Saturday, September 20, 2014

Association's 25th Annual Reunion in Dallas


Our 25th Annual Reunion in Dallas was simply an amazing weekend for me, and I suspect for many others who were there!  Over the course September 4 thru 7th I counted 40+ Blackhawks/Phantomhawks among the more than 280 folks who attended!  That’s the most members of the 225th Surveillance Airplane Company I have seen in one place since George Drago flew me to Cam Ranh Bay to catch my DEROS flight home in June 1970!  A highlight for me was meeting for the first time a guy named John Britten!  John’s MOS was 84G20 (Photo Lab Tech) and I was his replacement in February ’68; he had left Phu Hiep in December, so I had never known him!  What a kick!

I also met a man named Jim “Doc” Rose.  Bill Page had asked me several times over the past months if I remembered Doc Rose and I had told him that I didn’t have a clue who that was.  Well, I met Doc Rose on Friday night after a great Texas BBQ at the Circle R Ranch (that’s where I met John Britten too). Bill and two other guys were BS’ing over drinks in the hotel lounge.  Always interested in meeting new guys at our reunions, I invited myself into this high level meeting.  The two other guys were Bobby “Bear” Sieker, a former 225th pilot, and Doc Rose, Phu Hiep’s Flight Surgeon.  I had finally met Doc Rose!  He swears that he remembers me from the Photo Lab, but I still don’t remember him.  I also didn’t remember Bear Sieker.  No matter, friendships have been renewed 45 years later! 

On Friday morning as I was talking with Ron Gronith in the hotel lobby, Steve and Brenda Sachs walked in the door.  They had not registered for the reunion, but decided to catch a flight from Nashville that morning.  It was great to see them again; you’ll remember that Steve took Alex Berkeley and me on separate rides in his Stearman in 2010.  That morning they invited me to go with them to the Frontiers In Flight museum at Love Field.  Go to Flickr to see some photos I took.  This is a museum that, in part, showcases Southwest Airlines’ history, and also the history of flight from Kitty Hawk to the present. That evening we piled aboard chartered buses and went to the Circle R Ranch for the Texas BBQ, more beer and some brave souls even ventured to learn line dancing!  It all was great fun!

On Saturday morning we went to the Cavanaugh Flight Museum where we wandered through several hangers of beautifully restored WW1 and WW2 aircraft from all theatres of those wars.  The highlight for all of, though, was an OV-1 Mohawk that looked very much like it just rolled out of Grumman’s factory on Long Island.  The museum was kind enough to open the display so we could walk right up to it, touch it, and even attempt to climb into the right or left seat!  For me it was just an attempt; I don’t fold up like I did in 2001 when my son Tim and I were able to have our pictures taken sitting in the right seat!  Nevertheless, it was wonderful to see one of those beautiful birds up close again.  Here are some photos...

Former Observer Glade Merkeley told me the story of him being approached at his hotel (he was staying at another place) by a hotel maintenance man o asked him if he flew Mohawks because he saw Glade’s Association hat.  This man said he was a retired Russian soldier and that (I’m paraphrasing) “We were really afraid of the Mohawks” when he was a soldier in Eastern Europe.  What a wonderful story from this now US citizen!  I told Glade to see if he could find him and sign him up as an association member.

Of course, the Reunion wrapped up with a banquet that was very fun!  All in all, it was a very good 25th Anniversary Reunion where we renewed old friendships, made many new ones from the 225th and other units, drank too much beer, stayed up way too late and had way more fun than guys our age should be allowed to have!  I’d highly recommend that you attend our next party in San Diego in October 2015.


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