By KANDACE MCCOY

kandace.mccoy@register-news.com

In early 1954, when Frank Bourland was stationed at Landstuhl Air Force Base in Germany, the air policeman received a call from the front gate about a possible violation.

“I was coming back late to the base,” recalled Bob “Harlie” Cozart with a chuckle, “and I missed my ride back to the base. I had to walk from a local town and got stopped at the gate.”

Cozart, who was in the Air Force at the time, then had to meet face-to-face with Bourland about his violation.

As Bourland cleared the way for Cozart to enter the gate and drove him into the base, he made a startling discovery.

“I found out he was from Mt. Vernon and my hometown,” Bourland said. “I was elated to meet someone from my hometown.”

But not only was there one airman from Bourland’s hometown, there were two — Cozart’s twin brother, O.J. or “Orlie” as he was called during that time.

“O.J. had orders to go overseas,” Bob explained. “So I asked for special orders — at that time there was an order in the Air Force that twins could stay together if they wanted.”

A few days after their initial encounter, Bourland and the Cozart twins met in the mess hall on base, and marveled over the fact they were all three from Jefferson County — and to their knowledge the only ones from this area serving at that base.

“I was surprised,” O.J. said of Bourland. “I didn’t even know he was there (at the base). ... When you see someone in your hometown, it makes you feel better.”

The three became close friends until each left the base. Both Bourland and Bob would leave the Air Force Base in Germany in 1955, while O.J. would not depart until 1957.

“We were together almost two years there,” Bourland said. “We should have had more conversations there about who we all knew.”

Bourland stayed in the service, re-enlisting in the Army. After he retired, he worked as a special agent at state and federal levels of government.

Bob Cozart went on to work for General Motors in Chicago in 1957. His brother would follow him there three years later. After both men retired in 1988, they found themselves coming back to the King City.

Bourland returned to Mt. Vernon in 2008 — 54 years after leaving his twin friends in Germany — meeting up with an old friend, Shirley (Newcomb) Kirk.

“I was talking to her about the people I knew in Mt. Vernon,” he said. “And I told her that everyone I knew had either moved or passed away. And then I mentioned to her about meeting these twins in Germany when I was stationed there and how I found out they were from here. And she told me, ‘I bet it was the Cozart twins.’ So I looked in the phone book and found O.J. I called him and asked if he was the same Cozart who was stationed in Germany and he said, ‘That’s right.’”

“He called me, and I said, ‘I remember you, Frank,” O.J. said, adding that he then called his brother about finding their friend again.

“I had looked for him,” Bob said. “We were planning a class reunion and that’s what I did — I got on the Internet and looked for people. I looked for Frank but could never find him.”

During the Mt. Vernon Township High School Class of 1954’s reunion held in September last year, the Cozart twins decided to invite their old friends from Landstuhl Air Base.

“We decided to have our own reunion,” Bob said, adding that Hans F. Bruhn of Ontario, Canada, and Claudius Absher of McGrady, N.C., also joined Bourland for the reunion.

“It was real special,” O.J. said. “Bob, I think, was closer to Frank than I was, but we always went out socially (at the base).”

Their friendship remains intact after those 54 years. In fact, after Bourland contacted the Cozart twins in 2008, they went to Arizona with Bourland to help him finish moving to back to the King City.

“They have been real solid friends,” Bourland said. “I haven’t done that for them, but they’ve done that for me.”

“The friendship is fine,” said O.J. “That’s what friends are for.”