logbook available online - go to · 9155 35th way n. pinellas park, fl 33782-5427 1-727-366-6969...

9155 35th Way N. St. Petersburg, FL 33782-5927 1-727-366-6969

Logbook Available Online - Go to www.otter-caribou.org

Legacy 49 - still at it. And Santa Claus as well. . .(Photo submitted by Bob Cansler.)

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Wings of Friendship January 2021 AOCA Logbook

Celebrating the Otter, Caribou and Neptune Aircraft

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Members, family and friends,despite the COVID-19 pandemiccreating many challenges in 2020,our Army Otter-Caribou Association(AOCA) continued to thrive, sharefun and relatable stories. Thanks toall for sharing your thoughtful andoften humorous input for each otherand the Logbook, which has kept ussmiling while remembering our greatveterans and active duty militarycurrently serving our nationalinterests around the world. Special thanks to Bruce for his funnotes and cartoons throughout the year, special date reminders byEarl, and Bill Upton who diligently and skillfully combine yourpriceless input for all to share.

Since covid has kept us and much of the country closed orrestricted from our normal life, we have still managed to succeedwhile managing our health and life as before. Special thanks forstaying strong and optimistic. “Life is what you make it,” saidEleanor Roosevelt and remains appropriate today.

As I stated earlier, your diligent AOCA board and volunteermembers continue to plan and coordinate our 2021 SpecialReunion, September 29th to October 3rd as reported when the2020 reunion was canceled. The Hilton Hotel in Columbus hasagreed to the AOCA’s revised reservation dates in 2021. Futureupdates will come from the board and key planning members.Please keep your calendars open and highlighted for the reuniondates. Plan to invite family members and friends and let’s makeit memorable and special!

We know a dynamic group of AOCA members continue tobe active in many local and national organizations virtual andonline to include military memorials, museums and archives thatrecognize, document worthy history and honor those who served.There are many such memorials in the United States and abroad;the following five web sites are all worthy of a virtual visit at anytime. Since our 2021 reunion will include a visit to the FortBenning National Museum and Soldier Center, it is appropriateto start with it as a web site, followed by others.

One: Fort Benning, GA, https://nationalinfantrymuseum.orgTwo: Fort Rucker, AL, https://armyaviationmuseum.orgThree: Columbus, OH, https://nationalvmm.orgFour: Huntsville, AL, https://wwwrocketcenter.comFive: Athens, AL, www.alabamaveteransmuseum.comOur nation has a wonderful and rich history, one that our

forefathers, ourselves and today’s veterans fought for. We arefortunate to have their dedication and sacrifices preserved forfuture generations. As Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declarationof Independence, July 04, 1776, we fought for “Life, Liberty andthe Pursuit of Happiness.”

In conclusion, thanks to all the past and current AOCAmembers, families and friends of the AOCA who’ve supportedour country. Enjoy time, with family, friends, both near and farfor the laughs and enjoyment of life. We hope you, your familyand friends had a happy Thanksgiving and will enjoy Christmasand the New Year! Stay safe and healthy in 2021. Melvin J.McLemore, President AOCA

January 2021 Volume XXXV Number 1Published two times a yearPublisher - Bruce D. Silvey

Editor - William R. (Bill) Upton

The Logbook is the official publication of the Army Otter-CaribouAssociation, Inc., 9155 35th Way N, Pinellas Park, FL 33782, a not for profitorganization, IRS ID 58-1663032, granted 4/26/90. © 2021 Army Otter-CaribouAssociation, Inc. All Rights reserved. Not for profit military or veteransorganizations may reproduce items providing credit is given to the author andthe Logbook, Army Otter-Caribou Association, Inc.

Association Officers and DirectorsPresident Melvin McLemore

1st Vice President William R. Upton

2nd Vice President OPENSecretary Edward E. ShusterTreasurer Dennis ToaspernParliamentarian Donald S. SeymourHistorian Wayne BuserScholarshipsChaplain Edward E. ShusterLegal Kenneth S. WomackRecruiting Floyd T. BurksReunions Wayne BuserInformation William R. UptonExecutive Vice President Bruce D. SilveyImmediate Past President Dick Drisko

Please tell us if you’ve moved, changed your e-mail, gotten lostor recently found so we can update your membership rosterinformation. Call EVP Bruce Silvey at 1-723-366-6969, e-mail himat [email protected] or write him at 9155 35th, Way N, Pinellas Park,FL 33782-5927. Roster copies available on request.

Visit AOCA’s web site at: http://www.otter-caribou.org/

Want to see your name in print? If so, please send youranecdotal, amusing, audacious, historical, and/orhysterical Otter, Caribou, or Neptune tale(s)(photos encouraged) to: Bill Upton, 2360 VaccaroDr., Sarasota, FL 34231 - 941-923-1695

Email: [email protected]

Deadline for SubmissionsFor July 2021 Edition

LogbookJune 15, 2020

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EXECUTIVE VICE-PRESIDENT’S REPORTBruce D. Silvey

Your EVP standing tall at Colum-bus, GA in 2010. Ken La Grandeur was ourPresident. That was one great reunion - thisnext one will be also.

MEMBERSHIP STATUS: I don’t havea solid report for current membership. Isuspect some have passed away but I’mnot getting notification. I will likely getseveral Logbooks returned from address-es that are no longer current.

REUNION 2021 - # 35

We had no reunion this year due to theCOVID crisis. Serious planning willbegin in January 2021 to renew our effortsto returned to Columbus, GA.

I am restating here that, “We havemade some important decisions regardingour FUTURE REUNIONS.”

The next reunion (2021) is inColumbus, GA - Ft Benning - Follow Me.

The Executive Board and thosemembers attending the last reunion havevoted to have one last ‘formal’ reunion -next year.

The number of attendees is decreasingevery year and it becomes more difficultto coordinate and plan the extensiveactivities as we have done in the past.

Following next year we will supportlocal groups who may want to sponsor ororganize a one or two day ‘get together’in their location.

Bill Upton is going to reduce thenumber of Logbooks to ‘two’ per year.We will additionally be urging those withemail accounts to begin receiving theLogbook by that means.

We have suspended dues collectionand are now relying on donations fromthose members that can continue to do that.

Most associations such as ours don’tlast as long as we have. We have adedicated core of individuals who havemade this group as extraordinary as it isand those folks are aging and wearingdown. We are dedicated to going for aslong as possible but we do need to takethese steps.

We think that a final reunion at FtBenning is appropriate - it is where thosefirst warriors gathered and planned, andorganized the Army Otter-CaribouAssociation.

Plans and registration forms will beforthcoming by email and the JulyLogbook.

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♫♪

Carol and Bruce, NewlywedsWedding Announcement

For Bruce and Carol,From the first time we saw you two together, we knew it was a match made in Heaven. You make a lovely couple. We hope

you enjoy many happy years together and we're greatly disappointed that covid -19 has closed the crowning event. We would haveloved to be there. For a wedding gift we were prepared to send you a twenty-one day - all expenses paid cruise to the Mediterranean.But not wanting to expose you to the corona virus, we decided on a new toaster. Love and happiness to you both. Bill & SusanUpton

Bruce and Carol,Great news from the homestead, congratulations for your upcoming special day on Friday, August 14th, 2020 with your families!

Please know we will be there in spirit, sending best wishes for new life teammates and families in a beautiful church in Pinellas Park,FL.

We look forward to seeing new faces at the next AOCA Reunion in 2021, as we have even more reason to celebrate our mostSpecial Reunion!

P.S. We like Bill Upton's note, classic as always.Sincerely, Mel and Wanda McLemore

Bruce and Carol, congratulations! Pat and I met Carol and also fell in love with her last December when she was showing offher catch to her family members around the Atlanta area. Pat said as they backed out of our driveway, “The next time we see themthey will be married.”

I know why they are having a family ceremony as Bruce knows quite well the mischief and treachery capabilities of his highschool classmates.

As for Upton’s suggestion with the merging of two families I strongly suspect they will have an abundance of toasters. A HomeDepot card might be much more useful. Cheers to all and you two have a beautiful ceremony. Glenn & Pat Carr

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FROM WALLABY AIRLINES

Hello Bill,You can browse though our website

www.rtfv-35sqn.org There are stories thatmaybe useful to you. Feel free to use anything from our website. There is a storyof how we came to be known as WallabyAirlines plus many more stories.

Regards,John SambrooksSec/Tres RTFV/35Sqn Assn.

Thank you, John, perhaps we’ll take you up onthat. Bill Upton, Editor

CABIN FEVER SETS IN

Bruce,Hope all is well on your end. I’m

suffering from a bad case of cabin fever.I was exchanging emails with a

former 1st Cav Huey pilot (229th AHB),Lee Komich, about the Caribou in Vietnam.

He asked if I knew the names of anyCaribou pilots that transitioned into Hueys.I know a few of the ‘Bou pilots, includingyou, from articles I wrote for the Cav’snewspaper, however, I do not know of anytransfers, which is news to me.

Lee’s first tour was 1965-66. Heserved in the Ia Drang with Hal Moore.

Below is a copy of his email. Perhapsyou may be of some help. Thanks inadvance. Hank Llewellyn

“Interesting Hank...do you happen toremember any of their names? As itturned out, the 229th was short ofhelicopter pilots so someone decided itwould be a good idea to move some CV-2pilots into UH-1s. As a result I metseveral of the Caribou pilots. HowardPhillips was one who was transferred toB/229 but unfortunately was shot andkilled. Good guy...Sad.”Lee Komich

Hank,I think just about “all” of the Caribou

pilots eventually ended up in Hueys if theystayed in the Army. I was in Germanywhen ordered to helicopter transition at

Augsberg - when I got there must havebeen about 8 or 10 in the class - everyonea Caribou pilot. Germany was short ofpilots at that time and none of us reallywanted to get transitioned as we weresuper busy at our other jobs. We were toldwe had already graduated and had betterfigure out how they worked.

I ended up with 173rd Airborne andflew Huey’s once in a while but never feltlike I was really safe in them.

As for Howard Phillips - interestingthat he was the one mentioned. Howardhad been with me and the 17th Avn Co atBenning during the 11th Air Assault Tests- He was one of the good guys and wasslightly put out when the Division made asweep through the Caribou companies andpulled out all the helicopter rated aviators.We would see him occasionally at An Khein ‘65 and he would comment on the lousyliving conditions, etc. He had the feelinghe wasn't going to make it through the tour.

Larry Welch and I were flying a MedEvac mission out of the brand new LZEnglish strip at Bong Song when welearned that Howard had been killedearlier that day. Made for a long night forus.

I had a good friend, Will Bennett,who had been an Otter Pilot who flew withthe 229th I think - was involved with theHal Moore episode. Will passed awayseveral years ago. Some sad recall there -but important to remember. Bruce Silvey

SOME THOUGHTS ON AOCA

Currently, this country is verypolitically divided and the division isgrowing more intense every day. The virusproblem has further isolated both the leftand the right. Thankfully, the AOCAorganization has moved in a differentdirection: focusing on unity and the

“Wings of Friendship.”Leaving the military after 30 years

was a difficult change for me. Luckily,the formation of the AOCA in the mid-80’s filled a void. Bill Hooks invitationalcall from Columbus to join was acceptedwithout hesitancy. Subsequently, our

yearly reunions became sheer joy. Ibelieve our organization was successfulbecause competent leadership was alwaysavailable these past 30 plus years. Kudosto Bill Hooks, Bruce Silvey, Bill Upton,and a whole lot more members. Althoughanother aircraft was added, the commonbond remained.

de Havilland: It is amazing that acouple of Canadian manufactured aircraftcould so readily bind an organizationtogether. There was always some friendlycompetition between the “Otter” and

“Caribou” supporters, but “Wings ofFriendship” always remained the centraltheme.

I’ve been a member since thebeginning and always enjoyed seeingfellow members from my 1956 Fort RileyOtter group. Moving the reunions aroundthe country certainly enhanced attendance.I have hopes to make to Fort Benning in2021 and even attending some impromptugatherings- (92 and ever the optimist). JimGreenquist

EARL BURLEY GETTING BRACED

New ankle braces. . . 15 K race nextweek? Well maybe not. Note the outdoorcurb service. Earl Burley

14th Otter Co. Fort Benning Fall 1956

E-mail that is. . .

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ABOUT THE JULY 2020 LOGBOOK

Wow, thanks Bill and Bruce and allwho contributed to a treasured and greatJuly 2020 AOCA edition of the Logbook,full of colorful pictures, fun andmemorable stories by our own generationwho have contributed so much to freedomin the United States of America and thosewe will remember always! MelMcLemore and Wanda

Thanks Bruce and Bill. Smart andwell done. Blue side up my Brothers.

‘Bic’ Bickerton

Dane, as promised, attached is thepre-publication edition of The ArmyOtter-Caribou Logbook which has yourstory in it (What it Takes by Dane Nash).I hope you like how I treated your workand that you enjoy the rest of the Logbook.Let me know if you have anything elseyou'd like us to look at. Bill Upton, Editor

Thank you, Bill, for the copy of yourmagazine. I wish you continued successin all things worthy. Pat (Judge DaneNash)

Hi Bill, I got the online version of thelogbook yesterday. Another good job.Good variety of interesting stories.

I am wondering, however, why thearticle I submitted back in April, titledFlight Time, was not included. I know Ihad some issues sending the article to youat that time so I'm wondering if you everdid get the article. Ron Sprengeler

I did get it, too late for the July Logbook,but folks can have a look at Ron’s veryinteresting personal essay elsewhere in thisissue. Bill Upton

Hi Bruce, yes I would like a hardcopy of the current Logbook. There willbe a 50.00 check in the mail. Thank you.You have done an outstanding job over theyears.

I spent the early days of the Otter withthe TOPO outfit located at Crissy field,San Francisco. Spent two summers inAlaska supporting surveyors. Wasqualified in the Otter on wheels, floats,and skies. Served in other Otter units overthe years.

I like the picture of the otter on floats.Brings back memories. Roger Doucette

Yes - all you “old” Otter pilots aregetting up there. Great memory recall. Iwas stationed with Sixth Army in the 70'sand at one time was offered command ofCrissy Field - but was reassigned to GreekLanguage School and then to Athens,Greece before I could get down to theairfield. Loved that whole scene out there.Bruce D. Silvey

Hi Bruce, I would appreciate a hardcopy of the Logbook. I have neither theknow-how nor the means to produce myown. Will get a contribution into the mailtomorrow. Both you and Bill Upton havebeen/are doing a fantastic job. Muchappreciated by this member! You mayprint this note in the next edition if youwish. A.B. (Bill) Holly

Bill, all you “Old” Otter guys wereLow - Slow - and Super Reliable. Goodto know you are still out there alive andkicking. The book will take a coupleweeks to get printed and mailed. Bruce(and Bill)

AOCA LOGBOOK BLESSED

Had a conference with the parishpriest,a really sharp guy, and the Logbookgot into the conversation so I sent him acopy. (My email to him below.) BruceSilvey

Father Kevin, this is the latest copyof our newsletter, The Logbook. It’s forthe association I have managed since 1994.

If they gave awards for the production ofthese things I'm sure our editor would winsomething.

The name Logbook is representativeof aviation just about anywhere you look- basically every hour (and minute) flownis to be recorded so that necessarymaintenance can be performed as requiredby regulation and factory standards, etc.

As an example, we had a fire in amaintenance area in Vietnam thatdestroyed, fortunately, only one Logbookfor one of our helicopters. The aircrafthad just completed a 100 hour inspectionso we were allowed to fly it for 100 hoursuntil the records were recovered fromother sources in the US. It took just aboutthat entire 100 hours to get it done. Theaircraft would have been groundedotherwise. Bruce Silvey

Bruce, Thanks for sharing this. It isimpressive! I was expecting a typical eightpage newsletter. This is way more! (Nicepiece on your background!) Blessings!

Fr. Kevin YarnellSacred Heart Catholic ChurchPinellas Park, Florida

Greetings Bruce, I'm enclosing a checkfor $100. Use it as needed for the AOCA andplease send me a printed copy of The Logbook.I love reading it.

I remember visiting Bill and Susan inCorvallis (OR) when he was taking classes atOSU. He's the only guy I know with anEnglish degree that actually put it to good use.He's always had a bent toward writing. Iremember him writing poetry and dazzling thegirls when we were back from RVN andstationed at Ft Benning. We'd jump in my VWBug and head out for Florida whenever we gotthe chance. He sure could charm the girls.Jerry Magner

All, There’s a grain of truth to what Jerrysaid above but there was a whole lot morewishful thinking about the girls back then.That being said, below is a photo of Jerry’s VWBug. I do remember a certain trip to PanamaCity however . . . Bill Upton

Letters continued. . .

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Good Evening Bill, Received mylatest Logbook version in today's mail.Thank you for being there for all of us. Ifound this picture and wanted to share itwith you and even use it in a futureLogbook if you want. I read every copyas it comes to see who is doing what orwhat kind of war stories someone is telling.I am getting like everyone else with healthissues, but continue to try. Anyway,Thanks again. Bob Cansler Life member127. Ed. Note: See Bob’s beautiful photoof Caribou ‘49 on the front cover of thisissue.

Hi Bruce and Bill, I received thelatest Logbook yesterday, 6/27, and perusual enjoyed it extremely. Many greatarticles. Thanks a lot for sending it to me.I hope this message finds you both in goodhealth and life going smoothly for you andyou have avoided contacting Covid-19.Take care and May God Bless. KenLaGrandeur

Well, Bill, you've outdone yourselfagain!! Terrific issue!! Loved youraccount of the quarantine. Guess we allhave our own versions, but yours was bestby far.

