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Tentative Schedule of Events for 2009 UPCOMING EVENTS
August 7, 8, & 9, 2009 - Thunder Over Michigan Willow Run Airport Belleville, MI (pending) September 19, 2009 - Aviation Extravaganza Army Aviation Assoc. of America Columbus, OH (pending) STAY TUNED --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Click below on photo page to see Completed Events
April 11,12 & 13 - Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot / Knob Creek, Kentucky Canceled due to flooding June 6, 7, & 8 - Fire Base Kokomo /Moving Wall / Kokomo, IN www.hcvvo.org Photos page 105 June 14 - Montgomery Aviation / Indy Executive Airport - Zionsville/ Downs Syndrome Benefit Photos page 107 & 108 June 20 , 21 & 22 - Lest We Forget Celebration / Benton Harbor, MI Photos page 109, 110, 111 & 112 July 4, 5, & 6 - Auburn Welcome Home / Moving Wall / Auburn, IN Photos page 113, 114 & 115 July 18 & 19 - Fort Benjamin Harrison Veterans Center - Moving Wall / Indianapolis, IN Photos page 116 July 25 & 26 - LZ Welcome Home / New Carlisle, IN Photos page 117, 118, 119 & 120 August 16 & 17 - American Huey 369 2nd Annual Reunion / Peru, In Photos page 121 through 129 AUGUST 29, 30, NATIONAL MILITARY HISTORY CENTER & AUGUST 31, KRUSE AUCTION PARK / AUBURN IN Photos page 130, 131, 132 & 133 September 6 - Moving Wall / Liberty, In Photos page 134 & 135 September 11,12,13 & 14 -Michigan Moving Wall / Brighton, MI Photos page 136 & 137 September 19,20, & 21 - Howard County Vietnam Veterans & Veterans Reunion / Kokomo, IN Photos page 138, 139, 140, 141 & 142 September 27 - James Dean/American Legion / Fairmount, IN Photos page 143 October 10, 11& 12 - Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot / Knob Creek, KY Photos page 144 ===================================================================================
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November 11, 2008 - It's Veterans Day. We hope that everyone has Thanked all the Veterans they know for our Freedom. Without them, this Country would not be the same. THANK YOU and WELCOME HOME !!
October 15, 2008 - Knob Creek was a great time for the guys. They had a good time with all their buddies. The guys tried to wear poor old 369 out, they made 3 dozen flights in 3 days. Everyone loves to see her fly! Alan made sure everyone ate very well. They should all be very thankful that he's a good cook! While they were all having fun, they guys did sign up 225 new members. We are now over 1000 members strong!! Not to shabby for a two year old organization! Check out the photos on the website. Page 144 is Knob Creek. I'm still waiting for photo's from Arthur Gray. Thanks to all the guys who participated this weekend. October 7, 2008 - John Walker and Tom Shields took off last Thursday (the 2nd) and headed out to Nebraska to see our friends at Nebraska Gas Turbine. Kevin and his crew did a great job on the engine for 803 / Warrior 11. We hope they know how much they mean to the Organization and that we can hardly wait for all of them to fly! If it were not for their incredible talent as engine builders we wouldn't be flying!! We know from experience that the only thing better than a fresh turbine engine in a can, is a fresh turbine engine in a HUEY!!!! THANK YOU from the bottom of all of our hearts!! The guys are getting ready to head down to Knob Creek this coming weekend. We hope they have great weather and a good time is had by all attending. At this time we know that these members will be making the trip: John Walker, Alan Walker, Gary Moline, Mark Hopkins, Rodney Mayfield, Denny Rogers, Arthur Gray, Troy Brindack, Tom Shields, Bobby Cormack, Wade Heddinger, Glen Veno, Phil Marshall and Allen Jenkins.
September 29, 2008 - We spent Saturday the 27th at the Fairmount American Legion in Fairmount, Indiana. Thank You to Member Ed Trice and the Legion, for inviting us over for the day. The Legion was showing off their Huey, tail number 504, which had been repainted recently. (Click on September 27th in the completed events above and see before and after photos of 504). She looks a lot better now, with her clean paint and new nose art. We spoke with quite a few people and signed up a few new members. Took 369 for a couple of flights, but for the most part we were having a good time talking with people and relaxing. It's been a busy year. One more event on the calendar and we will be finished for the year( unless something comes up for Veterans Day in November!!). Thank You to everyone!!! for making all the events special.
September 23, 2008 - Howard Co. Vietnam Veterans & Veterans Reunion - Another weekend of great weather!!! Thank You to "Dollar" Bill Lisby for having us back again this year. We appreciate everything you do. Thank You to the staff of HCVVO for all your help, you folks always do such a great job! We had a lot of people in our area over the four day weekend. The crew talked to alot of people and welcomed home a lot of Veterans. We were particularly happy to see Jack Zallen back this year. We certainly missed him last year! We hope that all of our new members enjoyed their time with 369. She is such a great bird! Thank You to all of our members for helping out this weekend. It takes everyone of us to make this organization work and we feel like we have the best people doing just that. Every one of them has great passion for what we are doing and we hope to gain more along the way. To two of our newest volunteers, Cathy and Jim Steffel, you two are great and we hope to keep you around for a long time! You are such a great fit with everyone. Thank You to all who travel so far to spend their weekends with 369: Tom Shields, Rick Harvey, Gary & Pat Moline, Mark & Bobbi Hopkins, Ed Marsh, Ed Holcomb, Rodney Mayfield, Troy Brindack, Arthur & Barb Gray, Alan Walker and John Walker. Thank You to all of our NEW MEMBERS! We hope you will be with us for years to come! We need each and every one of you! We will be in need of more volunteers next year as we will also have 803 / Warrior 11 flying. September 22,2008 - Mt. Brighton Moving Wall - Brighton, MI - A HUGE THANK YOU to member Glen Veno for all his hard work getting the Moving Wall to Brighton, Michigan and for taking such great care of everyone. Glen is truly a special individual!! If mother nature had been a little easier on the state of Michigan it's hard to say what the outcome of this project would have been. The die hard patriots showed what they were made of, because they were there come rain or shine and this weekend it was more rain than shine! The area was well done and the Wall was beautiful. We feel the event was a success. Everyone had a great time despite the weather. We had plenty of time to meet and speak with hundreds of Veterans and their families and that is what is truly the most important. We hope that when the opportunity arose that all of our new members enjoyed their flight. We Thank everyone involve with getting this event together, we know what a huge task it is! Thank You to the Brighton airport for your hospitality. Thank You and congratulations on a job well done to Livingston County for hosting the event. Thank You to the thousands of people who attended the event and to all who sponsored the event: Griffin Armor, Brighton Airport Assoc., Fraternal Order of Eagles #3607, Holiday Inn