Say, wha'? from Miss'ippi

I was born on the West Side of Chicago- 1 of the 2 "Irish ghettoes" in the City - in 1945 and spent my 1st 17 yrs living in Cook and Lake counties, Ill. My education was almost exclusively in Parochial or Jesuit schools , except for those instances when my absence was requested/required.

This probably accounts for my great respect and regard for all things religious. Yea, right! I went to the U of Notre Dame for 2 yrs before transferring to the U of Hawaii to escape the brutal winters of South Bend. I received my USAF Commission there in1967. I had begun flying before I could get a Driver’s License and had chalked up about 40 hrs and 1 wrecked AC before arriving at Laughlin. Initially, I had lived in the Q - right across the hall from Steve Sohn.

When the AF decided that bach Studs could live off-base, M Madden, Dick Spitz (USMC), and I rented a house in Del Rio which became known as the Palace. It became the informal social center for our section, and all activities held there were always honest, legal, and above board. I enjoyed UPT: the camaraderie; the flying; and, to a lesser extent- being Major P’s student.

Because of my sterling performance in UPT, I won a spot flying C-7s. Bob Fullenkamp, Bo Palmer, John Mood( Brand X) and OI schlepped up to Smyrna, TN for our transition. Madden and Lynn Feterle, and others I don’t recall, were there at Sewart AFS in the C-130 program. Bob, Bo, and I shared a trailer. John also shared a trailer- with his wife, Pat. I think he got the better of the deal vis-à-vis living arrangements. Bob and I ended up being assigned to V5(Vung Tau), tho in different Squadrons.. I had an OK tour and ended up having only 3 or 4 planes I was flying getting shot up. I even got a call from Bruce Cox one day when he had his F-105 shot up. He was a bit wired.

After SEA, I was assigned to WPAFB flying B-52s. It only took a year of that foolishness before I volunteered to go back to Asia on an Arc Light tour.. Stateside SAC was pretty rummy. I separated from AF in 1972. In 1982, while working for the FAA in MKE, I tried to join an AFR unit there at Gen Mitchell Field. The folks I talked with were very impressed with themselves and seemed concerned that I might not live up to their high standards. They subsequently lost a 135 to a mid-air explosion and had a variety of similar disasters on the ground. Neat unit. I shopped around some more and was taken on by the Wisc ARNG and taught how to fly UH-1 gunships. Buffs to NOE- no big operational differences there… Later, because of my experience with the C-7s, I was hired under Title 32 as a Bou driver in GPT, MS. During my 15 yrs there, I flew UH-1s, U-8s(Queen Airs (sp?), C-7, and, finally, C-23s. I was IP in the last 2 and finished up my 20 yrs AD with 11,000 +/- flying hours. Flying the C-7 and C-23, we worked a great deal with small, specialized units- Gr Berets, Pathfinders, Rangers, and some units that, at that time, didn’t officially exist. We dropped thousands of troops- by design-, participated in many deployments, and were deeply involved in the planning for an Op in the Caribbean that was called off at the last moment. These were my favorite types of mission. Small units, non-conventional tactics, and a ‘get it done’ mind-set.
After retirement, my wife and I- our 2 daughters having grown up, gotten married, and moved away- sold the house, packed the pets, and moved to the beach in the state of Yucatan, MX. We lived there happily for 4 years, but finally moved back to be closer to family and in consideration of advancing years and probable need in the future for mucho med treatments that we felt might be better undertaken in the native language. We returned to MS where we settled in and began to reacquaint ourselves with the MS that has evolved during our absence. We continue to discover things. Still available for small unit ops.