sort of out of order, but, just so
I won't miss it, but why did you choose the Louisville District to be the military construction
district?
A:
It was basically because the center of mass of their civil works area was in the area that best
represented the military area too. We had little activity in eastern Ohio, Pennsylvania, West
Virginia--the Pittsburgh and Huntington District areas. Nashville District certainly had Fort
Campbell. It basically seemed to fit best for Louisville District, with Indiana, eastern Ohio,
Illinois, Kentucky, and with Fort Knox right there and Fort Campbell on the Kentucky
Tennessee border.
Q:
Didn't Louisville have military construction earlier? I think they did.
A:
I think they had it earlier too.
Q:
Ten years earlier. Not that that would necessarily--
A:
Probably the reason they had it earlier was for the same basic reasons. Louisville was a large
district, and WrightPatterson was in their area. It just seemed to be the natural fit.
Q:
Was the type of infighting, or whatever, that you encountered in this process of getting
military construction unusual in your experience?
A:
The Missouri River Division part was.
Q:
Not the other part?
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