Will miss seeing everyone this year.Who could have foreseen this pandemic?But good decision to postpone. I don'tknow any of us who are under 65 ??? Anymore, that is.

Thank you for publishing my storyagain. I can now say that I'm published.Didn't expect you to print the photos of amuch younger version of yours truly. WasI ever that young ??

How are you doing these days? Doyou still get together with Caribou-itesand tell war stories ?? I envy you livingnear some of them.

Do take care, and by all means, STAYWELL !! Lots’a hugs, Marilyn Weitzel

Hi Marilyn, thanks for all the nicewords. To answer your questions - No,we’re not meeting at this time due to thepandemic. Hope to start soon though.Hugs back. Bill Upton

The latest Logbook is excellent.Thank you for all your hard work. WayneBuser

Bruce, Somehow I didn't save a copyof the March 2020 issue. Would you mindsending me another .pdf electronic copyof that issue when you have a minute?

Also wanted to note that I justreceived an actual "hard printed" copy ofthe new July 2020 issue. Although I trulyenjoy holding a real piece of paper, book,or magazine in my wrinkled hands, I cancertainly live with the electronic versions.I have not received a hard copy for sometime now and was surprised to see the realpaper version again, but I did like it, butif it helps to cut your costs, you canchange me to the electronic version if youwish. Save the postage.

By the way, I thought the July issuewas great and really enjoyed it. Well done.One thing I have always wished for theAOCA is that there would have been agreater participation from the enlistedmembers as well. The lives of all of us hasalways depended on the participation andcontributions of all of those involved oneway or the other. As one of Sgt. Milescrew, I had always felt that we contributedimmensely in support of all the 17th Avn'smissions and activities. We always feltappreciated and did our best to feed andsupport whatever activities were required.Regardless if they were from the 17th Avnor any other outfit that was passingthrough. Lunches to go, snacks, drinks,a cookie or two or a cup of coffee. Wefed a lot of folks in the middle of the nightin both Pleiku and An Khe and many werenot 17th Avn members either but all weretired and hungry and just needed help andrest. And Sgt Miles made sure we did thatevery day. Your office staff, crew chiefs,supply, mechanics, motor pool and all therest proved to be a great team and will bewell remembered.

I'm glad I was there to help and domy part. I would certainly have liked tosee many of those others again as wellhowever. Perhaps we will – some day.Dave MacMullan

Dave - good to hear from you. Theprinter we use made up some extra booksso I sort of spread them out - will get backto more electronic versions for the nextissue.

As for your thoughts about theenlisted members - we actually have hadgood participation from them - and most

of us over the years came to not know whowas and who wasn't, so to speak, since wedid not go overboard in recognizing thatfact. I remember the mess in the 17th asone of the better features and Sgt Milesespecially being a first class soul.

Some good memories along withthe rest of it. Bruce Silvey

That was quick! (Bruce emailed himthe copy right away) Thanks much.

I remember packing up fordeployment in Ft. Benning and wonderingwhat/why Sgt Miles was going to do witha connex full of nothing but plywood. Hadto weigh several tons at least. Once inPleiku, you saw it happen. Mess hallcounters, and every form of officefurniture, storage, bookcase, workbenches, desks, tables, you name it, gotbuilt with that material. Even better waswhat it could be traded for. Got us a lot ofsteaks, beef, milk, ice cream and flour.Probably a lot more that we were notaware of either. Truly amazing.

I used to go flying with Caribou flightcrews on my days off. Even over nights,on occasion, and for short flights out andback. Loved to fly and help the crewchiefs out. I remember getting shot atflying into a base under fire one night.Watched the tracers coming up at us – theymissed.

In about 72 or 73 I was working forthe Navy as civilian tech on 5” guns and

Letters continued. . .

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TT missile systems riding ships offVietnam coast doing NGFS. That waseventful frequently, as well. Interesting tosit up in FCS/WDS spaces and listen andwatch fire support missions for groundforces.

Had almost another years worth ofVietnam tour doing that based out of SubicBay. After 36 years of Navy work, I thinkI have been on over 80+ different combatships. Lots of memories and good people.You were at the real start of my ride. Whowould have guessed where life can takeyou? Dave MacMullan

WANDA BAGLEY UPDATE

Hi Bruce, I wanted to thank you againfor sending me the Logbook. I enjoyreading it, so many thanks. I am puttinga check in the mail to you today to helpwith the printing and mailing costs.

I have trouble writing anymore, so itis easier to type a note to you. MyParkinson's disease makes my hands shaky,so, at least, you will be able to read mytypewritten note. I have been living hereat a long term care facility for over threeyears now. I moved to Everett, WA, to benear my son and his wife. We have been

"shutdown" since the first part of Marchbecause of the virus. We hadn't had a caseof the virus in our facility until this week.It was just reported to us that an employeeand a resident have tested positive, so thatwasn't good news. I was tested in Marchwhen I had to go to the hospital withpossible pneumonia, but I didn't have thevirus or pneumonia, so I was thankful.They are going to start testing all theresidents here beginning tomorrow.

I pray you are doing well. Thisgetting older is a challenge!! Thanks againfor the emails and sending me theLogbook. Wanda Bagley

Hello Wanda, good to know you aredoing okay. So far have avoided the badguys - we tend to avoid places that are toocrowded but still help meet needs that weseem to have.

Hope all goes well with the testing - wewill get this thing organized soon I think.All the best. Bruce Silvey

NEW MEMBER APPLICATION

Marvin L. “Lee” [email protected] Walnut Street Unit 13864Green Cove Springs, FL 32043(814) 243-3007Army Aviator - Not qualified in Otter,Caribou, or Neptune.

I am a current Army aviator flyingC-12s. My Dad was an Otter aviator in the2nd Aviation Company at Poitiers, France.Requesting Associate Membership.

Marvin,Great to get your application. The

AOCA is in a period of winding downfrom our glory days when we had more ofa membership base. We stopped producingcandidates in the 1970's. There is a coreof us who will try to maintain its existencebut you are a lone new member in sometime. Most of what we do is accomplishedby email and our newsletter, The Logbook,I'll send you some recent copies.

We were planning a reunion this yearat Columbus, GA but events haveovertaken us and it is now scheduled forSep/Oct 2021 still at Columbus.

As a small matter of interest since youare flying C-12s - I picked up the 5th C-12off the assembly line in 1976 (or was it 75- not sure) and flew it to Athens, Greecefor the US Army Mission located there.Had a lot of time in it there and then cameto MacDilll AFB and commanded theArmy aviation unit there where we had 5C-12s, 2 U-21 and 4 UH-1Bs. Beingmostly fixed wing in my career I enjoyedflying the Beechcraft.

Enjoy the flying - most of us miss itnow.All the bestBruce SilveyExecutive Vice President

Bruce,Greetings from Bangkok, and thank

you for the quick response. Following my

16 day quarantine here, during which timeI cannot leave my hotel room, I will beperforming American Embassy C-12Program Management/IP duties.

Dick Teipel recently sent me a July2020 Logbook, from which I learned aboutthe Associate Membership. Dick and myDad (Ray Chase) flew the Beaver togetherand were friends from the early 60's untilDad's passing in 2009. As I mentionedwhen we spoke last, Dad also flew Ottersin the 2nd Aviation Company (Poitiers)1964-1966.

It would be an honor to attend the2021 reunion with you, Dick, and yourfellow members. Being an Army aviationhistory buff, I am familiar with andextremely proud of the contributions Otter,Caribou, and Neptune aviators and aircrew members made in Southeast Asia andelsewhere. Y'all are all appreciated andrespected!

On another note, thank you forallowing me to interview you aboutrestoring Colored Class Hats at FortRucker. Look for the article in theSeptember edition of Army AviationMagazine.

Very Respectfully,Marvin "Lee" Chase

Bruce, enclosed find my check for$100. I wish I could send along more, butI'm hoping this will demonstrate my life-long appreciation for your and Bill Upton'sselfless efforts on behalf of all of us.

I am also hoping that this check willcover lunch and a beer or two for the bothof you. With fond remembrances, DaveHume

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‘Twas the night before Christmas, and out on the ramp,Not an airplane was stirring, not Comanche, nor Champ.

The fuel trucks nestled, all snug in their spots,While north wind was gusting to 49 knots.

The aircraft were fastened to tie downs with careIn hopes that come morning, they’d all still be there.

And I at the fuel desk, duties caught up,just settled down with my coffee in cup

When over the radio, came such a clatterI turned down the squelch to see what was the matter.

A voice clearly heard over static and snowAsked for clearance to land at the airport below.

He made his transmissions both lively and quickAnd I’m sure that the call sign he used was “Saint Nick.”

Away to the window I flew like a flash,Sure that it was only Horizon’ late Dash.

I peered at the sky seeking Nav lights on sledI saw only one at the front it was red!

He called his position, and I heard him say,“St. Nicholas here, inbound on my sleigh!”

He flew the approach, on glideslope he came,As as he passed fixes, he called them by name“Now Ringo! Now Tolga! Now FAF Bacon!

On Comet! On Cupid!” (what pills was he takin?)

The last of those fixes were bound to confuse,So the Tower called me to deliver their views

The message they gave was both urgent and dour“When Santa Claus lands, he will please call the tower!”

He landed like silk, with the sled runners sparking,With “Exit at Charlie” and “Taxi to parking.”

He stepped from the sleigh, but before he could talk,I had run out to give him my very last chock.

He was dressed all in fur, which was covered with frostAnd his beard was all blackened from chimney exhaust.His breath smelled like peppermint, gone slightly stale

And he smoked on a pipe (but he didn't inhale).

He had a broad face, his armpits were smelly,His boots were as black as a crop duster’s belly.He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old fool,

And, smiling, informed me he needed some “fuel.”

A wink of his eye and a turn on his toes,He left for the washroom to powder his nose.

As he departed I wondered and sawThat my challenge was finding a fuel called. . . “Straw.”

I thought for a while about passing this testThen remembered a plane had arrived from out West

Just full of supplies for a stable quite nearThe freight warehouse must contain straw for the deer!

So I went to the warehouse and warnings unheededFound and brought back what the nine reindeer needed.

When I got to the sleigh Santa beamed with relief,Then went for a phone for a flight-service brief.

And I thought, as he silently wrote in his log,That with Rudolph, he could land in a one-eighth-mile fog.

He finished his preflight, from front to the rear,Then on with his headset. I heard him yell “Clear!”

And laying gloved finger upon his push-talk,He called up the tower for clearance and squawk.

“Straight out on three-zero,” the tower called forth,“And watch for a Cessna inbound from the North.”

The reindeer at once jumped high into the air,The takeoff was perfect, most incredibly rare.

I heard him exclaim, as he climbed in the night,“Happy Christmas to all!. . . I have traffic in sight.”

A Pilot’s Christmas Poem

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THIS FROM A MARINE FRIEND

I have no idea how many of y'all are in the VA health caresystem, so I'm including everyone on my list.

Recently I had a very positive first experience with the newVA Mission Act, the “VA URGENT CARE BENEFIT.”

I had what was diagnosed as an acute ear infection and followedthe instructions on the following website:

https://vaurgentcarelocator.triwest.com/

So, instead of traveling 14 miles through some 20 red lightsto the VA Hospital ER and/or getting an urgent care appointment,I drove about 1 1/2 miles to a MED EXPRESS urgent carelocation. They wrote two prescriptions. I went to a Walgreens a

half mile from my house had them filled, no problems, no cost.Took less than 1 1/2 hrs.

Follow the instructions at the site above to find locations nearyou for care and pharmacies. Be sure to click on “ImportantNotice.” Print the three sheets and take them with you to theprovider.

Most seniors never get enoughexercise. In His wisdom God decreed thatseniors become forgetful so they wouldhave to search for their glasses, keys andother things, thus doing more walking.And God looked down and saw that it wasgood.

Then God saw there was another need.In His wisdom, He made seniors loseco-ordination so they would drop things,requiring them to bend, reach, and stretch.And God looked down and saw that it wasgood.

Then God considered the function ofbladders and decided seniors would haveadditional calls of nature, requiring moretrips to the bathroom, thus providing moreexercise. God looked down and saw thatit was good.

So, if you find as you age, you aregetting up and down more, remember it’s

God's will. It is all in your best interesteven though you mutter under your breath.

Nine Important Facts to Remember asWe Grow Older

#9 - Death is the number one killer in theworld.

#8 - Life is sexually transmitted.

#7 - Good health is merely the slowestpossible rate at which one can die.

#6 - Men have two motivations: hungerand hanky-panky, and they can’t tell themapart. If you see a gleam in his eyes, makehim a sandwich.

#5 - Give a person a fish and you feedthem for a day. Teach a person to use theInternet and they won't bother you forweeks, months, maybe years.

#4 - Health nuts are going to feel stupidsomeday, lying in the hospital, dying ofnothing.

#3 - All of us could take a lesson from theweather. It pays no attention to criticism.

#2 - In the 60’s, people took LSD to makethe world weird. Now the world is weird,and people take Prozac to make it normal.

#1 - Life is like a jar of jalapeno peppers.What you do today may be a burning issuetomorrow.

God’s Plan For AgingSubmitted by Bruce Silvey

13



CRAZY CAT CORNER

The 3rd Radio Research Unit (3 rd.RRU) was one of the first unit to bedeployed to Vietnam, 13 May 1961, asadvisors to the ARVN.

The unit used fixed stations andportable equipment on patrol; the resultswere not very accurate due to the terrainand the type of equipment the VC wereusing. Also it exposed the operators toenemy action. On 22 Dec. 1961 the firstAmerican casualty was SP4 James T.Davis. Nine (9) ARVN were killed whileon patrol.

Based on these problems they startedlooking for another method of gatheringdata, and came up with using airbornevehicles, first a CH-19 helicopter, but itproved unusable due to vibrations. Nextcame the U-6 “Beaver,” three (3) of whichwere furnished from in country assets,modified and the first ARDF (AirborneRadio Direction Finder) aircraft were inthe air collecting data.

Over time addition aircraft types i.e.U-8, U1-A, CV-2 and improvedequipment was developed.

My involvement began in April 1965.I had applied for the “Army BootstrapProgram” and after a visit to our greatbenefactors in the Pentagon, my branchhad agreed to send me, but uponcompletion I would be on my way toVietnam. I returned to dear old FortBenning and the 2nd Aviation Bn. A fewdays later the Adjutant called to tell me hehad received orders on me for Vietnam, Iasked him where I going. He informedme that I was going to Greenville, TX. toand outfit call Ling-Tempco Vaught,having no idea what that was I wasimmediately on telephone to DA, at whichtime they informed me that Bootstrap was

on hold and that I had been detailed to theArmy Security Agency.

Upon arriving at Greenville, I andseveral other aviators, nine I believe, wereushered into a conference room ( WilliamCox, Lawrence Stone, John Parham,Elliott Polcene, Ray Renegar, Roy Rhodes,Thomas Holland, Myself and MerwinMcCoy). There, they explained why wewere there and that seven aircraft werebeing modified at this plant (Code namedSeven Roses), and that we were going tofly them to California to be shipped toVietnam. After sitting there for two weeks,the powers-to-be decided to allow us to goon leave and prepare our families to moveand get ready for our trip to Vietnam.

We arrived in Vietnam in late Juneand were met at the airplane and taken toa hotel type BOQ, quartered and left to getsettled.

The next day we were taken to theASA Compound for orientation andbriefings, read several volumes ofregulation pertaining to security and werebasically informed that if we told anyonewhat we were doing they would cut ourtongues out. They told us if anyone askedwhat our job was, we were to tell them wewere Clerk Typists. Apparently there werea lot of Majors and Captains in the ASAthat worked as Clerk Typist.

The next day we went to the AviationSection office and turned in our flightrecords and were briefed on how thevarious systems worked. They then set upa schedule to start training us in theoperation.

I don’t remember how many aviatorswere there when we arrived, but therewere only six aircraft, three Beavers anda U8-F located at Tan Son Nhut, and two

U8-Ds at Da Nang, the commander wasMajor Stanley J. Frick.

After a few days of training we startedreorganizing the section with various jobassignments ( We had majors everywhere).Major John Rieser was senior so hebecame the commander, Stanley Frick asexecutive officer, Guy Claybournoperations and Walter Duke maintenanceand supply, thus the chain of commandhad been established.

Shortly after getting things under way,we were notified that the first batch (4U8-Ds) of the Seven Roses would be offloaded in the Philippines (Subic Bay)shortly and we needed to send a crew toprocess them and fly them to Vietnam.They could not be off loaded in Vietnambecause the wings could not be removeddue to a balanced antenna system andthere was no Port in Vietnam that couldhandle them at the time. Cam Ranh Baycame later.

The Crew was to be eight aviators andfour crew chiefs. Aviators were MajorStanley Frick, OIC, Major Walter Duke,Major Will Parham, Captain RobertKopecky, Captain Ray Renegar, CaptainJerry Holiday, Warrant Officer MichaelKatz and Warrant Officer Mervin McCoy.I don’t have the names of the enlisted crew.

We departed early in the morningfrom Tan Son Nhut and landed at ClarkAFB in the Philippines. We were met bythe ASA people, fed a meal and put on abus to take us to Cubi Naval Air Station agood, tiring distance away on a GI Bus.Major Frick took care of getting theenlisted billeted then joined the rest of uswho were billeted in the Navy’s closedmess. By this time it was close to lightsout, fortuitously there was a bar locatedwithin the Mess.