Express, BIG PDQ. The Brighton House, Pinnacle Pointe Salon, Sign A Rama, Munro Electric, Paul Mazza, Brighton Masonic Lodge, Robert Higley, Skip Dawsey, Sign Works, Dave Pilon, Civil Air Patrol, Amy Courter, VVA #110, Corrigan Oil, Brighton Area Schools- Dept. of Trans., A & H Transmission, Jones Tech U.S.A., R & L Needham, South Lyon VFW, Accurate Pest Control, Monroe Rubbish Removal, Kroger Co., Courtyard by Marriott and a Huge Thank You to Hummer of Novi for the red, white and blue Hummer's! Thank You to all of our NEW MEMBERS! September 9, 2008 - Liberty Moving Wall - Liberty , IN - First, let us Thank Rhonda Alvey for the incredible job she did with the Liberty Moving Wall ! Congratulations Rhonda on a great event and a job well done! And we have to Thank her right hand woman, our own Barb Gray. Barb can't help her self. When she hears the words Moving Wall, she jumps in to help any way she can. She and Rhonda worked very well together. And I'll bet they do it again! We had a great time meeting everyone from the area. We were static display only at this event so we had plenty of time to talk to anyone who had questions or just wanted to talk . We had a lot of families share their feelings and tell us about their lost loved ones. We honestly felt that our mission was on the right track while we were in this small community with all these wonderful people! Sometimes I think the mission of our organization is realized to a greater extent when we do very minimal flying. To each and everyone of you who attended this event, we Thank You from the bottom of our hearts. We, as an organization, enjoy the Moving Wall events. This was our 4th this year. The 5th is coming up this weekend in Brighton, Michigan. Thank You to the DNR Staff for doing such a great job. You are all very nice and we hope you enjoyed working with all of us. I'm sure this was a little different than anything else you have had to work with. Thank You to Whitewater for hosting the event. We hope that they will consider doing it again in the future. The setting was absolutely beautiful. Thank You to the American Legion, the Dunlapsville Booster's 4-H Club and the Kitchel Hot Shots Future Homemakers 4-H Club for their generous donations to our organization. They are greatly appreciated. Thank You to Paul, Beverly and Melissa Wiwi, owners of Carriage Lamp Bed & Breakfast. What a beautiful place you have! We will certainly recommend you to anyone looking for a place to stay in Liberty! We appreciate your kindness and generosity. Thank You to our members who continue to show their undying support for their organization. Our ground crew: Jim and Cathy Steffel and John Fotia. And our flight crew: Pilot, John Walker, Co-Pilot, Gary Moline, Crewchiefs, Rodney Mayfield, Mark Hopkins and Arthur Gray and our support crew, Pat Moline, Barb Gray and myself, Kae York. THANK YOU to everyone for all your support and we hope to see you in Brighton, Michigan. September 4, 2008 - Our second trip to Auburn, Indiana to the National Military History Center was great. What an incredible facility! Everyone should make an effort to go and see all the great artifacts collected in this Museum. We hope that 369's presents there was helpful to the Museum. We seemed to stir up a lot of people when we landed over at the Auction area. Thank You to Pat Moline and her daughter Lisa and grandson Tyler for hanging out with our friends from Riley Aviation over in the auction area passing out fliers and talking to people. They got a lot of people to come over to the other side of the highway and visit with 369 and the museum. Thank You to everyone at the History Center for supporting our efforts. Bob Krafft and his family, Gary, Jennie, Taya, Jon, & Tianna. Thank You to Tianna and her best friend, Hannah Wineland for helping us out. You two are wonderful and we enjoy your company. Thank You Tammy Hantz for our great accommodations and everything you do to keep things going at the History Center. Thank You Emily Fischer and everyone at the History Center who work tirelessly to take care of everyone who visits the Center. Thank You for the all for being such wonderful people! We Thank our members who helped make the event a success: John Walker, Gary and Pat Moline, Pats daughter Lisa and grandson Tyler, Mark and Bobbi Hopkins, Rodney Mayfield, Arthur and Barb Gray, Jim and Cathy Steffel, Glen Veno, Matt Shipe, Tom Rose, John Fotia and Ed Marsh. We appreciate every one of you!! We will be heading to Liberty Indiana Saturday morning to attend a Moving Wall Event. 369 will be on static display. We hope to see you there!! ============================================================================= THE FOLLOWING IS TO THANK EVERYONE WHO TOOK PART IN OUR 2ND ANNUAL REUNION, AUGUST 16TH & 17TH, 2008. ====================================================================================
==================================================================================== August 21, 2008 - WOW, the reunion is over!! We had another successful event. The reunion went very well. The weather was perfect, 369 performed flawlessly (as usual) and the attendance was equal to last year. We had a lot of our current members here. It was great to meet members who had never been here before and renew acquaintances with ones we don't see to often. We appreciate everyone who took the time to come to the event this year. We are painfully aware of the current economics in our country and cannot Thank everyone enough for making the reunion an important part of their lives. We gave 369 a real workout. John didn't realize it, but she flew 23 flights in two days. 25 when you count her flight to and from the event. She is such a great old bird! We hope that everyone who attended the reunion has a greater understanding of what we are trying to accomplish. I think most of you do. The gun range was certainly a hit (no pun intended)!! The range made over $1400.00 in two days. Thank You to all of our gun enthusiasts!! The auction did well again this year. This years quilt brought even more than last years. Mom puts alot of time, effort, talent and love into her quilts. Thank You Mom!! Joe Klein's prints were popular again this year also. Thank You to Joe for his great talent and for sharing it with all of us. Thank You to TNW Firearms, Inc. for their donation. We have such a long list of people to Thank. Above you will see everyone who physically took part in making the reunion a HUGE success. If I left anyone out please let me know. My brain is a little fried. I will be posting photos soon. I personally shot about 1200 myself ( I have a lot to go thru!) and I'm waiting on some from other people. If you have photos from events you would like to give to the organization, please email them to ked4659@aol.com or send them on a photo disc to Kae York 209 S Broadway, Peru, IN 46970. August 12, 2008 - Everything is coming together for the reunion. Now if mother nature will just behave herself ! I ran across a letter that was sent to us in July that I think we need to share. It really says exactly what we are trying to convey to everyone we come in contact with. I hope our friends at the Holland Michigan Chapter of the VVA don't mind that I posted it on the website. Thank You gentlemen for the opportunity to give something back. Hope to see you all again at the reunion!!!
