Memorial Day 2010

Please take a moment to remember the friends we lost so many years ago.

(click the arrow on the lower left of the screen below)

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (on May 25 in 2009). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War (it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the civil war), it was expanded after World War I to include American casualties of any war or military action. (from Wikipedia)

4 More Blackhawks Found!

A while ago you will recall that we had located Dennis Wert, another 84G20 who had served with us in the 225^th. Well finding Dennis seems to have opened up the floodgates a little bit because four more men have turned up in the past few weeks! On March 6^th Gary Chambers, another Photo Lab Tech signed in on the OV-1.com Guestbook (www.ov-1.com/roster). I put his email address on my alert list and emailed him. Then on March 19 Mike (Luke) Christ signed in on the Guestbook, so I immediately put him on my alert list for this blog and emailed him also. Luke was a 05C Radio Teletype Operator (Luke let me know if this is not correct). We’ve talked on the phone and it’s been fun hearing each other’s stories! Luke sent me Gary’s phone number and I’ve talked with him too. Then, Chuck Galloway let me Dennis know that he had found Rolin Randall who was also an 84G Photo Lab Tech. Rolin lives in Alaska, where he’s been since returning from the war.

Well, that’s three more guys with whom we’ve reconnected! “Who is the fourth” you ask?

Here’s where our connections are becoming more and more important…about a month ago Terry Carlson sent me a copy of the 223^rd Aviation Battalion (Combat) 1969 Yearbook. I saw the photo of Garry Ryals and remembered that he lived not all that far from me in Western Washington State. So I looked him up on Facebook and found a Garry Ryals who was about our age and sent him a message asking if he had served in Vietnam in the 225^th. Before long I received an answer: “Yes Gordy I am the same Garry Ryals that was stationed with you in Nam. And the one that you gave a ride to when I came home on leave that time.” I’m hoping to talk with him soon.

I’d encourage you to look for our buddies and connect with them, before we don’t have the energy to do so. Serving together in the 225^th Surveillance Airplane Company was a once-in-a-lifetime event, and to share our memories with each other 40+ years later has been a good experience for us.

I would also encourage you to consider coming to Dayton, Ohio, in September for the 21^st Annual OV-1 Mohawk Association Reunion. It is shaping up to be a very good time, and we will have the opportunity to visit the National Museum of the USAF at Wright-Patterson AFB. Check out the Association website for more information.

Gary, Luke, Rolin and Garry: It is so good to hook up with you guys again !

An Easter Message for All of Us

I published this in March 2008, but Easter Sunday 2010 is not a bad time to reflect on who the real Saint Patrick was and what he did......

Over the past few weeks, I have been thinking about what I would like to share with you in celebration of Easter. Since it is so close to St. Patrick’s Day this year, I looked online and discovered that March 17 has been very important throughout the Christian Church’s history; in fact, according to Wikipedia “…the date of the feast is occasionally, yet controversially, moved by church authorities when March 17 falls during Holy Week; this happened in 1940 when Saint Patrick's Day was observed on April 3 in order to avoid it coinciding with Palm Sunday, and happened again in 2008, having been observed on March 14. March 17 will not fall during Holy Week again until 2160.”

My pastor, Rev. Steve Wilkinson of Northwest Presbyterian Church, writes a column in our church’s weekly online newsletter, and his thoughts in the March 13 issue made me aware of Patrick’s importance as a model of how Jesus Christ would have me live as a true disciple of His. Below is an excerpt of Steve’s Pastoral Pondering entitled “I’ll Never Go Back There” (used by permission).

“In the early 400's, a sixteen-year-old kid from a well-off family in Britain was snatched by Irish marauders and ended up slaving as a shepherd in the remote, mountainous areas of Ireland for six years. He was able to escape to France, and in the course of all this, developed a significant commitment to Christ. He matured in his faith and sense of call, and was finally ordained to ministry.

“Now most of us avoid places and people who've hurt us. But Patrick had a vision for Ireland to know Christ, and he returned there with a passion to help others know real hope and freedom in Christ. His concern for those who had held him captive was infectious. Not only did the gospel spread throughout Ireland, Irish Christians gained a reputation as "go-anywhere" Christians, taking the gospel to remote and threatening parts of the world. I’m sure this attitude was picked up from Patrick himself, who faced and faced down opposition to his work and the past that surely haunted him, who would go straight to those who were against the gospel to explain it and encourage them to believe.