3rd RADIO RESEARCH UNIT/224TH AVIATION BN. RRWalter Duke

14



The next day we were escorted to theflight line where the aircraft were parkedall covered in shipping plastic which Navypersonnel provided tools and explainedhow to remove. We started to workofficers and enlisted alike, peeling plasticin the open under a topical sun. As mostof us were suffering from a few too manySan Miguels the night before, the sweatwas flowing freely and everyone wassoaked. A Navy chief walked by and uponseeing our plight and told us of a canteenjust over the side of our work area that wasopen and sold beer. Break time.

Our plan was to get one plane stripped,have it checked out and test fly the plane.Satisfied that it was ready for flight, oneof the flight crew topped off the tanks andperformed a fuel consumption test. Theseaircraft were nothing like the ones we hadflown before, with all the new externalantennas, there was a lot more drag on it,the normal U8-D at cruise power settingswould indicate around 150 Knots, on thefirst test flight I found that at cruise powerindicated airspeed was between 125 and130 Knots.

After several days of following thisplan we were working on stripping #4 andhad #3 ready for test flight. One of theother members of the group was scheduledto do this one, as he had just been checkedout in the aircraft before getting toVietnam. He had less than 30 hoursexperience in U8 type aircraft, so webriefed him on what to do and how to goabout it, specifically engine shutdown andprop feathering. We instructed for him togo to 10,000 feet directly over the airfieldbefore shutting down an engine, that wayif he couldn’t get it restarted he had plentyof time to set up for a single enginelanding. He followed our instructions, butwhen he tried to restart the engine itoverloaded the electrical system andpopped the circuit breakers.

Being unfamiliar with the totalaircraft system he reset the one in the dashpanel, but didn’t reset the main one in thefloor. With the electrical system down hecouldn’t lower the landing gear. He hadpaid some attention to his check pilotduring training so he remembered that ittook approximately 150 strokes of thehand pump to lower the gear. He startedpumping the gear down counting thestrokes and stopped at 150 to continue hislanding approach. The gear was not fullydown and locked and failed once the full

weight of the aircraft was on the gear.Scratch #3.

We got #4 ready and after the testflight everything went fine. After all thefuel consumption tests were completed westarted planning the trip across the pond.We had six hours of fuel and we figured itwould take between 4 and 5 hours fromSangley Point to Qui Nhon, Vietnam.

On 15 July we moved the airplanes toSangley Point NAS as this was the closestpoint to Qui Nhon to depart the next day,weather permitting.

The Air Force provided an SA-16 tofly cover and assist with navigation. Wwere to spend the night in Manila. July 16,1965, weather fine, flight is on. We allarrive at the flight line ready to go. Afterfinal checks and topping off fuel tank, theword was “go.” We took off, one at a timeand join up with the SA-16. The first twoaircraft got off no problem. I happened tobe in #3 and just as we broke ground theemergency escape window popped open.Unable to close it in flight, we returnedand landed. McCoy was flying so Ijumped to the back and closed it. We wereback on the runway and rolling. Afterliftoff, McCoy started a right turn and Ilooked out the right side and noticed fuelsiphoning out of the right outboard fueltank. Back to Sangley. As soon as westopped, I reset the fuel cap and we tookoff a third time. I turned to McCoy andsaid, “One more thing goes wrong and weare staying in the Philippines. We marriedup with the rest of the flight and headedfor Vietnam.

We were depending on the SA-16 fornavigation because none of the Dopplerradars were working and we were too farout to pick up any of the NDB stations inVietnam. Although we kept trying for twoand half to three hour in flight I finallypicked up Qui Nhon beacon on the ADFand relaxed a little. We arrived at QuiNhon in just short of five hours. Afterrefueling we headed on down to Saigon.We had been in the air 7.4 hours that day.All three made it sure was glad to be home.

We turned the Airplanes over to ourfield maintenance support for acceptanceinspections. They were returned to us in afew days.

On its first mission, the airplaneMcCoy and I ferried lost an engine shortlyafter takeoff. That was bad enough, butthe chip detector on the other engine cameon, fortunately the chip detectors had been

cross wired and the one on was to the badengine. The pilot was able to maneuverthe aircraft to a safe landing back at TanSon Nhut without any other damage.

Next we received another shipmentof aircraft called Checkmate. There wereseventeen aircraft (17) in this group, seven(7) U-6’s and ten (10) RU-8Ds. We nowhad a total of 23 aircraft and we had gottenadditional personnel as well. I mentionedearlier that we had an aviation section atDa Nang and Saigon, we now establishedone at Nah Trang and Can To.

We continued to receive additionalpersonnel and aircraft. The next groupwas code named Winebottle. With 41aircraft, mostly RU-8D’s, that brought ourtotal aircraft number to 70.

In January, 1966, we received wordthat our Caribou was to be offloaded atSubic Bay, and I was the lucky one whogot to go help them get it ready for the tripacross the water. So on the 13 of January,SP/6 Carl Pellasce and I headed to SubicBay. The aircraft and crew (CWO 3 JohnBrazil and Capt. George Roney) werealready there. However, this time they hada crew of local laborers to strip the plasticcovering. It only took a couple of days andwe were ready to fly. The Caribou madethe crossing with no trouble and wereworked into the unit operations.

The unit continued to operate asaviation sections until 1 June 1966, whenthe sections were activated as the 224thAviation Battalion RR, Hq. & Hq. Co., the146th Aviation Company in Saigon, the138th Aviation Company in Da Nang, the144th Aviation Company in Nah Trang,and the 156th Aviation Company in CanTo.

Major John Rieser was the firstBattalion Commander 1 June to 15 July.Major Donn Taylor took over when majorReiser rotated.

I rotated out at the same time as MajorReiser. It had been an interesting learningexperience for me. What follows is a shortlist of interesting things that happenedduring this tour.

*****As I stated earlier we added a Caribou

to our fleet of aircraft and I went to thePhilippines to assist in getting it ready forthe flight back.

1. I had asked Mr. Brazil to bringme a few cases of San Miguel beer on theCaribou with him, left him the money and

15



boarded a civilian flight back to Vietnam.When the Caribou arrived I took a truckout to the airplane to get my beer, but therewasn’t any on board. Mr. Brazil said hehad gotten concerned about customs ontheir arrival in country so he had crated itup and shipped it priority airplane parts.

I went over to the freight terminal andthere was the crate of beer. l signed for itand left rather quickly, heading to theBOQ. I believe there was five cases andwhen we arrived at the BOQ, we took itto my room and uncrated it. There wasonly one bottle broken. I had managed toacquired a refrigerator for my room sonow I had some good beer to pour into myfrosted mugs. Needless to say I was a verypopular man until the beer ran out.

2. We had just one JU-8F and whenit needed an engine, I went to thetransportation supply unit to get an engine.The gentleman in charge said they didn’thave one on hand. However, as I wasleaving the facility I walked through thestorage area and there sat a brand newengine in the shipping can with the correctFederal Stock Number. Reversing course,I confronted the officer in charge with hisuntruth and was advised that engine wasa spare for General Westmoreland’sairplane, and I could not have it. We hadseveral heated discussions and severalphone calls were made. In the end, I leftwith the engine.

3. Ray Renagar and I were headingto Can To in an RU8-D to deliver someparts and check out the aircraft for the nextday’s operation. Ray was flying and I wasin the rear checking out the electronicswhen Ray said he was having troublecontrolling the RPM’s on the left engine.I asked if he thought we should return toTan Son Nhut. His reply, “No.” Wecontinued on and entered the pattern atCan To. When he dropped the landinggear I smelled the odor of hot oil and toldRay not to get too slow as we had somekind of problem. Upon landing, during amonsoon downpour, I jumped out and ranaround to the left engine. The landing gearwas covered with oil. I looked up at thecowling and there was a nice neat bullethole. I opened the cowl. The bullet hadhit the oil sump. We contacted the localsection advised them of the situation andjumped a C-123 back to Saigon, alertedfield maintenance of the problem, whichthey corrected the next day.

4. When I conducted a test flight Ialways took along one of our mission

equipment technicians. On one test flightin a RU8-D entering the landing patternI was unable to get safe gear indication. Ibroke out of the pattern and attemptedevery way I was taught and had heard ofto get the gear down and locked all to noavail. My last chance was to use themanual extension method, approximately150 strokes, to hand pump the gear down.So I started pumping and counting andgot a safe indicator on the left and nosegear, but the right light was still not on.As I continued pumping the pump handlebroke off. Now I had no way of loweringthe right gear. I contacted the tower andadvised them of my situation. I haddecided to do a wheels up landing in anattempt to minimize damage to the aircraft.Most people who have flown this aircraftknow the main gear wheels extend abouteight inches out below the enginecowlings and with the three bladedpropeller you can feather it and rotate theblades where they will clear contact withthe pavement, I planned to shut down theright and get the propeller in position andthen do the same with the left engine onshort final.

Meanwhile, the technician had movedup from the back and asked what wasgoing on. I quickly explained what hadhappened. He immediately dropped to hisknees, pulled a screwdriver from hispocket and stuck it into the remaining partof the handle and started pumping. In justa short time we had all three green lightson. I contacted the tower informed themthat all was OK, but they still had the crashequipment standing by, thanks to a quickthinking SP/5 one less damaged aircraft.

5. Most of our aircraft were eitherdesignated R- Reconnaissance or J notsure what that stands for, but when Ichecked on it I was told anytime when anaircraft had some special electronicsinstalled the aircraft was designated withthe prefix (J). One day I received a callfrom the transportation folks that one ofour aircraft a JU8-D was at Vung Tau forpickup. As in the past we had beennotified by Arlington Hall when, whereand how our aircraft were coming, so Iinformed them that it was not one of ours.

About a week later they called backand insisted that we should go and pickupthe aircraft, I responded that we would bethere shortly. WO Stevens and I jumpedin a RU8-D and headed to Vung Tau.Upon arriving Mr. Stevens went to the

office to look over the books and I headedto the aircraft to look it over. When Iopened the door the only thing differentfrom a standard U8-D was that it had aweather radar installed in the panel. Ihot-footed it over to the office, checkedwith the officer-in-charge to insure thatthey were assigning this aircraft to the 3RRU. After signing the necessarypaperwork, Mr. Stevens got into theaircraft we flew down while I fired up thenew one and we headed back to Tan SonNhut. That was about midway throughmy tour.

One morning I was eating breakfastin the mess and a couple of guys I knewfrom the Signal Battalion located on TanSon Nhut joined me. As we sat talkingthey mentioned that they had a U8-D thathad been assigned previously to ARMACin St. Louis being shipped over for thembut no one could find it. Needless to say Ididn’t mention my strange aircraft and itwas still on the 3RRU‘s ramp when Irotated.

If anyone is interested in the wholestory not just the aviation story there is abook on the History of the Army SecurityAgency in Vietnam called “ The MostSecret War” available from theGovernment Printing Office ISBN 0-16-072777-4 price unknown.

16



Part of the crew waiting for transport to Air Terminal for trip to thePhilippines to pick up the first of the Seven Roses. Left to right: RayRegenar, John Parham, Walter Duke, Stanley Frick, Mervin McCoy andRobert Kopecky.

Part of the crew enjoying an evening meal at PapagoyaMexican Restaurant in the great city of Olongapo. FromLeft to Right Will Parham, Robert Kopecky, Walter Duke,Jerry Holiday, Ray Renegar Hidden Michael Katz

U6

CV 2 Crew CW3 Brazil, Capt. Roney and Capt. Kopecky

RU8-D Wine Bottle Program

P2VGear up landing at Subic Bay

17



Walking toward the ready room, wewere forced to circumvent an Air ForceF-4 Phantom just off a mission, andcrouching in an awkward location far fromjet fighter tie-down. It was poised, shutdown at the junction of the parking rampwith the taxiway. Not parked; it appearedtoo ready to take to the skies. Firstimpression was of the smell: a heady,noxious compendium of JP-4 jet fuel(burnt kerosene), hot taxiway tar bubblingin the sun, and scorched metal.

Chief Boyd Smiley and I, off a checkflight with a pilot and an Airborne RadioDirection Finding op from the 144th inNha Trang, had another check flightscheduled in the afternoon. These

“gotchas” were the backbone of 224thAviation Bn. [RR])’s CO, LTC JimmieKing’s so-called “standardization” scheme,an unrealistic pipedream of makingairborne direction finding—flightprocedures as well as operator protocols—across the four ARDF companies of the224th, and the four Corps Tactoca; Zones(CTZ) of Vietnam, fit a standard format.It was undoable because of the vastdifferences in geological and aeronauticalconditions in the four corps: from Deltarice paddies, flat and innocuous, to hills,fields and mountains in III Corps, andrising heights and improbableatmospherics in I and II Corps. Feasibleor not, it was proximate cause for ourpresence here at Nha Trang. And ourunexpected up-close confrontation withthis most revered sky warrior.

The F-4 pilot and GIB (guy in back)sat in their tandem cockpit seats in afive-way conversation with a mechanic,and two civilians who stood on the wingfairings, one with a camera, one anotebook. Despite the ambient heatconcentrated on the white concrete, I felta coldness about the aircraft. As if itbrought the lofty heights to earth with it;as if it were not one with things earth-bound.

Passing in front of the fighter-bomber,staring into the twin J-79 intakes as intothe bottomless shafts of a spatial void, Idiscerned through airfield background

noises a vast child’s tinkling orchestrationof sounds emanating from the airplane ina diminutive range. The surreal momentcame on me suddenly, as if I had beentransposed momentarily onto a new,unearthly plane, this one anticipatory,fraught with symbolism, awaitingepiphany. The serenade, its insistenceoverriding logic, mesmerized me with asteady, arrhythmic flurry of clinks andcrinkles like beer cans crushed, wrenchedbackwards and forwards in the hands ofbored bar drones. A mad percussion ofcricket sounds, dry and allied with noother rhythm, clicking or otherwise,accompanied the same atonal cacophony.Soft, sibilant hissing of pressure bleedingoff hydraulic vascular systems, interruptedby occasional crisp, crunching eruptionslike someone stamping on ping-pong balls.Electric blower motors, tiny whirlwindssiphoning heat from power-deprivedmodules, laid a patina of normalcy overthe resting airframe.

Smells, even beyond my firstvisceral contact, seemed to bear a physicalattachment to the Phantom. The raw, freshheadiness of oxygen, burnt oil andscorched metal, the dominant kerosenevapors of jet fuel blended with the stenchof smoldering rubber—not quite burning,but heated beyond specs—and the cold,ozone absence of aroma that was space.The odors emanated from the metal wingsand fuselage and vertical stabilizer, thedive brakes and bomb racks, nacellefairings and Plexiglas of the twin-seatcockpit, and the unique, down-slantinghorizontal stabilizers. A pervasiveunderlying stench of scorched metalargued for the probability that this bird hadoverrun its own calculated bomb-patternin a low-level napalm delivery, suffering

a permanent reminder to incautiousairplane drivers.

The Phantom was more than aphysical presence: it exuded its ownmetaphysical tendering to the skies. It wasan awesome platform: deliverer of death,maker of myths and mystique, purveyorof power and fear and gerrymanderedpolitics. A McDonnell-Douglas fighter-bomber, introduced into the Navy/Marineinventory in 1960, it became the mostfearsome weapon of air combat inVietnam. It could carry 18,000 lbs. ofordnance, including Air-to-Air missiles,Air-to-Ground missiles, various bombsand bomb configurations, and after 1966,some models carried a 20mm Vulcanrotary cannon (Gatling Gun), and couldreach Mach 2.2 in level flight. The onesitting before us belonged to the AirForce’s 480th Tactical Fighter Squadron.I felt almost a giddy envelopment of awe.Of . . . sense.

And with overwhelmingconcatenation of all these smells, soundsand visual impressions appending themyths of unchecked power andinvincibility, I suffered (enjoyed!) asudden envelopment of powerful elegance,a memory-tic to the Irish patriot poetWilliam Butler Yeats’s fortunate meldingof irony and perception when he wrote ofthe emergence of the Irish Republic in hispoem, Easter, 1916, versifying on thenation’s rise from damning chaos andBritish domination: “A terrible beauty isborn ...” Not pretty, not without pain, butpromising endurance.

I’d flown in RU-6s and RU-8sout of Tan Son Nhut, Nha Trang and DaNang and stacked in takeoff queues behindevery conceivable type of aircraft,launching next following a two-birdtandem takeoff by F-4s; and even with a2-minute break between launches, theswirling cyclonic turbulence left hangingon the strip from those twin J-79 jetengines in afterburner max-thrust takeoff,violently shook our little plaything.Postulating the obvious difference in ourplane vs. a real AIRPLANE.

A Terrible Beautyby Robert Flanagan

. . .As if it brought the lofty heights toearth with it; as if it were not one

with things earth-bound.

18



I’d been in birds, launching ahead ofF-4s, and had the strike aircraft—following a two-minute interval,launching off the same strip in tandem—thunder past our dogged, sluggish climb-out with their afterburners still at full,flaming warp speed, tossing our craftaround like a toy monkey on an elasticcord.

And I’d watched their seeminglyendless, repetitive circling assaults onground targets, using their vast array ofarmament, employing A-G missiles,250/500/1000-lb. bombs and, in laterengagements, the externally mountedVulcan rotary cannon.

Smiley had stopped on the roadway,looking back at me. “Kinda takes yourbreath, don’t it?” he said, his eyes

glittering, some long-hidden dream offlying fighters subdued but alive.

“Yeah, so it does. Mean mutha.” I’dwatched them working, up in Eye Corps,but never made their acquaintance close-up before. Truly impressive.