August 6, 2008 - We found out last night that due to health issues Big John will be unable to cook for us this year. Our co-founder, Alan Walker, has offered to do the cooking. Don't worry, Alan is a great cook! He can handle it!! August 1, 2008 - We do want to let everyone know that John and Donna Steer will not be able to make the reunion this year. We spoke to Donna last week and it is just to soon for John to make the trip. We will miss them, but we want what is best for John. We hope to see them in Kokomo in September. We are getting things ready for the reunion. Trying to get things together for the auction. We hope to have a couple of prints from Joe Kline. A hand made quilt depicting 803 / Warrior 11's nose art (made by Phyllis Dorn) is finished. The bands are set and we are still working on our DJ. Big John is planning on being here with his BBQ (Yummy!!). Master Modeler, Jerry Lindquist will have his Display / Traveling Museum set up for all to see. Jerry does incredible work. He has the most detailed dioramas we have ever seen. More details as they come. August 1, 2008 - LZ Welcome Home is a great event. This event was our first official flight and event last year. So we celebrated our first anniversary with all the wonderful people of New Carlisle, Indiana. We have quite a few members in the area (we gained several more this year!). Neil Brioli was in charge of the event again this year. Great job Neil!! Our usual band of characters greeted us (Barb Gray & I) when we arrived with the truck and trailer, Rodney, Denny, Perry, Neil and all the guys from the Last Patrol. The guys flew in about 30 minutes later. This years crew included John Walker (Pilot), Gary Moline (Co-Pilot), Mark Hopkins, Arthur Gray, Ed Marsh and Troy Brindack (Crew Chiefs). We all had a great time. We need to Thank American Legion Post 297 for inviting us back this year. Thank you to everyone who feed us for three days. The food was great! We know how hard everyone works at these events and the heat makes it especially tough on everyone. Thank You to Bart Bales for providing all of us with Hotel rooms for three days and for everything you did during the event. You gave a lot of Veterans a wonderful gift! Thank You to Bobby Cormack for coming down from Michigan Friday afternoon and flying with us on Saturday. You are always alot of fun and we appreciate you being with us. Thank You to New Carlisle for hosting a great event. A few of us were able to sneak up town and check out the Home Town Days event. Thank You to all of our members who were able to give us a hand during this event: Bobbi and Mark Hopkins, Barb & Arthur Gray, Troy Brindack, Ed Marsh, Jim Denning, Glen Veno, John Walker and Gary Moline. We will see you in a couple of weeks at our Reunion!! July 21, 2008- Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 295 put on a great event at Fort Ben. They had one of the Original Moving Walls on display. Everything was very well thought out. Janet Cummings always does such a great job with this event. She is to be commended for all her hard work! Janet and her husband Jerry are now members of our organization and it will be great having them. It was wonderful to see Sammy Davis and his wife Dixie again. What great people they are! 369 flew Sammy & Dixie, Jim, David McNerney (another Medal of Honor recipient ) and two other dignitaries into the ceremony. We must Thank Ron Paye for piloting 369, not many people could hold that hover behind the wall the way Ron did! Thank You Ron, we know what that meant to you. Everyone at Chapter 295 are such wonderful people. We enjoy getting to be part of their event. Thank You !! We also Thank all of our members who continue to go out of their way to make this organization work. Thank You Rodney Mayfield, Denny Rogers, Arthur and Barb Gray, Ed "Top Gun"Marsh and Ron Paye. Thank You to Rick Wilson and his wife for showing such interest in the organization, we hope to see you again this year.
July 9, 2008 - Operation Welcome Home, Auburn, IN was, again, another great event. Everyone associated with this was extremely nice! We want to Thank Bob Krafft, Tiffany Miller and the Kruse Foundation for inviting us to join their 4th of July Celebration. The rededication of the World War II Victory Museum was held on Friday July 4th. It is now The National Military History Center. This is a beautiful museum! Everyone should take the time to go visit. The Moving Wall was just incredible ! It is the largest Moving Wall in existence. It is a 4/5 scale. Standing 8 feet at its center. What a beautiful sight it was. The organization who brought this Wall also has a tribute to our Iraq soldiers and to the 9-11 attack. Both were very nice additions to the Wall. We need to Thank our members who are always willing to give of their time. A lot of our members use their vacation time to help at our events. Thank You to John Walker, our founder. Without his tireless efforts we would not be who or where we are today. Thank You to Bobby Cormack for flying for us and with us. He must like us. He keeps coming back! Thank You to Ron Paye and Gary Moline for being our co-pilots. This was Ron's first event and he did a great job!! Gary did a fine job, as usual. Thank You to all of our crewmembers, Rodney Mayfield, Denny Rogers, Mark Hopkins, Tom Shields, Troy Brindack, Ed Holcomb, and Arthur Gray. Another job well done ! Thank You to all the ladies, Bobbi Hopkins, Barb Gray and our new comer, Pat Moline. This is the first event Gary's wife has been able to join us. We now have over 440 members.! We feel that is a pretty good number considering the organization is only a couple of years old and we had less than 150 members a year ago! THANK YOU !!!
June 30, 2008 - The Lest We Forget event in Benton Harbor, Michigan was another great event. Don Alsbro and his staff put countless hours into making this event an absolute success! The beach landing was a sight to see, very authentic. The event was very well put together. The military aircraft that flew in were beautiful. The people were great! We gained quite a few new members . We also were reminded again just how incredible our members are!! Glen Veno took care of briefing passengers ( with quite a flare)!! Glen is fairly new to the organization but has quickly found a new home with us. Bobby Cormack was our chief pilot. He has spent thousands of hours piloting Hueys. Gary Moline was our co-pilot. He did a great job, as usual. Several of our members serve as crew. Tom Shields, Rodney Mayfield, Arthur Gray, Denny Rogers and Mark Hopkins all took care of those duties. Thank You to all the guys for a job well done. A big Thank You to Bobbi Hopkins for brings all the great food and handling our booth and Barb Gray for always being their to help in any capacity. You can always depend on Bobbi and Barb!! Thank You again to Don Alsbro and his staff for putting on a great event!!!
June 16, 2008 - The Downs Syndrome Benefit went very well. The weather was absolutely beautiful!! All the families seem to have a wonderful time. 369 was a big hit with both the children and the adults. Please view the photos from the event on page 107 and 108(click on page 103 and it will take you to additional pages). Thank You to everyone at Montgomery Aviation !! It is a pleasure working with all of you ! This was such a rewarding event to take part in. We will be heading to Benton Harbor, Michigan Friday morning at 9 a.m.
May 27, 2008 - Please be sure to check the schedule often. It seems to change almost daily. As you can see, there are a few new events. We are having trouble locating a few of our members. If you see your name or know the whereabouts of any one listed please let us know. I will give their last known city and state. John Ralston, Logansport, IN, Brandon Bratton, Kokomo, IN, Dan Gruender, Peru, IN, Bruce L. Douglas, Ft Knox, KY, and Douglas Davie, Kingsbury, IN. We would like to keep everyone's addresses up to date, so if you move or changed emails or phone numbers, please let us know. THANK YOU!! ********************************************************************************************** May 20, 2008 - Johns surgery started at 6a.m. this morning and was done about 1:30 this afternoon. They repaired the aneurysm and 2 leaky valves. The doctor said he should have a lot more energy now. Look out Donna!! The next 12 hours will be critical so keep them both in your prayers. We will keep you informed as we hear from Donna. ********************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************************** May 19, 2008-Our dear friend John Steer in scheduled to undergo open heart surgery Tuesday May 20th at 10:00 a.m.. He has an ascending aortic aneurysm measuring 5.2 centimeters and a leaky heart valve that they will also be repairing. Please keep John and his wife Donna in your prayers. ********************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************************** May 17, 2008 - We want to make everyone aware that we are attending Fire Base Kokomo with American Huey 369 the weekend of June 6th, 7th and 8th. She will be on static display beside the Moving Wall. This event was called the mini reunion but has grown in size over the years so the Howard County Vietnam Veterans and Veterans Organization chose to rename it. Please plan to come and visit with us and hundreds of other Veterans and Patriots. Hope to see you there!!! ********************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************************** MAY 15, 2008 - We will not be attending the Blue Star Salute on May 17th. We have never received confirmation. ********************************************************************************************************* May 5, 2008 - The Organization has decided that they will attend Fire Base Kokomo (previously know as the mini reunion) the weekend of June 6th, 7th and 8th. The Moving Wall will be at this years event. We have been asked to set Huey 369 somewhere near the wall display. 369 will not be flying during this event, she is for static display.
