Banquet in Nashville

The 20^th Annual Reunion continued tonight with our banquet and featured speaker MG Bill Page sharing about his eight years flying Mohawks (and his life-long love affair with the bug-eyed, triple tailed, funny looking, wonderful flying machine). The food was wonderful, the drink was plentiful, the lies no doubt a little more exaggerated, the stuff piling up on the floor a little deeper, and the camaraderie better than ever! General Page described the first time he heard, then saw his first Mohawk and how, as a young 2LT in a Birddog unit, he knew he just had to fly the Army’s newest and, he added, “the coolest” airplane. He masterfully described flying techniques, rolls, and other types of intricate flight maneuvers in a way that was completely understandable for the non-aviators, wives and others present.

For me, who spent my entire Army career at Phabulous Phu Hiep by the Sea, for many of our Blackhawk/Phantomhawk comrades, and indeed for others in the banquet hall, seeing the pictures of our airplanes, the company area and the beach on that big screen brought back a flood of memories of the good times there, and the tough times when we lost seven of our brothers in the four crashes of June and October 1969. The launch of the birds searching for our lost brothers and the soldiers on the ramp watching them go emphasized the effort we made and pulling together of the company as we tried to find our missing friends.

Bill said his one-year at Phu Hiep was the highlight of his 39-year military career. I would echo that remark by saying that I will never regret that I served my country in the Army with the 225^th Aviation Company.

We plan on putting a movie together and producing a DVD so people can see it. We'll let people know through this blog and the Association website when it's ready. (I’ll be putting more pictures on the blog soon. Steve Hammons [left] and Joe Beckham are pictured above. )

All in all, our 20^th Anniversary Reunion was an outstanding one, one that I will long remember for old friendships renewed and the new ones made, the bigger and more elaborate stories that were told (but not necessarily believed) and retold time and again, and the new places in Tennesee we visited.

I am looking forward to the weekend after Labor Day next year when we will gather in Dayton, Ohio, one of the birthplaces of powered flight. We will visit the Air Force Aviation Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB and, of course, the Wright Bothers’ Bicycle Shop among many other attractions. It is promising to be a very good Reunion!