I took in the odd, unbalanced look ofthe plane; but beyond the airframe, thepilot and GIB (the EWO), saw in mymind’s eye the awesome impact ofthousand-pound bombs, the scythe-likeharvesting of enemy troops-in-the-openwith scattered anti-personnel bomblets,gnat’s-ass accuracy of rockets and missiles,and the seared battlefield following therelease of God’s worst nightmare—napalm!

As I caught up with my pilot, I heardSmiley effecting a lyrical recital in a soft,sing-song voice, a litany of warrior-shared

compassion: “. . . and a plague came uponthe tribes of Mekong, and He rained downon them rollin’ thunder and arc light. Andthey were sore afraid.”

I amen-ed that.I felt an unaccustomed diminishment,

a demeaning recognition that I was notmaking war at the height of its demands.As a fighter pilot, I might have. But, hell.I’d never have made a fighter pilot, Iadmitted to myself. I didn’t possessenough of the killer instinct, maybe, or myreflexes and eyes were not good enough.Biggest reason I told myself, nursingBrenner’s rationale, was disdain at havingto wear the blue uniform of a Zoomie.

One helluva great bit of writing myfriend. Great job. Bill Upton

“TITSUP”Submitted by Richard Davis

I’ve been part of the military community for so long that Idon’t really know what “most people” have knowledge of.

There is an unofficial military acronym that I find to be quiteunusual: TITSUP, as in… “That Humvee has gone TITSUP andwe’re going to have to find another ride.”

You’ve got to remember here that when you join the militaryyou’re not given some sort of translation guide for you to learnmilitary jargon. You just sort of learn through time and experience.

For the longest time, I assumed TITSUP meant thatsomething — usually a piece of equipment or a vehicle — hadbroken and was therefore metaphorically dead on its back andstaring blankly into the sky.

Turns out I was wrong. TITSUP means: Total Inability ToSupport Usual Performance.

Damn, we have some colorful language.

This Japanese Self Defense Force (JSDF) tank has thrown atrack and has therefore gone TITSUP.

Sp-5 Stephen ( Tom ) Bennett. Ft Benning or Augusta, Ga. The fall of 1965

19



I have three memories of Quang Tri,Vietnam. One, it was the northernmostplace I flew to in Vietnam, about six clicksfrom the North Vietnam border. Two, Iwas there less than ten minutes.

Three, it scared the crap out of me.The day we flew to Quang Tri, you

could have fried an egg on my forehead,it was that hot. And it didn’t matter if I wasin the shade or in the direct sun. If I hadbeen a wet sponge and somebodysqueezed me I couldn’t have sweatedmore.

To make matters worse, the olive-green aluminum of the Caribou soaked upthe sun turning the cabin and cockpit intoa giant green furnace. The only refuge was10,000 feet straight up, where thetemperature averaged 50 degrees.

We had a brief respite from the heaton the twenty minute flight from VungTau to Saigon where we picked up ourcargo. Lethargy nearly overcame me as Ibacked a Jeep and trailer into the oven-likebody of the Caribou. After strapping itdown and double checking the plane forpossible problems, Gray Tiger ‘99 wasready to go.

“Where we headed?” I asked CaptainBracey.

“A small dirt strip near Quang Tri,” hetold me. “You’ll enjoy this one, if youdon’t mind getting sandblasted.”

“Sandblasted?”“We’re gonna fly in, drop the Jeep, and

boogie out of there. It’s a dirt strip withmore VC than flies on a dog turd. Bothengines stay running all the time. Sand,

dust, gravel and shit from the prop washwill eat you up back there.”

“So, what will you and Mr. Stephensdo while I’m eating sand?” I asked.

“Sip margaritas in the cockpit until yougive the high sign. Seriously though, youwon’t have much time to unload that Jeep.”

“You wouldn’t leave without me,would you?” I asked.

Captain Bracey avoided eye contact.“Not unless we had to,” he said.

We flew out of Saigon at nine in themorning for the four-hour flight. I laidback on the troop seats and put my mindto other things. I listened to CaptainBracey and Mr. Stephens as they banteredover the intercom. I genuinely liked them.They had become my friends. I dozed offthinking of Myra Faye back home and thelast night we had spent together.

We were in the back seat of my ‘50Dodge coupe and making out hot andheavy. Her hands had just found the zipperin my levis. . .

Click, click. “Wake up, Bill,” CaptainBracey said on the intercom. “It’s crapyour pants time. We’re on approach toQuang Tri. Remember, at the end of therunway we’ll turn around and stop.Engines running. Untie and off-load thatJeep. ASAP!”

“Roger, sir,” I said.“When you got it off, jump your ass

back on board. Stay in contact. When yougive the word, we’re outta here. Move fast.You got that?”

“Got it, sir. You call someone to getthe Jeep?”

“No can do,” Captain Bracey cameback. “Mandatory radio silence.”

“If no one’s there?” I asked.“Leave it and let’s get the hell out.”“Got it,” I said.Through rear portholes, I checked the

main landing gear for down and lockedposition. I went back to my regular seat inthe front, sat down, fastened my seat beltand waited. Through a porthole on thestarboard side, I saw the fiery streaks oftracer rounds as they whizzed by.

“Jesus. You see those tracers, Captain?”I asked.

“Yeah! Looks hot down there! Gotyour flak jacket on?”

“I do now, and I’m sitting on the otherone,” I said.

“Good man. Those tracers might burnyou a new asshole.” I heard him chucklenervously. “Thanks again for the steel buttplates you put under our seat cushions.”

“Roger that, sir,” I said. I watched outthe portholes for VC. A flash of light.Another tracer. VC, for sure. I looked outa different port. A puff of smoke. Napalm?Maybe. I pulled my flak jacket tight. All Icould think of was getting to the ground.Damned slow plane. Slow made an easytarget to follow. Mother had been right.You could get shot out of the air.

I looked out a porthole over my leftshoulder. Still, a couple thousand feet offthe ground. Another tracer. VC targetpractice.

The Caribou seesawed left-right, up-down as it fought the rising hot air currents.Captain Bracey throttled the engines backto slow the plane even more. The nose

A JEEP TO QUANG TRIFear lent wings to his feet.

—Virgil

Bill Upton

This Story Was Entered into a National Contest and Won First Prize

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dipped. I wanted to say, No! Speed up!Let’s get on ground, drop that damnedJeep and get the hell out of there!

I turned against the pull of my extra-tight seat belt to look over my rightshoulder. Movement below.

A flash. More VC? Ground fire?Another tracer? Shit, I couldn’t tell. Thejungle still lay a thousand feet below. DidQuang Tri have a runway? Would wecrash into the trees? I pressed my mikeswitch and, trying to sound calm, askedCaptain Bracey, “Everything okay,Captain?”

Click-Click. He doubled clicked hismike as an affirmative reply. I wished hewould have talked. I looked into thecockpit. From the back, Captain Braceyappeared intense, concentrated. Mr.Stephens was adjusting a dial on theinstrument console.

I watched as Captain Bracey pushedthe throttle levers forward, then easedthem back, the engines screaming, thengroaning. Mr. Stephens pulled the flapcontrol lever back. Hydraulic pumpswhined, driving the flaps lower, slowingus even more. We were flying in slowmotion. I felt like a plastic duck at acounty fair waiting for some countrysharpshooter to draw a bead. An airplanesized bulls eye.

Finally, I saw the straight border ofthe jungle clearing and the edge of theyellow, primitive runway in front of us. Iheard a Whap! Thunk! at the rear of theplane.

“Holy shit, sir, We’ve been hit.”“You okay, Bill?” Mr. Stephens asked.“I’m okay. Scared the crap out of me.

Tail section took a round or two. Controlsokay?”

He rocked the plane side to side.“Feels good,” Captain Bracey said.

Seconds later the main landing geartouched the dirt strip, sending up a cloudof yellow dust. An eternity later, the nosewheel touched down. I fumbled for myseat belt buckle. I couldn’t find it. It hadworked its way up under my flak jacket.My hands tore at the snaps holding thejacket together. I found the buckle, flippedit open, and stood.

The plane sped like a drag racertoward the end of the airstrip. I jumped tothe Jeep trailer and bent down to undo thetie-down strap. Damn. The handle was onthe other side. I scrambled across thecargo deck. As I pulled the strap over the

trailer axle, it caught on something.Nothing was going right. We’d nevermake it out of here. I whipped the strap.Up and down. Up and down. It flew loose.I hustled to the front of the Jeep.

Time had slowed to a near stop. Icouldn’t open the front strap’s ratchethandle. My fingers disobeyed orders frommy brain. The front tie-down finally letgo. Even with my fumbling, I had workedtoo fast. As Captain Bracey reversed theprops to help stop the Caribou, the Jeeprocked backwards, rolling slowly towardthe cockpit. Damn! Had I remembered toset the parking brake? I jumped in the Jeepand pushed the brake pedal down withboth feet as hard as I could. I pulled theparking brake handle. The Jeep swayed inopposite motion to the Caribou, butstopped moving.

When I heard the props return tonormal I ran to open the loading doors atthe rear of the Caribou and pushed thetoggle switch to raise the cargo door upand into the tail section. Another switchforced the ramp door down. Their smallelectric motors whined in unison.

“We’re there, Chief,” Mr. Stephensyelled. “As soon as I say, get that damnedJeep off.”

“Roger, sir.” From where I stood, atthe open cargo door, I could look outwithout being seen. I saw nothing but thewall of vegetation that formed theperimeter of the landing strip. We had, itseemed, landed inside a huge squareopening in a green salad.

Burnt avgas from the Caribou’sengines now replaced the smell of freshsweat that oozed from my body. Myjungle fatigue jacket stuck to my skin. Theplane lurched to a stop and Captain Braceypivoted her on the port landing gear to turnher around. The starboard engine roared,and the prop spun, slapping the air andthrowing up a sandstorm of yellow dust.We stopped. The engines settled into acoughing rhythm.

“Go, Bill,” Mr. Stephens shouted.I dragged the ramps down and put

them in place. Rumbling engine exhaustnoise dulled the usual clank of metal onmetal. Particles of sand driven by fastturning propellers stung my face andsplatted on my fatigues. I tried to forgetthe Viet Cong.

“Hold her steady, Captain, the rampsare on the ground.”

“Roger,” Captain Bracey said. “Get amove on.”

“I’m unhooking the intercom longenough to get this Jeep out,” I told him.

“Okay, Bill, get it done.”I jumped into the Jeep. Sunlight

through the cockpit window shone on theJeep’s instrument panel.

The glare blinded me. Was that starterswitch on the left or right of the instrumentcluster? Sweat beaded on my hand and myfingers left wet streaks on control knobsas I groped. Moments passed before Ifound the switch and flicked it to start. Theengine turned over and over and over.Panic!

I had done this a hundred times beforeand the engine had always started rightaway. I tried to remember the sequencefor starting. Hit starter switch, pump gaspedal. I smelled raw gas. Carb flooded. Ipushed the accelerator hard to the floor.Engine turning. It coughed. Blue smoke.Engine started. Rough, now smoother. Ipulled the gearshift to first position. G-G-G-Grind. Stupid. Push the clutch pedaldown.

First gear. Ease the clutch. The Jeepcrept forward. Forward, tilt, down, off.

A figure ran from the dense jungle,handgun ready. Viet Cong! Shit! My gunwas on the plane. I froze. No, too tall tobe VC. Thank God! It was a camouflagedGreen Beret. I exhaled in relief.

He looked at me, “Thanks, guy.” Hishand grabbed the edge of my flak jacketand pulled my stunned, unmoving bodyout of the Jeep. “Sorry,” he said. “In ahurry.” He stepped into the Jeep, roaredoff, and disappeared into the foliage.

I tossed the ramps into the cargo bay.They left huge gouges in the wood decking.I didn’t care. I jumped into the plane andclosed the ramp door. The cargo door wasstill up, no matter. I sat down and hookedin my headset. Blat-blat-blat. Small armsfire.

“Ready, sir. Let’s get the hell out ofhere.” My uniform dripped with sweat. Ifastened my seat belt.

“You got it,” Captain Bracey said. Iwatched his hand push the throttles as farforward as he could.

The twin engines screamed andstrained as the props cut through the hot,heavy air. The plane crept forward beforepicking up speed. It shook and shudderedas if trying to jump off the ground. Fromwhere I sat in the back of the plane, I

21



watched through the open cargo door forVC. The flak jacket I usually sat on hadslid off my regular seat up front. It lay onthe floor now. Fifteen feet away. Iwondered what it would feel like to getshot in the butt.

Through the port across from me Iwatched the main gear tires roll. Onerevolution, two revolutions. Three, four,five, faster, faster. We sped toward the endof the runway until that momentaryfeeling of weightlessness as we lifted off.Inertia tugged the untied loading rampsback to the ramp door much like the deadmayor’s coffin on my first mission. Screwit, if they slid out, that was just too bad.The jungle shrank behind us. We climbed.Higher and higher. The hydraulic pumpsgroaned once again as the flaps rose. Thenthe landing gear doors closed with a softthud.

“Gear up, sir.”“Thanks, Chief, you done good.”“I thought we’d never get out of there,”

I said.

“It took us thirty seconds from powerup to wheels up,” Mr. Stephensannounced. “Just three minutes fromlanding to takeoff.”

“Any more tracers, Captain?” I asked.“Didn’t see any,” Captain Bracey said.

“The VC must’ve wanted that Jeep morethan they wanted us.”

When I was able to stand, I went backto the tail section, dropped the cargo doorinto place and looked up. I saw a smallhole on the tail’s port side and a largerragged hole high on the starboard side. Apointed piece of sheet metal flapped in theupper opening. No cables or control rodshad been damaged. We seemed to be allright.

I resumed my place at the front of theCaribou. “No big deal on that hit,” I toldboth pilots. “Only sheet metal work.”

“Great, Bill, How you doin’?” CaptainBracey asked.

“I’m okay, ‘cept for the smell.”“What smell?” Mr. Stephens asked.“I think I crapped my pants,” I said.

“Me too,” said Mr. Stephens.“Me too,” said Captain Bracey.

“Anyway, good job.“Roger that, Captain,” I said.On the way back to Vung Tau, I wrote

home:Dear Mother and all,I thought I’d write before you cut me

out of your will. Not much going on here,and boy, is it hot. Only 150 days to go andI’ll be home. I’ve changed my allotmentto $250 each payday.

By the way, have you heard fromMyra Faye recently? Would you call andfind out if she’s all right?

We flew to Quang Tri today. That’sabout as far north as you can go in SouthVietnam. We delivered a Jeep. No big deal.I’ll tell you about it when I get home. Well,I just wanted you to know that I’m stillkicking. I’ll write again as soon as I can.Your Loving Son, Bill

2002 BRANSON, MO.

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Vietnam was a long time ago; I canremember a great deal of the two years ofmy life spent there. I may not rememberwhat I had for breakfast yesterday, but,certain memories remain vivid. This is oneof them. Our unit, the 134th AviationCompany, ferried our 18 DeHavillandCV-2B Caribous from Fort Benningacross the Pacific to Vung Tau, Vietnamleaving Hamiliton Air Force Base, CA onthe 8th of December of 1965. Stops acrossthe big pond included Hawaii, Midway,Wake, Guam, and The Philippines.

After five or six days at Vung Tau,our unit was sent to our permanentlocations. The Company headquarters and1st Flight Platoon operated from an oldabandoned airfield at Can Tho, just southof the Mekong River. The only residentAmerican unit at the airfield was the ArmySpecial Forces (SF) Headquarters for all4th Corps operations in the Delta of thecountry.

The 2nd Flight Platoon was sent toand operated out of Soc Trang, about 30miles southeast of Can Tho. I had to goback to my flight records to verify the dateof this particular flight. Since all of myflights originated from Can Tho (CT), allexcept one, it was an easy find. And thereit was, ST, (Soc Trang), the first entry onthe 10th of July 1966. When I went into134th Operations to find out the tailnumber of my aircraft for the day, I was

told I would be flying a 2nd Platoonaircraft out of Soc Trang. The reason forflying their aircraft was too many of ouraircraft were down for maintenance. Thefirst aircraft up would drop off CW-2 JoeHudson and myself at Soc Trang wherewe found our bird and flight engineerready to go. We were also told after thedays missions were completed, we wouldbe picked up by one of our inbound lateaircraft and returned to Can Tho. That daywe logged 6.3 flight hours and made 9landings.

It was a typical day of flying aroundthe lower half of the country hauling cargoand passengers to remote locations. Overthe course of our first six months in-country, Joe and I had the opportunity tofly together on a number of occasions. Hewas a great pilot, had a sense of humor andI always enjoyed sharing the cockpit withhim.

That particular day would be a day wewould both remember well, even after 54plus years. To this day, the part of theflying day Joe and I remember the bestwas the pickup to return us to Can Tho bya diverted 1st platoon aircraft. Our aircraftpicked us up that evening with a fewpassengers onboard, most sitting on theright side of the cargo compartment, theflight engineer at his station near thecockpit so, Joe and I strapped in on the leftside near the number one (left) engine. A

common thing most of us did when seatedin the cargo compartment was to sit on ourflak jackets, assuming enemy roundswould hit the bottom of the aircraft andprovide some protection at least.

Flying back to Can Tho at an altitudeof 1500 feet was considered a safe altitudein relatively secure areas in our local areaand we were at that altitude. I rememberJoe and myself were in adjacent seats justa couple of inches between our shouldersprobably talking about the cold beerwaiting for us when a round tore throughthe fuselage. The loud snap was a familiarsound and got the attention of all of us inthe rear of the aircraft. It hit the left sideof the aircraft passing between us atkidney level and excited the top of theaircraft. A few inches left or right and oneof us would have received a purple heart.