April 5, 2008 - We have lots of news to catch up on!! American Huey 369 has a new home! Grissom Air Reserve Base recently opened to civilian aviation and Huey 369 was the first to move in! She was moved to her new home on Friday March 14th. Dan and Andi Montgomery are the owners of Montgomery Aviation, the FBO (fixed base operators) at Grissom Air Reserve Base. Being true Patriots, they are allowing 369 to be housed in one of their 4 hangers (hanger 11)during our flying season. The managers are Jerry White and his wife Brooke. They are the parents of darling twin daughters. Jerry is an A&P and will offer aircraft repair service along with running the fuel service, which will offer aviation gas and jet A fuel. We look forward to a long and prosperous relationship with Montgomery Aviation. Thank You Dan, Andi, Jerry, Brooke and Bobbi. Montgomery Aviation @ Grissom Air Reserve Base Ph# 765-689-8100. On Easter Sunday 369 took off for Sturgis Michigan. She was piloted by Brian Riley (Riley Aviation) and John Walker. John was also going to be undergoing some testing of his own. He worked with Brian for several days and has now been recertified! Congratulations John! John and Mark Hopkins had the pleasure of flying 369 home on Wednesday the 2nd of April. This was Johns first flight without an instructor with him and Marks first as sole Navigator. They had a great flight and 369 performed beautifully! We would like to Thank EVERYONE at Riley Aviation for everything they did to help John while he was in Michigan for training. John made alot of new friends and we gained a few new members plus a write up in the local paper. Thank You Brian for all the hours spent both on the ground and in the helicopter. And thank you to all the girls in the office at Riley. John thinks very highly of all of you! Thank You to the coffee crowd, John also thinks very highly of all of you. We hope to see all of you at some of our events this year! A HUGE Thank You to Don Goble for all of your time and talent. Don is the FAA examiner who gave John his check ride. He is prior Army with thousands of hours as a pilot in several aircraft including the Huey. And THANK YOU to our dear friends, Mark and Bobbi Hopkins for letting John stay with you for 11 days. Bobbi even gave John her new Dodge Charger to drive! We love you and don't know what we would do without you! We need to let everyone know that there are a few changes to the schedule. We received a call from the gentleman who puts on the Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot and for the first time in over thirty years, the spring event has been canceled. The area is flooded. We also will not be attending the Indianapolis Air Show. We have removed it from the schedule. The spring renewal is going pretty well. We thank everyone for staying with us. We know that the economy is making it difficult for everyone and money is a big issue.
January 19, 2008 - We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! Thought we would let everyone know what has been happening this month. John Fotia has been at the hanger taking the tail boom from 803 apart. He's going to be installing a new fin spar in the near future. We received a call from Kevin Myer at Nebraska Gas Turbine the other day. The engine is due to be completed by the end of February. Also, on Thursday the 24th, John Walker, Rodney Mayfield and Gary Moline are taking a 3 day trip to Arizona to attend an auction of Helicopter parts. Hoping to find a bargain or two on some much needed ( and expensive) parts. I'm sure most of you have noticed all the changes that have been made to the web site. Mark Hopkins has been working lots of hours to get video clips on, the links to other sites and all of our merchandise displayed. As you can see by the tentative schedule, we have been receiving calls from other organizations to attend their events. We have limited our schedule to one event per month (with the exception of July) due to the fact that the members who help at these events are all working full time jobs and come from several states (including 2 of our pilots and 2 of our crewchiefs).
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !!
December 22, 2007- The December work weekend went well. We had lots of help dismantling 803. Members who were at the work weekend were: Rodney Mayfield, Gary Moline, Kenny Wemer, Mark Hopkins (with video in hand), Marks son Kyle, Carl & Sherry Dewey, Alan Walker, John Fotia, Phil Flagg Jr., Charlie & Tracy Morgan, Jerry Lindquist, John Ward, Arthur & Barb Gray, John Walker, John "Smitty" Smith, Roger Hamilton, Jeff Granger and Ryan Marburger. Gary Swartz, Larry Ford and Nancy Leichty sent monetary donations so that everyone would be fed (Thank You !!). Mike Musselman furnished the propane to heat the hanger (Thank you Mike for keeping us warm!). Jerry Lindquist will be coming in next week to do some cleaning and prep work on the chin bubble area in preparation for paint. November 12 & 13, 2007 - John Walker and Rodney Mayfield are off on another road trip! Out to Hooper, Nebraska to see the guys at Nebraska Gas Turbine. Kevin and his crew are doing the restoration on 803/ Warrior 11's turbine engine. We don't know how we will ever thank these great people enough for all they have done for the organization. They are absolutely wonderful people! They expect the engine to be ready in late January 2008.