“Patrick rose above whatever animosity or personal resentment he might have felt toward the Irish, and that made all the difference. Far from resenting them, he recognized their need to be right with God, got his personal issues out of the way, put Christ at the center, and "blessed his enemies." (Matthew 5. 43-48)

“To me, Patrick is a model of visionary evangelism and of a heart shaped by the love of God. Because of Christ he overcame natural human fear and probably hatred with a desire to share the love of God and the hope Christ gives. His own experience with grace and forgiveness gave him a heart bigger than most. I’m humbled when I consider that his willingness to put aside self-interest prepared the way for so many people to know Christ and re-shaped an entire culture. And it’s kind of fitting that this year St. Patrick’s Day falls the same week we’re remembering Christ’s service to the world, his death, and his resurrection. St. Patrick’s Savior set the bar for loving one’s enemies, didn’t he?”

Karin and I wish you a very Happy Easter!

Some of Terry Carlson's Photos

Terry has sent me some photos over the last months, and I thought it was about time that I put them on the Observer so you guys could see them. (Sorry to take so long Terry!) I'll be posting some more in the next few days, so check back frequently.

These particular pictures, except for the ones that are of airplanes in revetments and formation, were all taken at Tuy Hoa AFB. Here's what Terry wrote me when he sent them: "These slides are tagged May 71. They were taken at Tuy Hoa. I think I was at the east end of the runway, just up from the beach. I'm not sure, but I think all the Mohawk pictures are Phantomhawk 17, making "touch and goes".

St. Paddy's Day 2010

(Be sure to look at the slide show at the bottom of this article also.)

Last Sunday morning my alarm went off at “oh-dark-thirty,” rousing me out of bed to run in another St. Paddy’s Day Dash in Seattle. I had mentally, and somewhat physically, prepared myself for the 3.8 mile (6.1 km) jaunt that my son Pete and I were to begin at 8:40am. I had to get going early, however, because I was picking him up at the Fauntleroy ferry dock in West Seattle at 7:40. While I was waiting for the ferry to dock, the Olympic Mountains in the background to the west were absolutely spectacular, as was Mount Rainier to the south!

We arrived near the starting point on this beautiful, clear, sunny Seattle day in plenty of time to join 15,225 of our closest friends to begin our jaunt at 8:40am. With the beautiful strains of some local bag pipers playing somewhere in the crowd we were off!

It was more difficult that two years ago (click here to see the blog article I wrote then) because the route had changed…about half of the nearly 4 miles was up hill! Ugh! Two years ago it was all virtually level (or downhill). What a sneaky Irish trick to play on two guys named Darragh (which means “oak” in Irish)!

We both made it, though! Pete’s official time was 48:36, and his old man’s was 51:42. Not too bad considering I am twenty-nine years his senior!

I must admit that I was sore for the next two days, but I am excited to run this again next year. It’s just way too much fun to pass up!

F-16 vs C-130

John Ferguson sent this to me a little while ago. You may have seen this already, but I thought it was great enough that it's worth reading again!

A C-130 was lumbering along when a cocky F-16 flashed by. The jet jockey decided to show off.

The fighter jock told the C-130 pilot, 'watch this!' and promptly went into a barrel roll followed by a steep climb. He then finished with a sonic boom as he broke the sound barrier. The F-16 pilot asked the C-130 pilot what he thought of that?

The C-130 pilot said, 'That was impressive, but watch this!' The C-130 droned along for about 5 minutes and then the C-130 pilot came back on and said: 'What did you think of that?' Puzzled, the F-16 pilot asked, 'What the heck did you do?' The C-130 pilot chuckled. 'I stood up, stretched my legs, walked to the back, took a leak, then got a cup of coffee and a cinnamon roll.'

The moral of the story is...

When you are young and foolish -

speed and flash may seem a good thing!

When you get older and smarter -

comfort and dull are not such a bad things.

Flying High in a U-2!

Our friend Roger “Superman” Kent sent this link to me, so I thought you’d all like to take the ride too!

Fasten your seat belt for a fantastic ride in a spy plane.

See the world at 30,000, 40,000, 50,000, 60,000 and finally at 70,000 feet. From 70,000 feet you look down 35,000 feet at a jetliner passing below at its normal cruising altitude of 35,000 ft. The views are spectacular as the U-2 flies at altitudes that constitute "SPACE." Only the International Space Station is higher!

This video is a once in a lifetime experience of a British civilian, James May, getting a flight at over 70,000 ft. in a U-2 spy plane. (He is one of the hosts of the popular and somewhat whacky car show “Top Gear” on BBC, shown in the US on BBCA.) Please note at take-off the assist wheels on the outer edges of the wings drop away. The wings are so long that they need temporary support until lift-off. What is not shown is at the landing the plane actually slows to a slow enough speed that two guys are actually able to grab the wing tips and put those assist wheels back on.

(I saw one of these take off from Andersen Air Force Base on Guam on my way to R&R in 1969. It was on the runway, and then like a shot it went up at a 45 degree angle and was gone!)

Use your full screen and turn up the sound as this is a high-quality film clip, only 10 minutes long.

Click the link to take the ride! http://www.wimp.com/breathtakingfootage/