One shot Charlie had missed but heetched a memory on the minds of two nowold Army aviators that will not beforgotten anytime soon! After landingback at Can Tho, the flight engineerunsnapped the ceiling material todetermine damage in the cargocompartment overhead. A large aluminumtube was crushed by the enemy round andexcited through the top of the aircraft. Itwas an important part of the aircraftcontrol system, the elevator push/pull tube.

Our Unforgettable FlightDick Teipel

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An Otter in Alaska - Submitted by Terry Love

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OTTER EMBARRASSMENTPaul Stansel

From the July 2008 Logbook

In the days before sexual harassment,women’s lib, and unisex, I was a malechauvinistic pig and didn’t even know it.Back then I had the habit of addressing allwomen as Sweetheart, Darling or Dear. Itwas a very common way of speaking inthe south, a part of our culture. I learnedbetter while flying a mission in Europeduring which I embarrassed myself.

My five-day mission was to pick upthe Undersecretary of Defense and partyand to provide transportation where everthey wanted to go in Germany and France.And I was to remain with them for theentire time.

I picked up the party, consisting of agray-haired older man and a good lookingmiddle aged woman, at Rhine Main.When they saw the Otter, the mancommenced to chew on me for notbringing a twin engine aircraft. He let meknow in no uncertain terms that mysuperiors would hear of my negligenttreatment of his party in not providing acomfortable aircraft. The lady lookedembarrassed but didn’t say anything. Ifinally got him into the aircraft while hewas still bitching and whispered to theLady, “Sweetheart, is “Old Grumpy” thishard to get along with all the time?” Shelaughed and said, “He is!”

For the next several days, we traveledaround to various military bases. The ladyand I got along great. When I called her

“Sweetheart” she would laugh and call me“Darling.” Old Grumpy was stillcomplaining every time he climbed in.

Our final stop was an overnight atPoiters, France. I went to the Officers Clubfor a beer and spotted the lady in a sideroom talking to someone. She waved to

me and of course I gave her a big, “Hello,Sweetheart!” and wandered into the barfor my beer. As I sipped the beer, a majorgeneral came up to me and inquired if Iwas a relative of the Undersecretary ofDefense. I told him that I was not, that Iwas merely his pilot.

The General looked me in the eye andsaid, “Don’t you mean her pilot?” I wasdumbfounded to say the least. TheGeneral was amused.

As we were loading to leave the nextmorning I addressed the lady as MadamSecretary. She looked me in the eyes,laughed out loud and said, “You don’tlove me anymore.” Thank goodness shehad a good sense of humor!

UTILIZING THE OTTERFOR AERIAL REFUELING

Paul Stansel

In 1956 the Army was trying to drawpublic attention to the accomplishmentsof Army Aviation. Defense budgets werebeing reduced to peace time levels afterKorea and the Air Force and Army werelocked in a bitter battle for funds todevelop new aircraft. For public relationspurposes the Army decided to try to fly ahelicopter non-stop coast to coast.

The problem was how to refuel it ona regular basis. Past attempts at helicopterendurance records entailed refueling fromthe ground while the helicopter hoveredat a very low altitude. It was decided touse the newest aircraft in the Armyinventory, the Otter, for aerial refueling.

It was a jury rigged system but toeveryone’s surprise, it worked! A rubberbladder was put in the fuselage of theOtter attached to a long hose on a reel thatcould be manually turned to allow thehose to play out the camera port opening.

A small parachute was attached to the endof the hose to stabilize it in flight behindand below the Otter. To refuel, thehelicopter flew above the hose and thehelicopter crewmen threw a long rope outthe rear door with a grappling hookattached to the end. He then pulled it byhand until it caught the refueling hosewhich he manually dragged into thehelicopter via the open door. The crewmanthen refilled the bladder in the H-21 justas he would do at a self service gasstation.

When fueling was complete, hesimply threw the end of the hose out thedoor. The small drag chute on the hoseend would pull the hose into a straight linebehind the Otter and then be manuallyrolled back onto the reel and then departto the nearest airfield to replenish thebladder. The Otter would then take off,catch up with the H-21 and fill it up again.This was accomplished any number oftimes during the flight.

For PR purposes the H-21 was routedthrough Oklahoma City during theNational Air Show. The Army also brokethe helicopter hovering endurance recordwith a dual controlled H-13 at that airshow. A pilot would hover for two hoursand be replaced by a new pilot climbingup on the skid while at a hover.

The pilot being relieved would climbout on the skid and jump to the ground.

Refueling was accomplished byhovering low while fuel was put in froma truck on the ground. They hovered morethan 24 hours.

It’s interesting to note that during theair assault tests at Fort Banning, a Caribouwas rigged for aerial refueling andsuccessfully kept a Mohawk flying fromCalifornia to Georgia non-stop.

C

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Everyone knows of super secretstealth airplanes that the U.S. Air Forcemight operate, and everyone knows ofsuper secret stealth submarines that theU.S. Navy probably operates, but whatabout the U.S. Army?

Yes, the Army has presently, and hashad in the past, very secret operations thatvery few people know/knew aboutbecause those operations were/are highlyclassified. Lots of the super secretoperations are carried out by the ASA –Army Security Agency.

During the Vietnam conflict, the ASAwas very active with the Army. VariousArmy aircraft were utilized and re-equipped for this secretive role. Early inthe Vietnam conflict, the Army employeda varied fleet of highly modified utilityhelicopters, observation and cargo aircraft.These airborne platforms performed awide range of highly classified missions,including communications intelligence(COMINT), electronic intelligence(ELINT), signal intelligence (SIGINT),and photographic (PHOTINT), infrared(IR), and radar surveillance.

In the early 1960’s, the ArmyElectronics Command Electronic WarfareLaboratory (EWL) developed airborneradio direction finding (ARDF) electronicgear and installed it in three deHavillandU-6A Beavers, and re-designated them asRU-6As. Apparently no special codenames were applied to these aircraft at thetime. Assigned to the Vietnam FlightDetachment of the 3rd Radio ResearchUnit in March of 1962, those three aircraftbecame the first Army reconnaissanceaircraft in Vietnam.

In December 1962, the first sixGrumman OV-1 Mohawks arrived, butthey were almost immediately transformedinto armed gun ships and not used in thereconnaissance missions for which theyhad been designed.

Those were followed in early 1963 byseven more RU-6As, code named “SevenRoses.” Later, they were also called

“Cefish Person” and “Winebottle.”They were joined in 1963 by two

RU-8D Seminoles, code named

“Checkmate,” and one RU-8F aircraft. TheRU-6A had armored protection and itscrews carried parachutes. The RU-8D hadneither. These systems were thebeginnings of our present-day Guardrailaircraft systems.

Later in 1963, more RU-6As SevenRoses arrived in Vietnam (about 18 wereconverted, altogether). Another earlyarrival included the one and only RCV-2BCaribou (62-4147) called “Pathfinder.” Afew years later, one RU-1A Otter,designated “Café Girl” and two otherRU-1A Otters called “Laffing Otter”(originally designated “Happy Nights”).

All of these systems made up the firstgeneration or ARDF aircraft that wereused in Vietnam. The main differencebetween the “Café Girl” and “LaffingOtter” was that the latter had a secondon-board operator position. The “CaféGirl” aircraft later was refitted with asecond operator position.The RU-6A aircraft were relatively simpleand basic platform equipped with on-board mission receiver equipment forhoming in on signals emitted from theenemy forces. The data returned was onlyas accurate as the pilots’ navigationalskills. With no Doppler/inertial navigationsystems (INS) in those days, the pilotsrelied on landmarks and dead reckoningto determine their known location fromwhich to calculate the intercepts. TheRU-1A Otter conversion was similarlyconfigured but it was an expanded platform.

The RU-1A Otters were assigned tothe 146th Aviation Company (RadioResearch) based at Tan Son Nhut AFB,near Saigon. Also assigned to Tan SonNhut AFB was the Aviation Section of the1st Signal Brigade (the author’s unitwho’s Commanding Officer was the late

Paul F. Bolam – a great CO). TheCommanding Officer of the 146th AviationCompany was Major Querin EdwardHerlik. The 146th had about 250 menassigned to it. By February of 1969, hewas nine months into his second tour inVietnam. He had more than 900 hours ofcombat flying. The 146th was assignedlots of “Highly Classified” missions dueto their capability with the reconnaissanceaircraft assigned to them.

On February 12, 1969, Major Herlikflew a “highly classified” mission withhimself as command pilot. Since U.S.forces were planning to go into Cambodiain the spring of 1969, we needed some

“intel” on the area. We needed to locateNorth Vietnamese units in the area. Thecrew consisted of Major Querin EdwardHerlik, CWO-2 Laird R. Osborn, SP/5John B. Fisher, and SP/5 Robert J. Pryorof Oakridge, Tennessee. This was to havebeen SP/5 Pryor’s last mission beforerotating home.After takeoff from Tan Son Nhut AFB,they flew west towards Cambodia. Whileflying at 3500 feet over Cambodia on themission, they were being shot at a lot. Aswe know, the Otter flies fairly slow. TheOtter was hit by a 37mm round, that tookout the carburetor, and started down. Youcannot fly without a carburetor. MajorHerlik and CWO Osborn managed tomake a forced landing into a rice paddy.Unfortunately, it was right in the middleof a 400 man battalion of Viet Cong. Theywere surrounded instantly. Since this wasa “highly classified” mission, there wereno “friendly’s” near by.

Immediately after making a veryrough landing in a dry rice paddy, afirefight started. There were Viet Congeverywhere, and small arms fire was verythick. CWO Osborn killed a couple of theenemy before being badly wounded. Therest of the crew thought that he was dead.Days later, they found out that he wasalive in a Cambodian hospital in PhnomPenh. A total of 6 enemy were killed, and8 wounded. Major Herlik and his crewdestroyed most of the classified materialleft after the aircraft was riddled with

OTTER OVER CAMBODIA By Terry LoveFrom the March 2010 Logbook

“Laffing” Otter

26



bullet holes. However, a mortar rounddestroyed the reminder.

Nearby F-100’s flew low over the area,but they were out of 20 mm ammunition,so they just “scared” everybody by flyingat tree-top level.

When the Americans ran out ofammunition, they were captured afterabout 30 minutes. CWO Osborn was leftat the sight by the Viet Cong, since he wasbadly wounded. In the next three days, theViet Cong forced marched the threecrewmen about 50 miles. They actuallywent back inside of South Vietnam beforereturning back to Cambodia. At first theywere blindfolded, but that slowed themdown too much for the Viet Cong. Luckily,then, they were intercepted by Cambodianmilitary troops who “took them away”from the Viet Cong. They were then takenby a Land Rover to Phnom Penh.During their captivity, they saw theburning of farms and people being killed.After arriving in Phnom Penh, they wereplaced in jails and kept separated fromeach other. CWO Osborn, in the meantime,was en route to a French hospital inCambodia. Osborn spotted a civilian Otteron a local airstrip just south of PhnomPenh. He remembered that he began toformulate a plan to escape and steal theOtter and fly back to Vietnam. It neverhappened. Later he joined his fellow crewmembers in a jail in Phnom Penh. Thiswas after Herlik and Osborn went through10 days of “interrogations.” Theyconvinced the Cambodians that they werehauling rations to Tay Ninh when gettingshot down.

When the U.S. Army found out aboutthe missing Otter, they knew what type ofan aircraft it was and what its mission was.So a U.S. Air Force A-1 Skyraider wasdirected to destroy the Otter in place. Theenemy, of course, knew it was coming.They were ordered to lie on their backsand fire into the path of the F-100. But itwas very fast compared to the Otter. Withfour 20mm cannons on the A-1 Skyraider,the remains of the Otter was quicklyconsumed by fire along with all contentsthat were left.The coordinates of the crash site were105746 north, 1061333 east, which isabout a half mile west of the Cambodian-South Vietnam border.

In jail, the POWs were visited byNeal Manton, an Australian from their

embassy. They were told very bluntly,“Do not, under any circumstances, do

anything stupid. We are going to get youout.” Prince Sihanouk, the premier ofCambodia, wanted them for propagandapurposes. They were under the constantpressure that the Cambodians wouldfigure out their real mission of radiointercept and get, “the how you do it,” outof them.

After reports from the StateDepartment, President Richard Nixon senta letter to the Cambodian premier inwriting in order to secure their release.This “letter of friendship” caused theAmericans to be released to the AustralianEmbassy in Phnon Penh on March 11,1969, 30 days after their shoot down andcapture. After a two day “debriefing” inSaigon they were sent back to the states.All four were national news as no POWSwere being released in early 1969. Thecrew members had high praise for MajorHerlik’s leadership during the entireordeal. All crew members were awardedthe Silver Star for their actions.

Laird Osborn, a former AirborneRanger was from Webster Springs, WestVirginia, and was in Aviation WOC Pre-flight Training, class of 64-1W. He retiredfrom the Army after, at least, 20 years ofservice as a Master Army Aviator.Unfortunately, he passed away aftersuffering from Agent Orange relatedprostate cancer. He was a top-notchsoldier, a great pilot, a patriot, anexceptionally fine officer and a gentlemanwho was genuinely admired and respectedby his peers and contemporaries.Querin Herlik, from Green Bay, Wisconsin,was born in 1932 and entered the Army in1955 as a Second Lieutenant after

graduating from St. Norbert College nearGreen Bay. He was in ROTC and theArtillery Branch of the Army. On Herlik’sfirst tour in Vietnam in 1964, he wasoperations officer of the 73rd AviationCompany (Bird Dogs) in Nha Trang.supporting the special forces. Herlik hasthirty five combat medals and 912 hoursover Vietnam. He retired from the Armyas a Colonel on January 1, 1986 afterthirty years active duty and lives in Georgia.

Querin’s son, Edward, graduatedfrom the Air Force Academy in 1980 andbecame a pilot. Edward flew A-10 WartHogs and C-5 Galaxies.

The aircraft that flew the Cambodianmission was RU-1A Otter, serial number55-3271. It was the 117th Otter built. Itwas delivered to the U.S. Army on May19, 1956 and assigned to the 14th AviationCompany at Fort Riley, Kansas. In Augustof 1956, the 14th was re-designated the 1stAviation Company and moved to FortBenning, Georgia. It flew with the 1stuntil 1961, when the 1st converted toCV-2 Caribous.

55-3271 then went to the U.S. MarineCorps at Quantico MCAS, Virginia. Itkept its Army olive drab color scheme andits tail number of 53271, but with

“Marines” titles on the fuselage. It was usedfor parachute work. It may have beenstored in Texas without being pickled forawhile, but in May of 1966, 53271 arrivedat the Electronic Warfare Laboratory atLakehurst, New Jersey to be convertedinto a RU-1A. It was one of three Ottersarriving there around the same time forconversion.

The other two Otters were 55-2977and 55-3315. After these three Otters hadbeen converted, two of them (52977 and53325) were transported to Vietnam,where in December of 1967, they joinedthe 146th Aviation Company based at TanSon Nhut AFB. 53271 was noted at FortEustis, Virginia. 53271 finally did join the146th, though, and the rest, as they say, ishistory.Editor’s note: Adding to the research ofTerry’s fine article were: G. Louis Turner,Jr., Dick Manzke, Paul Struxness andJim Percival. There may have been otherswho also provided info to Terry, these arethe ones that got to my desk via e-mail.Great job Terry and all. Good recountingof some true American heroes.. Bill Upton

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MILITARY MUSINGSAnd More. . .

In the early morning hours of March 24, 1945, a massive WWIIairborne operation known as Operation Varsity launched withan attempt to deploy 17,000 American and British Airbornetroops across the Rhine River. It was the largest single-dayairborne operation in history.

In the final months of WWII, Western Allied Forcesadvanced east into Germany. This meant crossing numerousrivers, many of which no longer had standing bridges. The RhineRiver was especially treacherous, with steep banks and swiftcurrents, providing German forces with a natural defensive barrier.

Planning got underway to deploy airborne forces on the eastside of the Rhine. The principal mission was to seize and holdthe high ground five miles north of Wesel, Germany, and tofacilitate the ground action and establish a bridgehead. Thesoldiers would then hold the territory until the advancing unitsof the British 21st Army Group joined them, allowing them toadvance to northern Germany. Extensive photo reconnaissanceidentified suitable drop zones. This operation would be part ofOperation Plunder and would involve troops from the 17thAirborne Division and the British 6th Airborne Division.

On the night of March 23rd, British ground troops crossedthe Rhine and launched an intense assault near Wesel, securingnine small bridgeheads. At 6:00 a.m. on March 24th, airbornetroops were given the green light. A huge armada consisting ofmore than 1,500 American aircraft and gliders carrying morethan 9,000 soldiers, rendezvoused with the British airbornearmada of 1,200 aircraft and gliders carrying 8,000 soldiers. Theymet in the skies near Brussels, Belgium, and formed a column

two-and-a-half hours long. To draw away enemy fighters duringthe operation, the 15th Air Force consisting of 150 heavybombers flew one of its longest missions and bombed Berlin

Paratroopers filed out over the drop site while gliders cutloose over the landing area. Concealed flak positions, sniper andmortar fire caused casualties. After landing, the soldiers foughtoff German attempts to infiltrate their defensive positions. In theprocess, they captured German prisoners.