November 11,2007 - Today is Veterans Day. Have you Thanked a Veteran today? If you haven't, you should! If you enjoy your freedom, Thank them and Welcome them home. THANK YOU & WELCOME HOME !! Also, there are several organizations who actively send packages to our troops. I am including 5 of them now so that you may help them get packages to our troops for the holidays. They are: www.anysoldier.com, www.operationshoebox.com , www.treatsfortroops.com , www.treatanysoldier.com and www.starsandstripesshop.com .I hope that you will do what you can to support these organizations. November 8, 2007 - We regret to inform everyone that we have lost a member. Don Warden lost his battle with cancer on October 25th. We send our condolences to his daughter Monique. She knows how much we loved her dad. Not just for his outstanding ability to work on Hueys, but for all the time he spent with us during the past several months when he could have been doing something else. Don was with us at Howard County and we are so glad that he was. It was the last time we got to see him and spend time with him. He was truly a wonderful, giving man and we will miss him! We do need to let everyone know that there is a work weekend scheduled for the 1st and 2nd of December. We will be disassembling 803 and getting things ready to send her engine to Nebraska Gas Turbine. October 15, 2007 - Well the weekend has come and gone (again!) Everyone had a great time at Knob Creek. We gained another 35 members! The organization has grown by leaps and bounds this year! It's hard to believe we are only a year old! Thank You to all our new members! Photos from Knob Creek will be posted in the gallery. This event was planned as a treat to our members who have helped at all the events we attended or hosted this year. Those in attendance were: John Walker, Alan Walker, Paul "the Duke" Wheeler, Rodney Mayfield, Denny Rogers, Tom Shields, John Fotia, Gary Campbell, Gary Moline, Pat Whitmoore, and Kenny Janowski. October 3rd to 8th, 2007 - Bruce Ashworth & John Walker headed out to Stevensville, Montana to Tamarak Helicopter to deliver our parts bird. Tamarack purchased what was left of 406. She was a giving bird. She provided lots of parts for 369 and 803 and now Jay is going to use the fuselage to repair a damaged bird in his possession. 406 was donated to America Huey 369 Org. in 2005 minus her nose section. This bird was also a Vietnam Veteran that saw 3 years in country and her history will be preserved in the hearts and minds of our members. We need to thank Jay and his wife Tracey for their kindness. They put Bruce and John up in their home and made sure they were well fed. The 3700 mile trip was well worth it when you get to spend time with great people like Jay and Tracey and everyone at Tamarak Helicopter. Thank You for all you have done for the Organization ! The list keeps getting longer: straps for 369, sliding armor for the seats, donated a main rotor head can and purchased 406. Jay and Tracey and Tamarack Helicopter are always willing to help in the preservation of our aircraft. And we have to thank Jays father for donating the steer skull. It looked great on the front of our truck! September 18, 2007 - Howard County Vietnam Veterans Organizations 25th Anniversary Reunion was a HUGE success!! We flew 369 in @ About 10a.m. to cheers from the crowd. Lots of tears and hugs came along with her arrival. She proved to be very popular. 803 was set up in our compound along with our big screen t.v. to show our DVD and sell our t-shirts, sweatshirts and patches. Lots of people viewed the DVD and became members. 369 flew thursday evening, saturday afternoon and evening and again on sunday afternoon. Membership grew to 265! Thank You to everyone who became a member during the weekend. We would also like to Thank everyone at Howard County Vietnam Veterans Organization for inviting us to be part of their 25th Anniversary celebration. It was an honor to participate. We also need to thank all of our members who spent yet another weekend helping to make this event a success for our organization. Thank You, Tom and Marilyn Shields, Mark and Bobbi Hopkins, Gary Moline, Brian Riley our pilot, Rodney Mayfield, Denny Rogers, Carl and Sherry Dewey, Arthur and Barbara Gray, Don Warden, Rick Harvey, Bruce Ashworth, and Kenny Wemer. Some of the members will be flying down to Knob Creek Kentucky in October. We will let everyone know how that goes! For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a Machine Gun Shoot. Lots of veterans and fun! September 10,2007 - Howard County Vietnam Veterans 25th Annual Reunion is THIS WEEKEND! We are in the process of getting everything set up. Our area has been fenced and we will be taking 803 / Warrior 11 over Wednesday evening. The plan is to fly 369 in Thursday morning with our arrival @ 9:00 a.m. At this time our flight crew is Brian Riley as our pilot, John Walker as our co-pilot, and Tom Shields as our crew chief.
August 26,2007 - Wow, the reunion has come and gone (already!!). We hope everyone had a good time. We feel blessed to have had all of you here. What a great group of people! We don't know where to begin thanking everyone for their support and their help. We couldn't have done it without all of you! We experienced more emotion during this event than most people experience in a life time. We saw a lot of our Veterans let go of years of bottled up emotions. We hope that it was a good thing for them. It certainly moved other people around them to tears just watching them. To those of you who couldn't make the event this year, please make plans to attend next year. We know how difficult it is for alot of our Veterans to think about their past experiences, but in seeing the faces and emotions of those who attended this year, we truly feel that this old bird is doing what we intended for her to do. Heal. We certainly gave 369 a workout. I lost count of the number of times she took to the air. I know every time she came back I saw nothing but smiles and thumbs up! What a great old bird she is! The gun range was a huge hit! Everyone seemed to enjoy shooting the 50 cal. We had a problem with the 60 unfortunately, but we'll get that taken care of. We gained 29 new members so far. We get a new one in the mail a couple times a week. It is wonderful to know so many people believe in what we are doing and want to be part of it. We are now over two hundred members strong and growing! Thank You all for your support! We want everyone to know that you helped us raise over $13,000.00 for the Organization. Of course, that is before we pay for the cost of the reunion, including the fuel bill and maintenance on 369. Overall, we feel the reunion was a huge success. If anyone has any suggestions on how we can improve upon this years reunion, please email them to ked4659@aol.com and they will be forwarded to the organizers. Thank You to everyone who donated items for the auction. The auction brought in almost three thousand dollars. Those items included: a personalized Joe Kline print of 369 that brought $1025.00, a personalized Joe Kline print of 803 that brought $350.00, a hand made quilt of 369 by Phyllis Dorn that brought $600.00, a hand crocheted american flag afghan by Sherry Dewey that brought $40.00, two steel laser cut signs, one of 803 & one of 369,donated by Mark & Bobbi Hopkins, each brought $200.00. An old glory companion flag donated by Dale Hemphill and his wife of Mishawaka, IN brought $50.00, a pair of Colts tickets donated by Gary Nichols, $175.00, a handmade USA chair donated by our auctioneer, Rex Gordon and made by his wife, $80.00, an wooden SR-71 model, donated by Ray & Garda O'Keefe, $65.00, two B-17 Trouble Ahead Posters, $10.00 & $35.00, Wild Thing T-Shirts donated by Randy,Dar and their wives, $25.00 & $30.00. The big winner in the treasure hunt was Ariel Edwards of Peru. She walked away with a .30 carat blue diamond. Also, the winner of the first ride on 369 was Vicki Meek of Richmond, Indiana. Vicki is one of the ladies who brings the Moving Wall to Richmond every 5 years. We were thrilled for her when her named was pulled from the jar! Congratulations to everyone!! You are all winner!! We have so many people we need to thank, we hope we don't forget anyone. Thank You to John and Donna Steer. If you have never had the pleasure of meeting these wonderful people you don't know what your missing. Please attend the Howard County event this year and make an effort to personally meet John and Donna! Richard Bowie, the man who is responsible for this Organization being formed. His Organization, DEEMI, in Bangor, Maine owned 369. Had it not been for Richard, we would not have this incredible aircraft nor would we have started the Organization. Thank You Richard! Ray and Garda O'Keefe. Ray was instrumental in getting 803/Warrior 11 donated to our Organization. Thank You both for taking the time to spend the weekend with us. It was truly a pleasure to have you here. Maybe next year 803 will be ready to take to the sky with 369! Brian Riley of Riley Aviation, located in Michigan. Thank You Brian for spending the weekend with us and being our Chief Pilot. Your always here when we need you! Gary Moline, our co-pilot and member. Thank You for taking on the co-pilot duties. Can't wait for the day when you and John can fly together. Phil Flagg, our crew chief and member. Phil travels from Maine anytime we need him. Thank You Phil. We love you for everything you've done in the past 3 years! Tom Shields, crew chief and his wife Marilyn, both members. Thank You both for being here as often as you can. Thank You Tom for all your help over the past few years. You are a very important part of the Organization. Congratulation to Marilyn for getting on 369 when she didn't think she could. We knew you could do it! And loved every minute of it! Barb and Arthur Gray, Thank You both for all your help and for being such great friends! The same goes for Bobbi and Mark Hopkins! You two are just incredible people! We love you both for all the time you have spent doing everything you do. Mark has spent countless hours on the video presentations that everyone gets to watch on the big screen t.v. and Bobbi works her magic in sales and anything else she gets her hands on! Congratulations to Bobbi for conquering her fear of heights at New Carlisle. She took her first helicopter ride and loved it! Rodney Mayfield and Denny Rogers. You two have been with us from the beginning and we can't thank you enough for all you have done for the Organization and for just being great friends. We love you. Monte Siebern, of Oldies 106 radio. Thank You for spending the weekend with us and doing a two hour live remote and for the great sound track you played on your show Friday. That was awesome! Also, thank you to Wade Weaver for coming out Saturday and hanging out with us. We hope you had a good time. We also want to thank you both for all the great advertisement during your radio shows. We hope you will be here with us next year! Thank You to Gary, Pat and Herm for running the gun range. You guys did a great job! Thank You Jerry for your incredible model display! Thank You Cheryl, Neil, Charlie, Carl, Sherry, Rex, and anyone I'm forgetting. I'll be revising this I'm sure! Thank You to our neighbors for putting up with us. We obviously aren't the quietest people in the neighborhood! I'll be working on the photo gallery soon. I'm waiting on photos from other attendees. Thanks for your patience! See you at Howard County.
