Yeah, Dakar is a beautiful place - a bit expensive at the time - a beer was $2.50 - equivalent to about 20 bucks today but a great place - full of French influence, (wide tree lined boulevards and restaurants that served French food). Spent two great weeks there and then in dry dock in Jacksonville, FL for about 2 or 3 months. Those were the good ole days. Later on Ascension - we listened to astronauts walking on the moon. I was there when Apollo 13 fouled up. Don't recall having any doubt those guys were going to make it back home (and they did).

Yes, I remember. I was working for RCA downrange on a missile tracking ship. We were in Dakar, Senegal. Although I don't remember how I found out (since it was difficult to get news back in those days), I recall reading a book about the entire Apollo program (from and engineer's point of view) many years later and when I came to that part of the book - it brought tears to my eyes. The ship I was on spent a lot of time in port at Cape Canaveral and although I never actually saw any of the astronauts I heard about their exploits by locals. I hung out in a bar where Gus Grissom was reported to have hung out although I never saw him there. It was just off A1A on the turnoff that took one to Cape Canaveral.