Stuart Stryker served in the 513th Parachute InfantryRegiment, 17th Airborne Division. During Operation Varsity,he parachuted to a landing near Wesel. When his companyattacked a strongly defended building, another platoon becamepinned down by intense fire. Stryker voluntarily ran to the headof the unit calling for soldiers to follow him. He charged theGerman position and was killed just 25 yards from the building.His attack provided a diversion that allowed other soldiers to takethe position, where they captured over 200 soldiers and freedthree American airmen held as prisoners. Stryker wasposthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. In 2002, the USArmy named its new armored fighting vehicle “Stryker” in hishonor.

Operation Varsity was deemed a success and soldierscaptured bridges, strongholds, and secured towns allowing troopsto advance to northern Germany. British and American casualtieswere lower than military experts anticipated but still numberedmore than 2,000. The two divisions also captured 3,500 Germanprisoners.

Operation Varsity: The Last Airborne Deployment of WWIIby Jenny Ashcraft

Submitted by Sam Kaiser

C-47 Transport Planes Release Hundreds of Paratroopers during Operation Varsity

Glider Troops After Landing Near Wesel, Germany

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Submitted by Terry Hamby

While in Vietnam I flew many weirdmissions for Air America. The following is aninteresting repost from Facebook that I cameacross.

BUBBA

We got him in Laos after his momtramped on a land mine. He was only twodays old, but I had him in my jungle jacketwrapped in a towel and when we wereextracted we fed him milk and got him onhis way. He did well because he got muchlarger than an Asian Tiger usually grew to.His weakness was real beer (He had twocans a day) which he slurped down, wentto a corner of the hooch, rolled on his back,showed his junk and snored like the lastday! If the bubster wanted to get in yourbunk with you, you just rolled over anddealt with it.

It's such a shame so many tigers werekilled over there because most were killedfor sport and not in human defense. Whenwe cycled out the question was what thehell do with Bubba? He couldn't survivebecause he only knew SOG, SF, Seals etc.Here is where we got creative. We hadaccess to things normal military didn't. Sowe got creative and a phone call went to aresearch zoo in Sidney Australia and wereasked if they wanted a free tiger. When thelady at the other end realized we were forreal she pissed her pants and said yes, buthow do we get him? I don't want toreference Air America, but we flew thebubster to his new home and I got off theairplane with him walking beside me likea dog on a leash.

They all went nuts when he walkedto the lady and heeled by her side lookingat her for instructions. He must have hada very good time and life there because hesired tons of babies. When I was back in

Sidney in 87 I saw a bronze plaque tellingabout the SF Tiger that came to them in1969 and made lots of great baby tigers.

That part of my life is gone likeBubba who lasted to 85, but every time Ihear a Tiger make those special noises myhead and heart goes back to a tiny littlebaby we found in Laos in 1968. God I misshim!

BTW the Bubster never lived in a cage.He was always shown love from a

bunch of very dangerous men whosehearts melted when they met him. Todiscipline him you grabbed a handful ofhair and flesh on his shoulder and simplysaid no. He never retaliated he justcomplied.

When I said he never lived in a cagethe decision about the zoo where he endedup was a research zoo that was veryexcited because of gene diversity. It alsohad the new concept of no animals incages. People were the ones in cages orbehind glass. It took a bit for him to getback to being a tiger, but after he figuredout the male female thing nature took it’scourse and he was off to the races andmade a ton of tiger babies who are in zoos

around the world. God Bless to myknowledge was the only SF tiger in thehistory books.

A interesting side note is that SF andMAC V were in many ways involved withthe CIA. The coats and ties back inLangley, VA couldn’t understand how ourintel was so accurate.

Picture a NVA prisoner strapped intoa chair and questioned. Also picture theprisoner telling us in multiple languagesto go F ourselves. So a hood goes back onand the prisoner was told to spill the beansor we were going to feed the zip to ourtiger. They all laughed their asses off andsaid we were crazy. Enter the bubster andhave his head about two feet from the

prisoner, pull the hood off at the same timeI would pinch the back of Bubbas neck.He roared in the dinks face with hisextremely nasty tiger breath and theprisoner pissed his pants or worse whilehe sang like the Mormon tabernacle choir.

God I miss that stuff. BTW our intelwas so accurate the pencil necks wereamazed and never found out why!

repost

It has come to my attention that they are not making yardsticks any longer. . .

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U.S.S. Constitution (Old Ironsides), as a combat vessel,carried 48,600 gallons of fresh water for her crew of 475 officersand men. This was sufficient to last six months of sustainedoperations at sea. She carried no evaporators (I.e. Fresh waterdistillers).

However, let it be noted that according to her ship's log, "OnJuly 27, 1798, the U.S.S. Constitution sailed from Boston witha full complement of 475 officers and men, 48,600 gallons offresh water, 7,400 cannon shot, 11,600 pounds of black powderand 79,400 gallons of rum ."

Her mission: "To destroy and harass English shipping."Making Jamaica on 6 October, she took on 826 pounds of

flour and 68,300 gallons of rum. Then she headed for the Azores,arriving there 12 November. She provisioned with 550 poundsof beef and 64,300 gallons of Portuguese wine.

On 18 November, she set sail for England. In the ensuingdays she defeated five British men-of-war and captured andscuttled 12 English merchant ships, salvaging only the rumaboard each.

By 26 January, her powder and shot were exhausted.Nevertheless, although unarmed she made a night raid up theFirth of Clyde in Scotland . Her landing party captured a whisky

distillery and transferred 40,000 gallons of single malt Scotchaboard by dawn. Then she headed home.

The U.S.S. Constitution arrived in Boston on 20 February1799, with no cannon shot, no food, no powder, no rum , no wine,no whisky, and 38,600 gallons of water.

U.S.S. Constitution (Old Ironsides)Some Interesting Facts

TWO INCREDIBLE STORIESSTORY NUMBER ONE

Many Years ago, Al Capone virtuallyowned Chicago. Capone wasn't famousfor anything heroic. He was notorious forenmeshing the windy city in everythingfrom bootlegged booze and prostitution tomurder.

Capone had a lawyer nicknamed"Easy Eddie." He was Capone's lawyer fora good reason. Eddie was very good! Infact, Eddie's skill at legal maneuveringkept Big Al out of jail for a long time.

To show his appreciation, Caponepaid him very well. Not only was themoney big, but Eddie got specialdividends, as well. For instance, he andhis family occupied a fenced-in mansionwith live-in help and all of theconveniences of the day. The estate wasso large that it filled an entire ChicagoCity block.

Eddie lived the high life of theChicago mob and gave little considerationto the atrocity that went on around him.

Eddie did have one soft spot, however.He had a son that he loved dearly. Eddiesaw to it that his young son had clothes,

cars, and a good education. Nothing waswithheld. Price was no object.

And, despite his involvement withorganized crime, Eddie even tried to teachhim right from wrong. Eddie wanted hisson to be a better man than he was.

Yet, with all his wealth and influence,there were two things he couldn't give hisson; he couldn't pass on a good name or agood example.

One day, Easy Eddie reached adifficult decision. Easy Eddie wanted torectify wrongs he had done.

He decided he would go to theauthorities and tell the truth about Al

"Scarface" Capone, clean up his tarnishedname, and offer his son some resemblanceof integrity. To do this, he would have totestify against The Mob, and he knew thatthe cost would be great. So, he testified.

Within the year, Easy Eddie's lifeended in a blaze of gunfire on a lonelyChicago Street. But in his eyes, he hadgiven his son the greatest gift he had tooffer, at the greatest price he could everpay. Police removed from his pockets arosary, a crucifix, a religious medallion,and a poem clipped from a magazine.

Submitted by Bruce Silvey

Al Capone and “Easy Eddie”

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The poem read:

The clock of life is wound but once,and no man has the power

to tell just when the hands will stop,at late or early hour.

Now is the only time you own.Live, love, toil with a will.

Place no faith in time.For the clock may soon be still.

STORY NUMBER TWO

World War II produced many heroes.One such man was LieutenantCommander Butch O'Hare.

He was a fighter pilot assigned to theaircraft carrier Lexington in the SouthPacific.

One day his entire squadron was senton a mission. After he was airborne, helooked at his fuel gauge and realized thatsomeone had forgotten to top off his fueltank.

He would not have enough fuel tocomplete his mission and get back to hisship.

His flight leader told him to return tothe carrier. Reluctantly, he dropped outof formation and headed back to the fleet.

As he was returning to the mother ship,he saw something that turned his bloodcold; a squadron of Japanese aircraft wasspeeding its way toward the American-fleet.

The American fighters were gone ona sortie, and the fleet was all butdefenseless. He couldn't reach hissquadron and bring them back in time tosave the fleet. Nor could he warn the fleetof the approaching danger. There wasonly one thing to do. He must somehowdivert them from the fleet.

Laying aside all thoughts of personalsafety, he dove into the formation ofJapanese planes. Wing-mounted 50caliber's blazed as he charged in, attackingone surprised enemy plane and thenanother. Butch wove in and out of thenow broken formation and fired at asmany planes as possible until all hisammunition was finally spent.

Undaunted, he continued the assault.He dove at the planes, trying to clip a wingor tail in hopes of damaging as manyenemy planes as possible, rendering themunfit to fly.

Finally, the exasperated Japanesesquadron took off in another direction.

Deeply relieved, Butch O'Hare andhis tattered fighter limped back to thecarrier.

Upon arrival, he reported in andrelated the event surrounding his return.The film from the gun-camera mounted onhis plane told the tale. It showed theextent of Butch's daring attempt to protecthis fleet. He had, in fact, destroyed fiveenemy aircraft. This took place onFebruary 20, 1942, and for that actionButch became the Navy's first Ace ofWWII, and the first Naval Aviator to winthe Medal of Honor.

A Year later Butch was killed in aerialcombat at the age of 29. His hometownwould not allow the memory of this WWIIhero to fade, and today, O'Hare airport inChicago is named in tribute to the courageof this great man.

So, the next time you find yourself atO'Hare International, give some thoughtto visiting Butch's memorial displayinghis statue and his Medal of Honor. It'slocated between Terminals 1 and 2.

SO WHAT DO THESE TWO STORIESHAVE TO DO WITH EACH OTHER?

Butch O'Hare was "Easy Eddie's" son.

Why did the US choose a US Navy Iowa-class battleship asthe location for Japan's surrender in WWII even though they werein Tokyo Bay and could have used a building on land? Puresymbolism. Nothing says "you're utterly defeated" better thanhaving to board the enemy's massive battleship in the waters ofyour own capital city. A naval vessel is considered sovereignterritory for the purposes of accepting a surrender. You just don'tget that if you borrow a ceremonial space from the host country.

The Navy originally wanted the USS South Dakota to be thesurrender site. It was President Truman who changed it to USSMissouri, that being Truman's home state. The Japanesedelegation had to travel across water to the Missouri, which satat the center of a huge US fleet. It's a bit like those movie sceneswhere someone enters a big-wig's office, and the big-wig satsilhouetted at the end of a long room, behind a massive desk. Theappellant has to walk all the way to that desk along a featurelessspace, feeling small, exposed, vulnerable and comparativelyworthless before the mogul enthroned in dramatic lighting beforehim. By the time he gets there the great speech he had preparedis reduced to a muttered sentence or two.

In addition, the USS Missouri flew the flag of CommodorePerry's 19th century gun-boat diplomacy mission that opened the

closeted Edo-era Japan to the world and forced upon them theMeiji restoration which ended the rule of the samurai class. Thesymbolism here is pretty clear - "this is how we want you to be,and remember what happens to countries that defy us." It wasparticularly humiliating for a proud country like Japan, and thatwas entirely the point. The symbolism of the ceremony was evengreater than that. The ship was anchored at the preciselatitude/longitude recorded in Perry's log during his 1845 visit,symbolizing the purpose of both visits to open Japan to the West.Perry's original flag was also present, having been flown all theway from the Naval Academy for the ceremony.

FASCINATING PIECE OF HISTORYSubmitted by Gene Diamond

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When the Japanese delegation came aboard, they were forcedto use an accommodation way (stairs) situated just forward ofturret #1. The freeboard (distance between the ship's deck andthe water line) there makes the climb about twice as long as if ithad been set up farther aft, where the freeboard of the ship isless.

NOTE: This was even more of an issue for the Japanesesurrender party as the senior member, Foreign Affairs MinisterShigemitsu, was crippled by an assassination attempt in 1932,losing his right leg in the process.

The #1 and #2 turrets had been traversed about 20 degreesto starboard. The ostensible reason for this was to get the turretoverhangs out of the way to create more room for the ceremonyon the starboard veranda deck, but in fact this would have onlyrequired traversing turret #2 had it been the real reason. However,the turret position also put the gun tubes directly over the headsof the Japanese. They were literally boarding the ship "under thegun.”

The honor guard of US sailors (side boys) were all hand-picked to be over six feet tall, a further intimidation of theshort-statured Japanese. The surrender documents themselves,one copy for the Allies and one for the Japanese containedidentical English-language texts, but the Allied copy was bound

in good quality leather, while the Japanese copy was bound withlight canvas whose stitching looked like it had been done by adrunken tailor using kite string.

After the signing ceremony, the Japanese delegation was notinvited for tea and cookies; they were shuffled off the ship as anAllied air armada of over 400 aircraft flew overhead as a finalreminder that American forces still had the ability to continuefighting should the Japanese have second thoughts on surrender.

REUNION MEMORIES

2002 BRANSON, MO.

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I’m still practicing my socialdistancing in a limited way. I havecompleted most of my home projects.Thank goodness Home Depot has beenopen so I could get the paint and othersupplies I needed. Volleyball seasonended early because of Covid 19 so I’vebeen walking to get exercise. Golf coursesare now open but the softball and bocceball activities are still on hold. I waslooking for something to do so I’d thoughtI’d write an article for the Logbook.

The subject of this essay is about allthe different aircraft I flew just to get flighttime. As I look back there were only a fewyears in in my crazy military career whenI was actually assigned as an aviator. Therest of the time I was either assigned topositions that didn’t allow for much flyingand I had to go begging for flight time orwas in non-aviation unit and I had to justforget about flying during that assignment.

My introduction to flying was whenI decided to take Advanced ROTC at theUniversity of Wisconsin. They had anaviation program where you could getyour private license but you had to committo going to flight school after graduation.I signed up for the program and got myprivate license flying Cessna 150’s.

In June 1960 I graduated and got mycommission as a 2LT Infantry so I thoughtI’d be going to flight school shortlythereafter. What I found out was thatbecause I had accepted a Regular Armycommission, I had to serve 18 months ina combat arms unit before going to flightschool. I was then assigned as an infantryplatoon leader In the 39th Infantry at FortLewis, Washington. I did join the flyingclub on Post so I got some time in a PiperCub before getting orders for the InfantryOfficers Basic Course at Fort Benning.

While attending the Infantry BasicCourse I found out that all infantry officerswith a Regular Army commission had togo through Airborne and Ranger training.At least all that schooling counted towardmy 18 months. I then returned to FortLewis as an infantry platoon leader tocomplete my 18 months assignment in acombat arms unit. Again, I was able to getsome flying time in a Piper Cub throughthe flying club during that time. In

December 1961, as the end of my 18-month infantry assignment approached, Ithought my dreams of going to flightschool would be dashed as the infantrycompany I was assigned to was alerted fordeployment to Berlin. Fortunately, myorders for fixed wing flight school camejust in time. In February 1962 I startedflight school as a member of OFWAC62-7 (Yellow Hat). Of course, flying timeduring flight school wasn’t an issue. Aphase (Basic) and B phase (Tactical) wasin the L-19A and C phase (Instrument)was in the L-20A.

Toward the end of flight school mostof us got a choice to go on to fly theCaribou or the Mohawk. Those that chosethe Caribou besides myself, were Beitz,Roach, Spencer, Caraballo, Ritterspach,Clinton, Moldaschel, Silvey,Debardeladen, Marshall, Stack andUlbinsky. Most of them are or were at onetime members of the AOCA.

In October 1962, after flight school,I was assigned to the 187th TAC at Ft.Benning commanded by Maj. JohnLauterbach. The 187th was a Cariboucompany with no Caribous. The aviatorsassigned that weren’t Caribou qualifiedhad to wait their turn to return to Ruckerfor transition training. In my case I had towait until the end of March. In the meantime I and others had to rely on aircraftassigned to Lawson Field to get our flighttime. The aircraft ID’s had changed duringthat time but we were back to flying0-1A's and U-6A's.

After completing Caribou transitionflying time was not a problem. FromMarch of 1963 until September of 1965while serving in the 187th and 1st atBenning, and deploying to Vietnam withthe 92nd and being transferred to the 61stI accumulated 1419 hours in the Caribou.It was one of the few periods of my careerwhen I wasn’t scrambling for flight time.

After returning to the States I wasassigned to three schools in succession.First was the Infantry Officer AdvancedCourse at Ft. Benning. Then the HelicopterQualification Course at Ft. Rucker andthen the Aviation Safety Course at USCin Los Angeles. While attending theInfantry Advanced Course I was back to

flying O-1A's and U-6A's from LawsonField to get my minimum flight time in.The only exception was I was able to takemy annual instrument check ride in aCaribou. That was last time I flew the ‘Bou.At the time I went through the HelicopterQualification Course they were usingOH-13GEs. I do recall they were squirrelyand difficult to fly because of the throttlecontrols. The only difference between themodels was the fuel tank placement butthat gave them different CGs. During thethree months at USC I didn’t fly at all.