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Schedule of Events
******************************************************************************** July 29, 2007 - What a great flight into New Carlisle, IN!!! You just couldn't ask for a smoother flight. Everyone at the American Legion was very excited to see 369 come in. We love the time we get to spend with our veterans and let them spend time with 369. She received a lot of attention from everyone. Our most memorable moments are when our veterans climbed in and went for a ride for the first time in years! There were a lot of tears shed on 369 this weekend, for the most part, they were happy tears. She brings back memories. Some good, some bad. Our hope is that she is helping to heal. God bless you all! Thank You Neil for being a driving force at the New Carlisle American Legion, Rodney Mayfield and Denny Rogers for helping to get us there and everyone associated with the event for your hospitality. We hope to come back next year! Thank You to our members who continue to give up their weekends and countless hours to help keep the Organization going. Rodney Mayfield, Denny Rogers, Alan Walker, John Walker, Gary Moline, Mark Hopkins, Bobbi Hopkins, John Fotia and Kae York. Also a HUGE Thank You to Brian Riley of Riley Aviation for being our Pilot this weekend and hopefully any time we might need him! ******************************************************************************** July 22, 2007 - Everyone is here and ready to fly! We have powered up 369 and we no longer have a leak!!! After a few hover tests everyone was ready to see 369 really take to the air! And she did! We did a couple of short flights Friday evening. Everyone was at the airport bright and early Saturday morning. I lost count of the number of times she took to the air, but she sure runs great. When all the testing was over everyone was invited to go on a short flight! What a rush! We were back on Sunday morning for more flights. 369 does so well you would never know she was out of service for over 8 years. Thank You to our Pilots, Paul Wheeler and Brian Riley, our co-pilot, John Walker, our A&P's, Phil Flagg (also a crew chief) & John Fotia, our crew chief, Gary Moline, our electrician, Rick Harvey, our videographer, Mark Hopkins, our members, Rodney Mayfield, Denny Rogers, Alan Walker, Don Warden. Thank You to Peru Municipal Airport, Ronnie & Terri Jett and Kelly for being so kind to all of us. The weekend has been a huge success! We are looking forward to our first official fly in at New Carlisle on the 27th. ******************************************************************************** July 18, 2007 - The quill got back this morning. Rodney Mayfield came down from New Carlisle, IN and helped get it back in 369. We hope this is the cure to our leak. We will find out this weekend when Phil Flagg and Paul Wheeler get here from Maine and the rest of the crew gets here from closer destinations. ******************************************************************************** July 14, 2007 - The organization was granted 5 minutes on the podium at the American Legion State Conference today. Thank You to our member, Dick Jewell, for making it happen. What a great reception we got! Lots of interest in the organization. We gained 12 new members and sold a few patches and shirts. With 369 getting in the air soon, the organization will need all the help it can get with fuel costs. Thank You to everyone who attended the conference for making us welcome! Also, thank you to our members who were able to give up their Saturday to help out. Thank You Mark & Bobbi Hopkins, Tom Shields & Ida Jewell. ******************************************************************************** July,11 2007 - We got the quill out of 369. That turned out to be our transmission fluid leak. We will send it out to Texas to have the seal replaced and hope it gets back here by the weekend. *********************************************************************** June 30, 2007 - The Freedom Festival went very well. We gained several new members and showed off some video of 369 hovering. We would like to thank Kathy Ashworth, her daughter Samantha and the Girl Scout Troop 1221 for inviting us to their event. THANK YOU ! We also want to thank all the members who came to Greenwood and helped out: John "Smitty" Smith, Rodney Mayfield, Gary Moline, Clayton Walker, Bruce Ashworth and Alan Walker. We are now looking ahead to another weekend of hover / flight tests. We have a commitment to fly in to New Carlisle, IN at the end of this month, so we have our work cut out for us. We will keep you posted as to our progress. *********************************************************************** June 25 & 26,2007 - Huey 369 hovered!!! We have a transmission fluid leak to deal with (very minor), but she has been off the ground!!! Photos will be on the website soon. I have about 500 plus to go thru, but I'm making progress. We also have video but I'm not sure if the website can handle it. I'm working on that also. *********************************************************************** JUNE 10, 2007: ATTENTION ALL MEMBERS AND VIEWERS: Our next static display with 803/Warrior 11 will be held at the Greenwood VFW Post 5864 in Greenwood, Indiana on June 30th from 10am through that evening. The VFW will host a fish fry (starting @11am) in conjunction with the famous "Greenwood Freedom Festival". American Huey 369 members have been invited to the VFW to display 803/Warrior 11. We will perform our mission of educating all generations to the Huey's history and paying tribute to ALL VETERANS! Girl Scout Troop 1221 headed by Kathy Ashworth has been instrumental in gaining support and donations from various organizations, groups, businesses and individuals, to help bring Huey 803/Warrior 11 to this Great Patriotic Event. The Girl Scout Troop will be conducting their "Tattered Flag" campaign. They encourage Patriots with tattered flags to bring them to the event to be properly disposed of. At 10am the Greenwood Freedom Festival Parade will kick-off the days activities. This is followed by fireworks at dusk in "Craig Park". The street fair will be in full swing from 9am to 4pm. Come join us and meet Great Veterans and Patriots who will be glad to tell you about our organization and the Huey's. *********************************************************************** We would also like to let everyone know ALL the bugs in 369 have been resolved and we will be doing the weight and balance and hover testing from June 20th to June 26th. Everyone is very excited! It appears our goal to fly into New Carlisle in July is quickly becoming reality! ******************************************************************************** ******************************************************************************** MEMBERS: We need volunteers to help with the reunion. Anyone who can help please let us know asap. ********************************************************************************
May 19th, 2007 - Another successful trip with 803 / Warrior 11. The Blue Star Salute was a very well organized event. They had plenty of everything for everyone. The ceremonies were very nice, they took the time to recognize a large number of men and women, both past and present, in our military. We hope to be invited back next year. We had a great time meeting people and gained three new members! Thank You to everyone involved with putting the event together, you did a great job! April 23 to 29,2007 - 369 has been successfully ground turned! The turbine engine was installed the week of the 23rd. Every thing went better than anyone could have imagined! The engine and transmission went together with no major problems. We ground turned on Sunday the 29th. What a rush! It was great to hear her turbine and feel the wind from her blades! We have a few minor bugs to work out but we are sure we will be ready to move to the next step, hovering, soon. We want to thank everyone who was able to be here for this event, we couldn't do any of this with out all of you! We also thank everyone who has been involved in getting us to this point (we know you were here in spirit), we can't do this without all of you! We hope everyone takes the time to look at the photos taken during the week. Everyone worked very hard. We would like to thank Dick Hosmer, Billy Grantham, Phil Flagg, Tom Shields, Gary Moline, Mark Hopkins, Carl Dewey, Don Dewey, Sherry Dewey, Austin Dewey, Rick Harvey, Dick Jewell, Rodney Mayfield, Denny Rogers, Bruce Ashworth and last but certainly not least, Richard Simmons. Mr. Simmons is with the FAA. 369 is now certified to fly!! April 16,2007 - We were well received by the Veterans at the V.A.Center at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis. They seemed to enjoy 803 / Warrior 11. They have a very nice facility. We hope it will serve them well! Please see the photos taken during the event. These are wonderful people who deserve to be treated with great respect as due the current generation of veterans and soldiers. March 2007 - 369 has been painted!! Please see the photos in the gallery. Thank You to Doug and Brad Dorn for the long hours getting her done! She looks great!
