This Just In! Discovery of a 1943 Mohawk!

All the hoopla about Ardipithecus ramidus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardipithecus), the newest fossil find of what is purported to be one of our most ancient relatives, has overshadowed the much more recent discovery of video of a 1943 Mohawk. Yes, that’s right! A 1943 Mohawk, complete with a crew!

The video was discovered during a recent trip to a small town in middle Tennessee. The archeologists who located this historic record were in the Volunteer State to meet with their former Army aviation comrades, something they do annually. We owe a debt of gratitude to Steve Sachs for being willing to reveal to the world that he is in possession of the only flyable 1943 Mohawk. Click on the movie below and enjoy the ride!

(Editor’s note: Alex Berkeley and I certainly did!)

A Sad Anniversary

Our friend Larry Conway sent me the following e-mail this morning:

Oct 14, 2009 marks the 40th anniversary of the deaths of Mark Babson and James Savage, KIA while flying a mission for the 225th SAC out of Phu Hiep, RVN.

RIP, boys.

Who Was In Nashville?

I thought you all would like to see who was at Nashville last weekend.

Here’s the list (not in any particular order): Don Bernstein, Bill Miller, Ernie Marsh, Jerry Murphy, Steve Sachs, Danny Talbot, George Drago, Joe Beckham, Bill Page, Ben Perez, Ron Peterson, Joe Floyd, Ernie Serna, John Ferguson, Alex Berkeley, Tony Chapa, Steve Hammons, Bob Heckendorn, Joel Haugen, John Gardosik, Bob Riha and Johnny Martin.

I think that’s everybody from the 225th. It was great to see everyone! Let me know if I missed anyone.

More Pictures from Nashville...

As promised, here are some more pictures from our 20th Reunion in Nashville. These were provided by Margie and Joe Floyd and Jerry Murphy.

Headin' Home!

Well, I’m on the final leg of my trip home…DFW to Seattle. It’s a beautiful clear day over the Western US with smooth flying so far (I think I’m over Colorado…Hello Larry Conway!) and we should touch down at Sea-Tac Airport in about 2 hours.

On board this American Airlines MD-83 there are ten or so troops (ranging in rank from PFC to E-7 and aged from too young to over 55) who are on leave from duty in Afghanistan. If you look closely at the photo above you will see several shoulders in camouflaged uniforms. The pilot announced that these troops were on board and the entire aircraft erupted in applause with a few “Hooahs” thrown in! I’ve taken the opportunity to say “thank you for serving” to several of them and have shared with them that I was a vet from a different war who was coming home from our Reunion, and there was an instant bond and recognition for our mutual service experiences. The next time you see a young (or older) service man or woman in uniform, take the opportunity to say “thanks” to them…they will really appreciate it!

A couple of hours later……..

We’ve touched down at Sea-Tac, and another Reunion has officially come to an end for me again. Now my task is to not get too anxious with anticipation for next year in Dayton. I hope you will seriously consider coming the second weekend in September 2010!

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!

Historic Lynchburg, Tennessee

Our alarms went off in Nashville before the sun came up on Thursday, and at about 8:30am Mohawkers piled out of bed and, still blurry-eyed, climbed aboard 2 buses to head for historic Lynchburg and a wonderful day touring the Jack Daniels Distillery, the oldest registered distillery in the US.

We began with an authentic boarding house great lunch of fried chicken, meat loaf, fried okra, beans, and broccoli and cheese casserole at Miss Mary Bobo’s Boarding House (built in 1820 and just recently restored), we went on a self-guided walking tour of Lynchburg Square, and the walked the short distance to Jack’s. We were not permitted in any of the buildings except Jack’s original office, because of the alcohol fumes that are flammable, and a spark cannot be risked. We were shown how charcoal is made and ground to the proper size to filter the alcohol through. There was a great video on the hand-crafting of the barrels in which the new alcohol is stored until the right moment when the flavor and color of the sugar maple barrel staves has created the whiskey we buy.

It was a very interesting and educational tour. The only 225th Mohawkers on the tour were Alex Berkeley and me, who were doing research to make a full report to Joe Beckham. We then loaded the buses again for a short trip to Barbecue Hill, part of the distillery’s operation, for a great dinner of pork, chicken, coleslaw beans and hush puppies. (The consolidated city-county government of Lynchburg the only “dry” county in the US, so no liquor is sold at the distillery, except for a commemorative bottle. But the Association saved the day by bringing Jack that was purchased outside the county, and it was served to us at the barbecue.) Around 6:30pm we headed back to Nashville for an evening of socializing with more friends who had arrived that during the day.

I’ll try to tell you who all is here now, but as you know, my memory isn’t as good as it used to be…. The list is in no particular order, just how my brain is recalling them. Ernie Serna, Joe Backham, Joe Floyd, Jerry Murphy, Ernie Marsh, Don Bernstein, Bill Page and Alex Berkeley.