After completing the Aviation SafetyCourse in September 1966, I was assignedto a non-aviation position in thecommunications and electronicsdepartment at the infantry school at Ft.Benning. Again, I was back to flyingaircraft assigned to Lawson Field. By thistime, in addition to having 0-1As andU-6As they had added T41Bs to theirinventory so I got qualified it that airplaneand flew that mostly to get my flight time.

In June of 1967 I had been back in theStates for about 20 months and tournumber two to Vietnam was imminent.The 182th Aviation Company AML (UH-1) was at Fort Benning and they wereproviding UH-1 transition training forguys like me so I got qualified in theUH-1D. Immediately after that I wasassigned to the 235th Aviation CompanyAML, a new company scheduled to bedeployed to I CORPS in Vietnam. We gotnew UH-1H's and began our training asan assault company. About 1 1/2 monthslater the Army in its infinite wisdomdecided the 235th should be an armedhelicopter company to be deployed to CanTho in the Delta region of Vietnam. Wetuned in the UH-1Hs and got UH-1Cs andproceeded with our gunnery training thereat Fort Benning. One side note is that I gota cameo appearance in the movie GreenBeret that was being filmed at Benning atthat time. The cameo was just leading aflight of two gunships that could be seenoff in the distance in one scene. Wecompleted our training in September 1967,flew the aircraft to Oakland, boarded atroop ship and sailed to Vietnam arrivingat Can Tho in late October.

Flight TimeBy Ron Sprengeler

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A few weeks later we were notifiedthat we were to get AH-1G Cobrahelicopters to replace the UH-1C so all theaviators were scheduled to attend Cobratransition training conducted by a NETTteam at Ben Hoa. I was one of the first toattend but when I returned to Can Tho theCobras had not yet arrived so wecontinued flying missions in the UH-1C.

A few weeks later I was promoted toMajor and it was battalion policy that fieldgrade officers could not be assigned toaviator positions. I was then assigned asBattalion Aviation Safety Officer in anewly formed battalion in Soc Trang.Initially it was called the PhantomBattalion but later became the 307thCombat Avn. Bn. The 307th had oneUH-1D on its TO&E but one of thesubordinate units located at Soc Trang wasthe 221st Recon Company that had 01-D(constant speed prop) aircraft assigned.There was also a U-6A assigned to theairfield. The bottom line is that I never gotto fly the Cobra operationally and wasback to flying the Huey, Birddog andBeaver for flight time. As it turned out Idid get quite a bit of time in the Hueyassigned to the battalion and somewhatuniquely a lot of it was single pilot time.

I also volunteered to fly airfieldsecurity missions using the Birddog witha flare under each wing. The Beaver wasalso used for airfield security. As I recallwe put eight larger flares in the back andjust threw the flares out the door. All theTET activity was going on at this time sothere was a need for night time illumination.

Much to my surprise in March of1968 I was transferred again. This time asAviation Safety Officer for a newprovisional corps headquarters located atHue Phu Bai in I Corps. The provisionalcorps eventually became the 24th Corpswhich was a three-star command.Subordinate Units included the 1st Cavand 101st so there was a lot of Armyaviation around. The aviation section ofCorps Headquarters included two Lt. Col’s,one of whom was AOCA member PaulStansel, and five Majors. A small flightdetachment was also included with fourUH-1Ds and two U-21s. I did fly somewith the 1st Cav and 101st when asked toassist with accident investigations. Thiswas a time however, when most accidentswere written off as a combat loss. Most ofmy flying was in the U-21.

After completing my second tour inVietnam I was assigned as Aviation SafetyOfficer for Simmons AAF at Fort Bragg.Flight time was in the UH-1D, U-6A anda U-9B Aero Commander. The AeroCommander was a new one for me. Aftera few months I was assigned as CO of the182d Aviation Company (Assault). The182d was still located at Ft. Benning andI was charged with moving it to Ft. Bragg.My flight time was limited during thisperiod but what flying I did get was in theUH-1D and U-6A. After 6 months ofcommand time I was assigned asoperations officer for Simmons AAF.

During that time, I flew an assortmentof aircraft that included UH-1D, U-6A,T-41B, U-9B and C-47A. The C-47 timecame about because I had decided to getout of the Army and I was just waiting formy release date. John Gressett (AOCAmember) was flying the C-47 used to flythe Golden Nights Parachute Team and heneeded somebody to fly co-pilot for a fewweeks. I actually got to the point where Icould make a decent landing.

It was by now October 1969 and I wasoff to a new adventure as a civilian. I hadapplied with Northwest Airlines but didn’tget hired so I ended up taking a job withFord Tractor the farm equipment divisionof the Ford Motor Company as a servicetrainer at a district office in theMinneapolis area. That worked out wellfor us as we owned a home in the areawhere Clarice and the kids lived duringmy second tour. My job was to organizeand put on training for dealer mechanics.My farm background and the fact I hadmajored in Agriculture in college helpedme get the job. My experience withaircraft I also gave me a basic knowledgeof engines, hydraulic and electricalsystems all of which came into play withmy new job.

Eight months later I had my new jobunder control and had the desire to flyagain. I looked into renting a plane at asmall flight school at an airport in St. Paul.While there I noticed a bunch of Birddogsand Beavers parked on the ramp across theairfield. Upon investigation I found theMinnesota National Guard had an aviationbattalion located there. It was part of the47th Infantry (Viking) Divisionheadquartered in St. Paul. It was like oldhome week when I entered the battalionheadquarters. Jim Joyner who had flownCaribous with the 92nd was the full- time

guy handling personnel matters. Most ofthe aviators assigned were recent Vietnamveterans from all services. Most had beenhired by Northwest Airlines but laid offalmost immediately. They were lookingfor work so they joined the guard just tosurvive. As it turned out they didn’t haveany positions for a Major but they talkedme into joining the guard as a CW-2. I wasback flying Birddogs a Beavers again. TheNational Guard at that time was like aflying club where nothing was taken tooseriously. An indicator was when we wentfor annual training at Fort Ripley thatsummer, they had a beer truck painted incamouflage color in the convoy. Gettingflying time wasn’t a problem as a CW-2.I could usually fly during the monthly drillperiods. All aviators were also allowedtwo AFTP’s (Additional Flight TrainingPeriods) per month. These were four hoursin duration and I scheduled most of mineat night as I was working during the day.

My tenure as a CW-2 lasted less thana year. My understanding was when Iresigned my Regular Amy Commission,I had a Reserve Commission as Major. Asearch of my records showed that my oathof office as a Reserve Major was missingand as far as the Army was concerned, Ididn’t have a reserve commission. Basedon that information I was able to accept acommission as a captain in the NationalGuard. During the next eight years Iserved as battalion headquarters companycommander and battalion S-4 as a captainand as Battalion ADAO, Battalion XO andDivision Assistant G-3 as a Major. Duringthat time the battalion mission hadchanged significantly. With the winddown of the Vietnam War more aviationassets became available. An air assaultcompany (UH-1H), medevac platoon(UH-1H) and a scout platoon for an AirCav squadron (OH-58A high skid version)were assigned and training became muchmore intense. During this period of timemy flying time was much more limitedand was accomplished during AFTP’s. Ialso got qualified in the 0H-58A duringthis time and I got most of my flying inthat aircraft as it was more available thanthe Huey. All the fixed wing aircraftdisappeared during this time except forone U-8D assigned to state. I did get anoccasional flight in it.

In early 1981 there was a downturnin the economy and Ford Tractor likemany companies went through a

34



reorganization. I was transferred to a newRegional office in Troy, MI just north ofDetroit. As a result, I thought my militaryexperience had come to an end. I wasthankful I had received my 20-year letterindicating I was eligible for a militaryretirement at age 60. I also had completedthe Command and General Staff Coursethrough the Army Reserves so I waseligible for promotion to Lt. Col if I couldfind a position. There were some Armyaviation units at Selfridge AFB but no Lt.Col positions. After a search of otherNational Guard and Reserve Armyorganizations I found a home with the300th Military Police Prisoner of WarCommand. This was 1-star command withvarious types of MP units located in fivestates. The one unique subordinateorganization was the Prisoner of WarCamp. As obvious by its name it wasorganized to set up and run a Prisoner ofWar Camp. It included construction,administration and guard capability. I hadto become MP qualified to join which Idid easily through correspondence courses.I served in the 300th as the G-2 and G-4for the next six years. I also received mypromotion to Lt. Col. during that time butI didn’t do any flying.

In 1987 Ford Tractor purchasedseveral smaller agricultural companies andformed a new company called Ford New

Holland. That precipitated another movefor me. One of my choices was a moveback to Minnesota which I accepted.Militarily I had to make another choice,either retire or look for a new home. Aftercontacting some friends in the MinnesotaGuard, I was assigned as Aviation SafetyOfficer in the state headquarters. Since Ileft six years earlier the 47th InfantryDivision had become the 34th InfantryDivision (Red Bull). An aviation brigadeheadquarters had also been added. Underthe brigade a combat assault battalion wasco-located in St. Paul. One assaultcompany and a med evac platoon withUH-1H aircraft were still located in St.Paul. The OH-58 aircraft were gone, so Iwas back flying the Huey for my flighttime. After a year I was selected to be theaviation brigade commander andpromoted to Colonel. I served in thatcapacity for two years. My flight time wasstill limited mostly to AFTP’s andcontinued to be in the Huey. The onlyother aircraft assigned to the Brigade wasthe Cobra assigned to the armed helicopterbattalion but that unit was located inMadison, Wisconsin so it wasn’t practicalto get time in the Cobra. The Brigade wasresponsible for night vision goggletraining conducted at Fort Ripley. I didattend that training but that was also in theHuey. A side note is that during this time

the med evac platoon was activated for thefirst Gulf War. Following my time asbrigade commander I was assigned as theaviation officer for the state coordinatingaviation assets with Guard Bureau in DC.My flying time again was in the Huey.

I held that position for two years andretired in October 1992. During mymilitary career I accumulated 2000 hoursof fixed wing time and 1500 hours ofhelicopter time in many different aircraft.My last flight was memorable as a friendand I were able to take our wives on aflight. The ladies were related so we flewthem to their home town of Barron,Wisconsin and back in a Huey. As it turnedout that was the last time I piloted anaircraft military or civilian. Getting flighttime throughout my military career was attimes difficult and looking back I’m notsure it was always beneficial to the Army.

My civilian job, which was at thattime coordinating dealer franchise activity,continued another six years until I got aretirement offer too good to refuse. Itincluded early retirement, a year's pay, abridge to Social Security at age of 62 andfull health benefits. That, coupled with thefact that I had just turned 60 and waseligible for military retirement made thedecision easy. Now 21 years later I haveno regrets and feel very fortunate.

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John C. NeamtzFebruary 3, 2020

Robert W. GlennMay 29, 2020

Norman L. JohnsonJune 2, 2020

Victor E. MicolJune 8, 2020

Truman MaynardJuly 3, 2020

Frank V. JonesJuly 13, 2020

J. Thomas CaraballoAugust 27, 2020

Richard T. SteffansonAugust 28, 2020

John M. WeaverNovember 30, 2020

Marlin W. ZorskyNovember 24, 2020

WIVES

Jessie H. PipkinWife of Lewis

February 20, 2020

Erlinda CadenaWife of David

August 20, 2020

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VICTOR E. MICOL

Vic Micol was a Life Member of the Army OtterCaribou Assn, an Otter Pilot with adistinguished military career. He had been amember for 26 years.

Colonel Victor Emmanuel Micol, Jr.,83, passed away on June 8, 2020, atProvidence Hospital in Anchorage, Alaska.

Vic was born in Valdese, NorthCarolina, on July 10, 1936, to the lateVictor E. Micol, Sr., and MildredHamilton Micol. He was the grandson ofone of the original Waldensian foundersof the town, and he took great pride in hisWaldensian heritage. He was a member ofLes Phare des Alpes and the WaldensianPresbyterian Church in Valdese.

Vic graduated from Francis GarrouHigh School, where he was a standoutfootball player. As a senior, he was theMVP of the undefeated conferencechampionship team and elected to theNorth Carolina All-State Team. Aftergraduating, he attended the University ofTennessee, where he was a member of the1956 SEC Championship team. Throughthe years, he remained close to the coachesand members of both his high school anduniversity teams.

In 1958, Vic was commissioned as anInfantry 2nd Lieutenant in the UnitedStates Army. His military career consistedof numerous command and staffassignments. He was stationed in Koreaand completed three tours in Vietnam(1963, 1965-66, 1968-69) where he flewreconnaissance aircraft, commanded CCompany, 2-18th Infantry Battalion, 1stDivision, and commanded the 48thAssault Helicopter Company.

Vic was a liaison officer to the USHouse of Representatives and served asan escort for the Secretary of the Army.From 1976-78, Vic commanded the 1stbattalion, 502nd Infantry, 101st Airborne

Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell,Kentucky. Later, Vic became an instructorin the Department of Tactics and ClassDirector at the Command and GeneralStaff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

First stationed at Fort Richardsonfrom 1970 - 73, Vic loved Alaska. Hereceived the opportunity to return aftergraduating from the US Army WarCollege, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania,in 1982. He served as the PostCommander and later Chief of Staff of the6th Infantry Division, Ft. Richardson,Alaska. His final assignment in the Armywas as Senior Army National GuardAdvisor for Alaska.

Vic was a graduate of the Fixed WingAviator School, Airborne School, RotaryWing Aviator School, Command andGeneral Staff College, Ranger School, andthe Army War College. His militaryawards and decorations include the Legionof Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross,Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal,Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal,and Combat Infantryman Badge.

In 1988, he was inducted to the InfantryHall of Fame. After almost 38 years ofservice, Vic retired in 1991 as the lastInfantry Aviator.

Following his retirement from theArmy, Vic embraced civilian life and

joined Alaska Supply Chain Internationalfor 21 additional years before retiring asecond time in 2012. Never far from hismilitary roots, he was a Charter Memberof the Vietnam Helicopter PilotsAssociation, Alaska Chapter, and attendedHeritage Chapel on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

Vic lived a life full of adventure. Hewas a US Army Colonel of Infantry, anArmy Aviator, an Airborne Ranger, anoutdoorsman, and a gentleman. He wasgallant, open and engaging, and as theysay, “He never met a stranger.” Vic was aconsummate storyteller andconversationalist. For those who met him,he made a lasting impression.

Vic is survived by his wife of 49 years,Jane Patrick Micol, daughter FrancesMicol Keller (Scott), Cincinnati, OH, sonVictor E. Micol, III, Valdese, NC,grandchildren Catherine Frances Kellerand William Micol Keller, brother LarryJ. Micol (Theresa), and several nieces andnephews. He was preceded in death by hisparents and sister, Jane Micol Schatzman.

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ROBERT W. GLENN

We have been informed by Bob's wife,Briggie, that he passed away May 29, 2020.Bob had been a member of the Associationsince 1991 - 29 years. He had flown with the1st, 61st, 134th Aviation Comanies and servedwith the 222d Aviation Battalion. He and Ilearned to fly the helicopter in Augsberg,Germany in 1967. Bob and Briggie were greatsupporters of our annual reunions. Adistinguished career and life.

Colonel Robert Wall Glenn (U.S.Army, Ret.), P.E., of Sunbury, Georgia,passed away on Friday, May 29, 2020, ofmedical complications related to exposureto Agent Orange. His wife and daughterwere by his side.

Born in Valdosta, GA, to the lateJoseph Max and Willie Amelia (Wall)Glenn on February 15, 1936, he grew upon a farm and put himself through collegeby working at the Brunswick Paper Mill.He entered the U.S. Army as a Corps ofEngineers Officer upon graduation.

Colonel Glenn was a “Ramblin'Wreck” from Georgia Tech where heearned a Bachelor’s Degree in ChemicalEngineering, as well as an AuburnUniversity Tiger, earning a Master’sDegree in Civil Engineering. He retiredfrom the Military Service in 1986 as theDirector of Engineering and Housing forFort Stewart and Hunter Army Air Field.He then had a second career in CoralSprings, Florida as Director of PublicWorks.

Colonel Glenn served two tours ofduty in Vietnam. In his first tour, he flewprimarily Caribous, a 32 seat Armytransport airplane, and in his second tour,helicopters. He served as both a combatand construction engineer, as well asserving in Army Aviation and the Corpsof Engineers. He excelled at his duties and

was selected to oversee the largest militaryconstruction project of its time at ArnoldEngineering Development Center, AeroPropulsion System Test Facility inTennessee.

His Army assignments took him toGermany, Italy, England, and the Mid-East, while serving as the Corps ofEngineer Project Officer for the 32ndSignal Command, Europe. His statesideassignments included acting as DeputyDistrict Engineer at the Little Rock,Arkansas Corps of Engineer District;Flight School at Ft Rucker, Alabama; andInstructor at the Engineer School at FortBelvoir, Virginia, and the Infantry Schoolat Ft. Benning, GA.

Colonel Glenn earned the Bronze Star,Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal,and Army Commendation Medal.Additionally, he also earned the ParachuteBadge - which he always stated he did notneed as there was never a reason to jumpout of a perfectly good airplane.

After retiring a second time frompublic service he devoted himself to hisfamily and hobbies of fishing, travel,landscaping and gardening. The love ofnurturing plants and communing withnature never left him.

He was preceded in death by adaughter, Michelle M. Glenn.

He is survived by his wife of 58 years,Hannelore B. "Briggie" Glenn, anddaughter, Sandra L. Glenn, both of whomwill miss him greatly.

FRANK V. JONES

Frank had been a member of the ArmyOtter Caribou Assn for 30 years. He had flownwith the 18th Aviation Company from 1963-64.