HELLO AND WELCOME TO 2007, the year our ICON -AMERICAN HUEY 369 returns to the sky! 2007 marks the year she gets professionally painted, stenciled with her Original Air Ambulance Dust Off Red Crosses, ground turned and flight tested. WOW!! Yes she will fly soon and Thanks to all of our 1st year charter members, donations and sponsors she will be flown to educate all generations to the History of the Huey, while we pay tribute to ALL VETERANS, especially Vietnam Veterans and all the men and women who have given the Ultimate Sacrifice, Never Forgotten, So Help Me God! IMPORTANT!!! Right now we need ALL 1st YEAR CHARTER MEMBERS to please renew your memberships. THANK YOU!! Every member is so important to the future success and growth of this Grass Roots- Volunteer / Not for Profit Organization. Our members, Men, Women, Families and Students (100 + strong) are from all over this Great Country of Ours, they support our troops and they love our Flag! They know what the "Huey" meant to so many service men and women for the last 40+ years and they know their job is to Preserve It's History! As 1st year charter members, YOU helped form this Organization and YOU will help preserve Our Veterans History! I look forward to talking to each one of you this year! Hopefully all of our members will mark their calendars for August 18th and 19th for our First Annual Reunion where all can listen to 369's Turbine spin and her blades go womp, womp, womp! WOW again!! More info on the Reunion will be upcoming as plans are still being made. Speaking of upcoming events, 2007 looks to be a busy year. We have been contacted by several organizations. Here are a few things we have on the schedule to date: MARCH 24 & 25 American Huey 369 is scheduled to be painted at our hanger. ALL MEMBERS (CURRENT & FUTURE!!) ARE WELCOME. Come meet our painters, Doug & Brad Dorn from New Castle, IN, Owners of DORN AUTO CRAFT. APRIL 15th V. A. Center, Fort Benjamin Harrison, 9450 E 59th Street (corner of 59th and Lee Rd ), Indianapolis, IN. This is an open house. We hope you will attend. APRIL 23rd TO 28th 369's Turbine engine is installed and ground turned! MAY 19th Hendricks County Blue Star Salute - On Armed Forces Day, May 19th, the American Legion invites ALL to gather at the county fairgrounds in Danville in a salute to our men and women in uniform, their families and the businesses who support them. We have been invited to attend and hope that YOU will also. The event hours are: 2:00 until 9:00. Please plan to attend. For more information on this event please call Ralph "Zoc" Zoccolillo @ 317-750-4265 or Paul Morton @ 317-340-8554. EVERYONE!! is invited to attend the V. A. Centers "Open House" and take part in this wonderful event. We will have 803 /Warrior 11 on display for all attendees to enjoy. Come sit in her and hear about her history in Vietnam. We will have her 50 cal & M-60 machine guns mounted on the aircraft for photographs and a big screen t.v. set up to show the history of "The Huey". If you would like to help with the display and talk to fellow veterans, call John @765-469-2727. JULY 27th & 28th American Legion Post #297, New Carlisle, IN. The post is hosting "L.Z. WELCOME HOME". The event starts Friday morning at 9a.m. The Legion will serve lunch on both Friday and Saturday. There will be a car show at the Legion on Saturday from 9a.m. until 4p.m. There will be a parade in town on Saturday morning at approx. 11a.m. with the Last Patrol Reenactment in the parade. Home Town Days will also be going on with vendors set up around the community. Our Organization will be bringing 803 / Warrior 11 as a static display AND we hope to fly 369 onto the grounds of the American Legion. If everything goes well, this will be 369's first official flight. We will be joined by "Wild Thing" , a Vietnam Era Gun Truck. If you would like more information on the American Legion Event, please call Rodney Mayfield @219-575-0716. For more info on the car show please call Tom Lawson @ 574-654-8451 or Butch Luke @574-286-0361. AUGUST 18TH &19TH OUR FIRST REUNION - 369 FLYS!! and all will get to here her blades go womp, womp, womp! We hope all our members will make plans to attend! All current members get first chance to reserve one of the 100 camp spots available for Saturday night. By reserving your spot now, it will be yours for as many years as you want to keep it. We expect and hope that these spots will go fast as we start to advertise our event. SO, DON'T WAIT! The reunion will feature several guest speakers (TBA), bands, DJ's playing great 60's & 70's music, food and lots of campfires. For the gun lovers, you can shoot a real M-2 50 cal machine gun, M60, M16, 1911 Colt 45, M-1 carbine and other Vietnam era guns. The firing range is set up in the woods separate from the Reunion area for everyones safety. This Reunion is open to the "Patriotic" public and should be a very memorable event. A worship service will be held at 10a.m. Sunday morning for anyone who would like to attend. The event will be brought to a close with the departure of Huey 369. Please mark your calendar, Don't Wait! Reserve your campsite today! We will supply more information about this event as they are finalized. If you have any questions, suggestions or comments or would like to make your reservation please call John @ 765-469-2727. SEPTEMBER 13TH TO 16TH Howard County Vietnam Veterans Organization Reunion Huey 803 / Warrior 11 will be there again and what a time we had last year! 50,000 + veterans and their families! What a great job this organization does of hosting this huge event. GUESS WHAT, YES AMERICAN HUEY 369 will fly into this event! It's a dream come true for many Veterans and Patriots alike! It's a dream come true for our members as well! One thing I've been told a thousand times is " I'd give anything to hear a Huey in the distance, let alone get to hear her blades go womp, womp, womp, followed by that jet fuel smell" Well, for years to come everyone is going to get their wish. Be there and say hi to an old friend - American Huey 369! A final note: If anyone would like to volunteer for any of these upcoming events please call John @ 765-469-2727. You will LOVE IT! The people we have met at past events are unforgettable and all are Great Americans! Thank You. See you this year, John & Alan Walker and all our members
Huey Team Salute 1 In Korea the Helicopter crew was born a combat birth. During Vietnam the Air Assault Team proved it's real worth. It became a living legend, whether in taking or saving life. Those People had guts, short life spans amid constant strife. Few missions were quiet, none safe, most passed in madness. When not flying into the unknown, the crews waited in readiness. The first time I went for a ride with them into a really hot L.Z. I learned quickly what a job they did in supporting grunts like me. There were no doors on those old Hueys; gunners were exposed. We saw, felt and heard the hammer of sixties as the gunners hosed the ground where thy were to land. All of us were targets afloat. The pilots and gunners were heroes, warriors of unparalleled note. How can I describe the sound of chattering guns, barrels aglow? Between bursts the gunners screamed, almost plaintively lowing, "C'mon Charlie, I'm gonna give you some, you little bastards! We're gonna give you a gift. These guys are gonna kick your asses!" The tree lines were wildly splattered with tracers as we jumped out. The Hueys lifted before