DAVID OLIVER • COLD WAR
David Oliver, 70
Essex, MA
Born: April 16, 1955
Born/Raised: Essex, MA
Service: US Marines
Rank: Chief Warrant Officer
Dates of Service: 1974-1978, 1978-1993 Active Reserves
Asking David Oliver what he did during his time in the Marines elicits a reserved reply. What he can say is that after a year-long process of getting his top-secret clearance, six months at the Monterey Language School learning Spanish and training in electronics and communications, he found himself at the top of a hill in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in a room full of radio equipment, another soldier on the front line of the Cold War.
David was born, and raised in Essex, MA, one of five children. His father Arthur, Jr., had enlisted in the Army during WWII and was on troop transport to Japan for the planned invasion when the atomic bombs were dropped. When he returned, his mother put her foot down that he wouldn’t join the family business as a horse trainer, so she found him a job at General Electric. His father met his mother, Mildred, from Revere, who had been working assembling wiring on the factory floor during the war. He has two sisters and two brothers, including his twin, Mark.
He attended Gloucester High and graduated in 1973. He played tuba in band and enrolled in the ROTC. After GHS, he attended Iowa State University where he played in the Big 8 marching band. Not happy with his time at Iowa, in the Spring of 1974 a friend talked him into joining the Marines. He was immediately offered a place in aviation technology and headed off to San Diego for training. Once he finished boot camp the Marines had other plans and he began his top-secret road to Cuba.
Normally a one-year posting and considered isolated duty, David continued extending his tour every six months until the end of his enlistment in 1978. One of the only perks to being stationed at Gitmo was that soldiers ranked sergeant and above were allowed to bring personal vehicles to the base which often changed hands at the end of deployments. David bought a 1973 Plymouth Barracuda from a departing sailor and eventually brought this car home with him when he returned stateside.
Once finished with active duty, David joined the active reserves and returned, briefly, to college at UMASS Amherst. His first summer back from school, he took a job with JK Systems in Gloucester installing security systems. When the summer was up, he was offered double his pay to stay on. He worked for them for 18 years.
In 1991, as a Chief Warrant Officer, he was called up for Desert Storm as an electronic warfare intelligence specialist. He spent six months teaching signal intelligence and electronic warfare to ensigns in Virginia Beach, Virginia. After finishing his employment at JK Systems, he took a job at Audi in Peabody which he held for 24 years until covid urged his retirement.
In 1983, David met his future husband Mark Nelson who worked for CB Fisk making pipe organs. They started by having a long-distance relationship between Magnolia and Rockport and eventually bought a house together in Essex where they continue to live. David and Mark officially married on their 25th anniversary, 17 years ago. Now that both are retired, David works part time at Angie’s Service in Newbury and volunteers restoring and operating narrow gauge rail cars in Portland, Maine.
“I never felt like a Vietnam veteran, but rather a Cold War veteran.”