LTC Frank V. Jones, Sr., 81, ofSylvester, GA passed away on July 13,2020 at his residence.

Frank, a dedicated Christian, proudlyserved twenty years in the United StatesArmy. His overseas assignments included

two tours in Vietnam as an army pilot,Korea, Thailand, Dominican Republic,and Germany.

Remembering Frank Jones

Sorry to hear about Frank. He wasone of the good guys! I was the Chief ofthe Aviation Division at Fort Stewart andHunter AAF from 1985 to 1988 andworked with Frank on a regular basis. Hewas the civilian deputy at Hunter GarrisonHeadquarters at that time. What a guy! Iwas later selected to be the GarrisonCommander in 1988 and Frank was nowmy deputy. Garrison Commanders comeand go, but Frank was the main stay of theinstallation. If you needed to knowsomething, Frank would be the man to goto. He made a difficult job easier. He washumble, tactful, courteous and strong. Hewould have made a great GarrisonCommander. We had many things incommon. We both loved our Otter daysand shared stories together. I would nowlike to share a modified extract from HighFlight on Frank's behalf; “He flung hiseager craft through footless halls of air andtopped the windswept heights with an easygrace and will now put out his hand andtouch the face of God.” God bless FrankJones Jim Parsons

TRUMAN MAYNARD

Truman Maynard had been a member ofthe Army Otter Caribou Assn for 34 years,having joined in 1987. He had flown with the1st Avn Company and the 1st RR AviationCompany; plus served with the 37th AT Bn and10 Avn Group during the 11th Air AssaultDivision testing at Ft Benning.

Truman Maynard closed the lastchapter of a magnificent life on July 3rd,2020 at 5:44 pm. As an Army officer and

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business man, Truman served his country,family and community with pride anddignity. He was surrounded by his lovingfamily as he took his last earthly breathand slipped away peacefully. He waspreceded in death by his parents, Doyleand Sheila Maynard of Natchitoches,Louisiana.

Truman was a career Army officerwho graduated from Northwestern StateCollege in 1960 with a Bachelor ofScience degree and a commission in theUnited States Army. He promptly marriedthe love of his life, Martha Middleton, anddeparted for his first duty assignment atFort Jackson, South Carolina. His careerin the Army included Army fixed wingflight school, where he graduated at thetop of his class on the same day that hiseldest son, Lee Maynard was born. Hequickly departed for a year-longdeployment to Vietnam.

Returning home in late 1963, Trumanworked in various aviation assignmentsbefore being selected for a specialoperations group that would flyspecialized Navy aircraft for Armyreconnaissance missions in Vietnam. Hissecond son, Jon Maynard was born inMarch of 1966, and Truman departed lessthan one year later to Vietnam with the 1stRadio Research Company flying thespecially adapted P-2V Neptunedesignated the SP-2E.

After completing his second tour inVietnam, Truman attended the Army’sCommand and General Staff College inFort Leavenworth, Kansas. He wasassigned for one year as a student and thenremained as an instructor in thedepartment of tactics for another two years.His third child, Patricia, was born in FortLeavenworth in 1971. After the Commandand General Staff College, Trumanreturned to flight school to learn to flyUH-1 Huey helicopters, He wasimmediately deployed to Korea from1973-1974 to utilize his new skill.Assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division atCamp Casey, he served as both staffofficer and company commander flyingmissions near the DMZ.

Following his deployment to Korea,Truman and his family moved to Orlando,Florida where he was assigned to the USArmy Training Device Agency as a projectmanager on both ground and aviationsimulation projects. Most notably,Lieutenant Colonel Maynard was the

project manager for the MultipleIntegrated Laser Engagement System(MILES) that is still in use by the Armytoday. This system allowed a greater levelof combat simulation by using lasers todesignate “hits” on the battlefield. TheArmy awarded LTC Maynard with theLegion of Merit for his work on thissystem. This was a high honor for whichhe was very proud.

Truman retired from the Army inApril of 1980. Upon retirement from theArmy, Truman moved back to hishometown of Natchitoches, Louisiana tohelp his father run the family business.The Don Theatre Company operatedmostly single screen movie theaters incentral and north Louisiana. Trumanhelped to consolidate the theater chaindown to two towns, Ruston andNatchitoches. In 1984 Truman ushered inthe first multi-screen movie theatrecomplex in Natchitoches, the ParkwayCinema 4.

In 1988, Truman was recruited byformer colleagues and offered a job atXerox Special Information Systems inPasadena, California. This job presenteda new opportunity and challenges thatwere too much to resist. In 1988 he movedto Los Angeles and began a new careerdeveloping special projects for Xerox tiedto Department of Defense requirements.This career lasted for over 18 years andoffered Truman the opportunity to developnew products and meet new challenges thebusiness world.

Truman retired from Xerox in 2006and he and Martha moved to Natchitocheswhere he became very involved with theirhometown. Truman helped to establishand grow the Northwestern StateUniversity ROTC Demon RegimentAlumni Association. In 2017, he wasinducted into the NSU ROTC Hall ofFame. Truman joined the Kiwanis cluband became active in the Walter LedetCoffee Club. He was active in the Sons ofthe American Revolution as well as thedirector for several NatchitochesChristmas Festival parades. Diagnosedwith prostate cancer in 2015, Trumanfought a battle with cancer that finallyclaimed his life on July 3rd, 2020.

He is survived by his wife of 60 years,Martha Middleton Maynard, and theirthree children Lee Maynard and his wifeJennifer of Annapolis, Maryland, JonMaynard and his wife Cherie of Oxford,

Mississippi, and Patricia DeVilbiss ofLake Charles, Louisiana. He is alsosurvived by four grandchildren, ConnorMaynard of Starkville, Mississippi, HollyMaynard of Oxford, Mississippi, HadenDeVilbiss and Graham DeVilbiss of LakeCharles. Survivors also include his sistersSuzanne Lanuza of Tucson, Arizona andChristine Maynard of New Orleans.

JESSIE H. PIPKIN

Jessie H. Pipkin, age 82, of KimballTownship, passed away on February 20,2020, in her home, with her family by herside.

She was born on July 8, 1937, inAlbee Township, Michigan, to the lateAlfred and Helen Smith.

Jessie married Lewis Pipkin onSeptember 4, 1964, in Columbus, Georgia.Lewis passed away on October 4, 2017.

She was a member of the SmithsCreek Order of the Eastern Stars. Jessiewas an avid bowler and enjoyedcrocheting. She was a loving wife, mother,grandmother and great-grandmother.

Jessie is survived by her daughter,Cher (Dennis) Robinson, son, Don Nelson,son, Scott Nelson, adopted daughter,Brenda (Brian) Favero, grandchildren,Brandi-Lyn (John) Mendham, Heather(Marcus) Moore, Nicole (Aaron) Goldfarband Tiffany Sinclair, great-grandchildren,Alexis, Mya, Madison, Ty, Jacob, Alainaand Olivia, sisters; Jean (Mike) Kinneyand Marie (Steve) Hanel.

She was preceded in death by hergranddaughter, Mitzi Robinson and herfirst husband, Don Nelson, who was killedin Vietnam and a brother, Alfred Smith.

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JULIAN T. “TOM” CARABALLO

Tom was a Life member of the Army OtterCaribou Assn since 1989. He had flown withthe 17th and 187th Aviation Companies.

This was one of the more difficult phonecalls to take - Tom and I were in the same flightclass at Ft Rucker, served together and werein contact through other assignmentsthroughout our careers and had been closefriends in the years following active duty. Heand his wife, Beverly, were active supportersof the association; both being the gracioushosts for our outstanding reunion held inWashington DC, in 2007.

Rest in peace my good friendIn prayerful respect,

Bruce D SilveyExecutive Vice PresidentArmy Otter Caribou Association

To be interred in Arlington NationalCemetery, Arlington, VA at a later date.

Editor’s note: I could find noobituary for Tom, but if and when I findone, I’ll publish it. Rest in peace, my friend.

Remembering Tom Caraballo

It is with great sadness to learn ofTom’s passing. We were in the 187th andthe 17th in Vietnam. He and Bev did suchgreat work with the scholarship program.Please give my best to Bev. Ken Womack

I agree with Bruce, shocking newsabout the passing of a great and personalfriend for much of our Army Aviationcareers, including industry and our lovedAOCA and Scholarship leadership.

Beverley and family, so sorry andour condolence for the untimely passingof Tom. Know he is missed already, butnever forgotten by those fortunate enoughto know him for many years or even justthose memorable years as a most reliable

and contributing member of the AOCA.Mel and Wanda McLemore

Tracy and I were so sorry to hear ofTom's passing. Please give Beverly ourcondolences and tell her she is in ourthoughts and prayers. Tom was one ofour AOCA heroes reflected in his worksupporting our youth through thescholarship program. Some of ourgrandchildren participated in this programand for this we are thankful. I am proudto have known and considered him afriend. We always looked forward toseeing Tom and Beverly at our AOCAReunions.

May God Bless Beverly during thistime of sorrow and may He comfort herand her family. God Bless, Tracy andSam Kaiser

So very sorry to hear about Tom’spassing. We were all in the 187th together.Bob Debardelaben

I will add Tom and Bev Caraballo tomy daily Prayer list. It is sad to hear ofthe passing of old friends. Andy Bringuel

The 17th Avn. Co. have their headsbowed in respect. Very sad news indeed.Our ranks are growing thin. GaryEdwards

While I never served with Tom onactive duty, I’ve been very fortunate tohave gotten to know him over the years.He was always a first class person and anexemplary member of our association.He will be much missed.

My thoughts and prayers go out toBeverly and her family. Bill Upton

RICHARD T. STEFFANSON

Richard flew with 1st and 14th Avn Co;member 28 years.

Richard Tanny Steffanson Jr., 90, ofClarkston, passed away Friday, Aug. 28,2020.

Richard was born to AugustinaRadke Steffanson and Richard TannySteffanson Sr. on April 23, 1930, inGresham, Ore., and lived there until 1952.In 1947, he graduated from Gresham HighSchool and received his Bachelor of Artswith honors at Portland State College in1961. Richard completed his first year ofgraduated school with honors in Kansas

in computer programming. He receivedhis master’s degree in businessmanagement at University of Idaho from1975-78.

He entered the U.S. Army Air Corpson July 11, 1952. From 1952-54, he wasat the Air Force Base at San Marcos,Texas, for flight school. From December1954 to January 1956, he served as 7thCavalry Regiment 1st Calvary DivisionKorea, Division Aviation Section/5th FAgroup/987 armored field and wasdeployed to South Korea. He was at FortRiley in Kansas at the 14th Army AviationCompany and through June of that year atBisbee, Ariz., at 14th Army AviationCompany. From July ’56 through August

’58, he was at the Army Aviation at FortBenning in Georgia. From 1958-59, hewas at 104th Division at Vancouver. Heserved overseas in Korea and receivedUnited Nations Service Medal, NationalDefense Service Medal and Army AviatorBadge. Richard was dischargedSeptember 1958, lieutenant, Reservesdischarged as captain.

In 1962, he moved to Lewiston andstarted work at Potlatch Forests Inc. as acomputer programmer for 33 years andretired in 1995. He married Arlene Goffon March 4, 1951, in Gresham, Ore. Theydivorced in 1953. He married Esther Toddon June 1, 1968, at Laurelwood, Ore.

Richard attended the LewistonSeventh-day Adventist Church where hewas active with the youth programs andleader of the Pathfinders for many years.He developed the video productionsystem for the church programs, Cantata’sweddings and funerals. He also was afounding and current board member forthe Positive Lifestyle Network broadcastsystem channel 49, now on channel 36.Richard was also a member of theAmerican Legion Post 246 and ArmyOtter Caribou Association.

Richard was preceded in death by hisparents, Augustine and RichardSteffanson; brother Therald Steffanson;son-in-law Jay Miller; and grandsonRaymond Steffanson. He is survived byhis wife of 52 years, Esther Steffanson,and children Eugene Steffanson, ArlinSteffanson, Dwight Steffanson and DianeSteffanson; stepdaughters Chris (Brett)McKay, Judy Miller, Shirley (Craig)Perry and Sue (Mike) Schaffer.

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JOHN C. NEAMTZMajor John C. Neamtz, USA, (Ret.),

92, of Avon, formerly of Camp Hill, PA,widower of Elizabeth (Nichols) Neamtzand Mary (Giornesto) Neamtz, passedaway peacefully Monday, February 3rd,2020.

Born December 17th, 1927 inIndianapolis, IN, son of the late Charlesand Mamie (Darlington) Neamtz.

John entered the Army program atOhio State University (ASTRP) in 1944and was called to active duty on his 18thbirthday in 1945. He served in the Armyuntil his retirement in January of 1966 withhonors. During this Army career, hebecame an aviator pilot in 1956 and flewboth fixed wing and helicopters throughhis military retirement.

In February of 1966, John became atest pilot for the DOD (Department ofDefense) and flew until 1980.

He then served as director of theNaval Defense Supply Depot inMechanicsburg, PA (as a civil servant)until his full retirement in January of1989.

His total military flying time was over17,000 hours.

John is survived by his son, J. StevenNeamtz and his wife Rosemary P. Neamtzand grandchildren, Kendall and MorganNeamtz all of Avon, CT.

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ERLINDA CADENA

Erlinda was born to Gabriel and ErmaMontoya in Hollister on March 6, 1941and passed peacefully on August 20, 2020with loved ones by her side. She issurvived by her husband David, daughterLisa, granddaughter Arielle, brotherKenneth Kimbrow and sister-in-law,Gayla. Linda was preceded in death bybrother Richie Marques and her son Robert.

Linda was raised by her grandparentsand hard-working father. Her familymoved to San Jose, where she attended

Herbert Hoover Middle School and thengraduated from Lincoln High School, withHonors. She began her clerical career andlater became a respected School Secretaryin the Alum Rock School District, retiringfrom Mayfair-Chavez Elementary.

She lived an eventful life includingfamily camping vacations and latertraveling the world with David, visitingnamely Machu Picchu, Lisbon on a DouroRiver Cruise along with other Europeancities, Tikal, Sydney, Auckland anddriving across the United States, Canadaand Mexico. Linda also enjoyed hostingmany family gatherings with her husband,especially birthdays and holidays.

Linda and David were rarely apartand were blessed with a loving marriageof 57 years, they adored each other so. Shewill missed by many, especially her quick-wit, bright and calming smile. We are trulyblessed to have had her in our lives.

MARLIN W. ZORSKY

Marlin had been a member 15 years,flown with the 1st Aviation Company, lived in

Plantation, FL. We pray he has a safe finalflight and joins those who have proceeded us.

Marlin Zorsky, 88, of Islamorada,passed away on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020.He was born on March 17, 1932, inIndianapolis, Indiana to the late Josephand Marjorie Zorsky.

He graduated from Key West High in1951. He joined the United States AirForce where he served four years. Afterbeing honorably discharged from the AirForce, he joined the United States Armyand served for 12 years specializing inaircraft mechanics. After his honorablecareer in the military, he worked for PanAm Airlines until his retirement in 1991.He is survived by his nieces Pam andKaren Zorsky. He was preceded in deathby his parents, sister Anne and brotherTheodore.

JOHN M. WEAVER

John had been a member of AOCAfor 20 years and had flown with the ArcticTest Center and 224 Avn Bn. He lived inDeLeon, TX.

AOCA PIO and LOGBOOK EDITOR PUBLISHED IN WAR STORY ANTHOLOGY

Bill’s short story, A Jeep to Quang Tri was published in Our Best War Stories, an anthology of prize winning prose and poetryby Middle West Press. Bill’s entry was a First Place winner in prose for 2019 and he was awarded $250.

Back Cover Front Cover

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Year Reunion Location New President1985 Assn Started Columbus, GA Sam Pinkston1986 1st Columbus, GA Sam Pinkston1987 2nd Columbus, GA Ken Blake1988 3rd Enterprise, AL Jim Lybrand1989 4th Seattle, WA Jim Lybrand1990 5th Dallas, TX Floyd Burks1991 6th Reno, NV Hal Loyer1992 7th Hampton, VA Bob Richey1993 8th Colo. Spgs, CO Paul Herrick1994 9th Orlando, FL John Stanfield1995 10th Boston, MA Jim Johnson1996 11th San Antonio, TX John Williams1997 12th Albuquerque, NM Bob Echard1998 13th Charleston, SC Leon Wiggins1999 14th Nashville, TN Jim Davis2000 15th San Diego, CA Bill McIntyre2001 16th Corning, NY Don Seymour2002 17th Branson, MO Bill Potts2003 18th Reno, NV Cecil Ramsey2004 19th El Paso, TX Ed Shuster2005 20th Dallas, TX Lew Pipkin2006 21st Dothan, AL Ron Sprengeler2007 22nd Washington, D.C. Dave Benoit2008 23rd St Louis, MO Perry Brausell2009 24th Rochester, MN Earl Burley2010 25th Columbus, GA Ken La Grandeur2011 26th Corning, NY Ed Fodor2012 27th Chattanooga, TN Jim Greenquist2013 28th Charleston, SC Reggie Edwards2014 29th Pensacola, FL Dennis Toaspern2015 30th Dayton, OH Glenn Carr2016 31st Savannah, GA William Upton2017 32nd Kansas City, MO Samuel Kaiser2018 33rd Virginia City, VA Dick Drisko20__ 34th Columbus, GA Mel McLemore

AOCA REUNIONS AND PRESIDENTSThis chart shows Presidents elected during reunion

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