we touched down. "Give 'em Hell!"they shouted. We fanned out, there to provide cover for them and our incoming brothers. Those Huey crews had guts. Even if against orders near us they hovered. Nobody knew for sure how much firey Hell the Gunners wrought. I can only say that I loved them and my respect they surely bought. There were Gunships covering us and Bumble-Bees were artillery's eyes: All those metal birds filled with blood and guts were stars in our skies. I salute them, remember them and know the price that many paid. Smoking gunships often dotted the rice paddies, there the bodies laid. They circled and let us know we were never alone wherever we trod. They would support us no matter the cost, never showing their dread. Anyone who says metal has no heart has not been where we have been. Metal hulks with whirring blades were nothing without the warriors within. We watched them every time they flew away, hoping they could return. Often they were our lifeblood and the pride I have for them still burns. Mike Mullins, 8/26/2006 Huey Team Salute 2 The combat teams were not the only chopper heros we knew. It was scarier yet for the crews who in the Med-Evacs flew. Marked with red crosses and guns replaced by body litters These men had only us to protect them from the V.C. snipers. A cross meant nothing to V.C., who weren't by Christianity constrained. To kill or maim us any way they could was programmed in their brains. Bringing down a rescue ship was probably a great heroic deed to them. Our medical crews risked it all every trip, their lives always on a limb. Ground forces used colored smoke to alert all aircraft support. If it was red anyone flying nearby had to be constantly alert. The teams coming for the wounded had to drop into hot L.Z.s We gave them cover if the firefight was still lit; very little safety. Those Medical crews had guts; close to being angels they were. To a wounded soldier they meant more than just field care. The medics traveling with us were the first line of pain relief. We revered them all in ways hard for civilians to ever believe. In the worst battle of my tour we blasted trees to make a spot. The L.Z. was laced with firing, going way beyond the normal "Hot." Weaponless, we took rounds, learned those crews' depth of courage. I have seen the distant smoke from a chopper gone down. There were no flames in sight and I could not hear the sound. It was on a far horizon and we hoped our guys were okay. If grunts were close or others from the slick they may live today. The Huey crews were special. Many of us live today because of them. They were Men of Mercy or Reapers of Death, in every battle scene. Warfare began to change in Korea with the chop of those big rotors. In Vietnam they were a main cog, almost worshipped by soldiers. These words are but a meager attempt to extol the Huey story. It is hard to tell how huge a part choppers own in military history. The crews had to dread almost every mission but flew into glory. Every mission that was safely completed was its own Victory. Mike Mullins 8/26/2006 We wanted to share these with everyone. Mike gave these to us at Howard County and I apologize for not getting them on here sooner. We hope that everyone enjoys them as much as we do. They are copy write pending so please don't copy or publish without Mikes consent. Thank You Mike!
February 3, 2007 - Mother nature saw fit to change our plans just a bit. Due to weather related problems, 369's engine was not completed until the end of January. However, due to the wonderful people at Nebraska Gas Turbine, several of our members are on their way home at this writing with 369's engine. We will let everyone know when we will be installing the engine, painting 369 and ground turning her. We are also very excited to have our 100th member! We welcome each and every one of you to the organization and hope to get everyone together at least once this year.
DECEMBER 26, 2006 - As the end of 2006 nears, we have looked back at what has been accomplished in just s few short months. And we are looking forward to the future. This organization came about because of lots of caring people. It will remain strong in the future because of lots of caring people. This organization was formed to show our respect for our military, both past and present. But our Veterans of the Vietnam war are at the heart of it's organization. A large number of our members are Vietnam Vets, some are not, we welcome everyone who cares about our Military and their families. We love you all for what you have done for us. Thank You & WELCOME HOME! We want to let everyone know how the repairs on 369 are progressing. We are waiting on a phone call from Nebraska Gas Turbine. They are responsible for the rebuild of 369's turbine engine. As soon as Kevin calls, several of the members are planning on going to Nebraska to hear the engine run on the dyno. Everyone is excited! If all goes well, we will ground turn her in January. The tail boom repairs have been completed and plans are being made to get 369 ready for new paint. We hope to paint her in Feb. or March, weather permitting!
October 17, 2006-We would like to thank Vicki and Barbara for inviting us to join them and several hundred of their friends this past weekend. We had a wonderful time! We have met so many incredible people this summer, and these two women were icing on the cake! What Vicki and Barbara accomplished was astounding. They work incredibly hard to put this event together and it was beautiful. We would like to thank all the Veterans who helped us load and unload 803, and everyone for their hospitality. We love you all and plan to stay in touch. For those of you who could not attend, the photos will be posted soon. Thank You! Also, Thank You Rodney, Bruce, and Kenny for all your help! We can't do this without all of you!
Sept. 27,2006 - We are going to be attending the Vietnam Veterans Moving Wall Event in Richmond, IN. on October 13,14 and 15. It is being held at Veterans Memorial Park, 40 Remembering Veterans Dr., Richmond, IN. The area is also known as Whitewater Valley Gorge Park. The park is located on the south side of U.S. 40, east of Northwest 5th Street. Also, on Friday October 13th there is a POW MIA Candlelight vigal at dusk. The main ceremony will be at 1:30 on Saturday the 14th. We hope that you will come join us in Honor of our Veterans. Please visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund website at: www.vvmf.org
Sept. 19,2006 - We would like to thank everyone at the Howard County Vietnam Veterans Organization for making us welcome at their event. We can't thank you enough for allowing us to be part of such an incredible event, with such wonderful people! Words can't describe how all of us in this organization felt and still feel about spending a mere 4 days with all of you. We met so many of you and heard so many stories, we love you all! We also want to thank Perry, Rodney and all the members of L. Z. Michigan for all their help! What a great group of people! We couldn't get along with out them. We hope that our presence at the event was a good thing and helped in your healing process. We plan to be back next year. If things go well, we should be flying in! For anyone who is interested, we are planning on being in Richmond, IN on October 14 and 15 for a Veterans Event that will include the mobile display of the Wall. We will give more information as soon as we have it.
August 30, 2006 |
