POST-REUNION NEWSLETTER, DECEMBER 2009

The November edition of the American Legion Magazine started with:  “Veterans Day is a time to honor all who have served in the U. S. Armed Forces.  Those who swore with their lives, and those who paid the ultimate price, as well, share a bond few others understand.  Military service changes people.  The lifelong friendships and the unique bonds veterans have with one another is a camaraderie not found in other walks of life.”  This was most evident at the recent 6918^th Security Squadron Reunion held at the St. Louis ’ Harrahs Casino on September 27, 28 and 29, 2009.  Seventy-four 6918^th members and wives/significant others gathered for a three day event of unique new memory making and remembering the past.  In 2007, Dawg Flight and two Charlie Flight members gathered in Las Vegas .  The format evolved in 2009, and the event became the 6918th Security Squadron Reunion, hosted by Dawg Flight.  There were initial concerns that the combining of the entire squadron might dilute the bond that was felt at the previous reunions, but that fear quickly dissipated as soon as the 6918^th began to arrive.  What a group of guys and gals!  Able Flight was represented by 5 attendees; Charlie Flight, 14; Dawg Flight 53; Days and Ops 2.  Did it matter that we did not all serve on the same flight?  Did it matter that we did not all serve in Japan at the same time?  Did it matter that our wives would know no one, except from previous reunions, but still joined us in support of our effort?  The answer is; NO!  We gathered and enjoyed each others friendship and camaraderie.  We revived forty year old friendships and made new friends.  We relived old memories and, if not more importantly, we created new memories.  There was a feeling in the room that I can’t describe.  What was the bond with the feeling of esteem, respect, regard and loyalty that was there?  I went to the dictionary and found the word that described it perfectly, LOVE!  I thought I was too macho to use it, but you cannot argue with Webster!

The event began at noon on Sunday.  We had the “New Orleans Room” as our hospitality suite from noon until midnight .  As members began to arrive, there were handshakes then hugs.  There was laughter and there were tears.  There were “remember when’s” and there were “you are full of it, that never happened!”  But the most rewarding happening was the look on the faces of the members when a new arrival would enter the room and it was a friend that had not been seen for over forty years.  We had name tags with Japan era pictures.  I guess some of us have changed in looks in the last forty and it was fun to watch one look at another’s name tag and see the recognition “click.”  Some of our old brains needed a boost to get the memory juices flowing.  In the hospitality room, we had a cash bar.  We had complimentary mid-afternoon snacks of sandwiches and chips. We had tables set up for memorabilia items to which many contributed to, that were fun to browse.  The hotel brought in a TV for the football fans.  We had tables of reunion items to sell for fund raisers to help off-set the reunion costs.  There were 6918^th and Dawg Flight t-shirts, there were 6918^th baseball caps and there were 2007 and 2009 reunion two disc DVD sets for sale, and there were raffle tickets sold.

Monday was similar to Sunday.  There were new arrivals and a lot of visiting.  We again had the cash bar, snacks, mid-afternoon sandwiches, TV and some went to play golf.  Monday afternoon we had a business meeting to discuss future reunions.  It was decided that the future “big” reunions will continue to be 6918^th Reunions but with help from the other flights to maintain and service your flight.  Following is the list of your flight coordinator who will continue the never ending task of locating new members and keeping you updated on upcoming events.

Able Flight                                               Baker Flight

Doug MacDonald  ’68-‘71                     Dan Bormann  ‘66-‘68

36 Montgomery Street                            344 Shattuck Street

Hamilton , NY   13346                     Medford , WI    54451

dmacdonald@mail.colgate.edu            dbormann@charter.net

(315) 228-2008                                        (715) 748-6706

Charlie Flight                                           Days and Ops

Wayne Graczyk                             Fred Barnes ’65-‘67

Tokyo , Japan                                            794 Chestnut Drive

                                                                   Fairfield , CA   94533-1794

wsgraczyk@yahoo.com                  frederickbarnes@comcast.net

                                                                   (707) 442-1794

  Guys, these fellows need your help.  They have your flight roster and timely information changes are most important.  If you have an e-mail, phone number or mailing address change, let them know as soon as possible.  Old orders and old pictures are a gold mine for organizers.  We all have them, so dig yours out and send a copy to your flight leader.  It takes untold hours to expand and keep the roster current.  Please help!  The more members that are found, the better the attendance will be at the reunions.  Those who have attended will agree that a reunion is a most rewarding experience. 

Tuesday, the 29^th, was a different kind of schedule.  Nothing was planned until 5:00 PM .  That afternoon many of the members car-pooled to Jefferson Barracks Cemetery to visit Dot Dorsey’s grave.  For those who did not know Dot, he was an Able Flighter who left Japan in’68 and was killed in action in Vietnam in February ’69.  Dot was well known and well liked by all who knew him.  The remains of his entire crew are buried at Jefferson Barracks Cemetery in St. Louis , which is about twenty miles south of the reunion site.

Other St. Louis sites visited Tuesday afternoon were:  The Gateway Arch, the Anheuser Busch Brewery with free samples at the end of the tour, Grant’s Farm with free samples at the end of the tour, the seventeen acre Japanese Garden at Missouri Botanical Gardens , the Transportation Museum and the Cabela’s Sporting Goods Store.  Some of us continued to visit Tuesday afternoon and some of us old ones took a nap.

By 5:00 PM. all had returned and were ready for the planned cocktail hour and program in the conference room.  We had an open bar that all seemed to enjoy.  We then conducted our flag ceremony by posting the American Flag and the Dawg Flight Standard. Here is a short story about the Dawg Flight Standard.  Bobby Fuerstenau, Dawg Flight, 1967-1969 is quoted; “being the diligent airman that I was, while doing research for an upcoming test, while working a mid, I came across a file cabinet with A, B, C, and D Flight Standards.  Thinking it would be a great souvenir, IT decided to go back to the barracks with me.  It has been folded in a drawer at home for the last forty years (except for the 2007 Vegas reunion).  Bobby could not be at this reunion, but he shipped the Standard to us so it could be part of the evening’s ceremonies.  Thanks Bobby!  CG. Green then led us in prayer and the banquet meal followed with a huge Italian feast that included the largest, melt in your mouth chicken breasts I have ever seen.  I thought, after the meal, I may have to take another nap!  The hotel did such a wonderful job with this and all of the arrangements during our stay!  They made us organizers look good and we told them so.

The conference room was equipped with a superb sound system and two movie screens with crescent seating at the dinning tables to ensure all had an excellent view of the video presentations for the program.  During the meal we enjoyed a collage of patriotic videos. We purposely kept the volume low to avoid interrupting the meal conversation but when the clip of the young girl playing Taps on a trumpet played, you could have heard a pin drop. These videos, even though I would like to take credit for being artistic enough to have found them on my own, were copies of e-mails that I had received from you guys between the 2007 and 2009 reunions.  I simply dumped them in a “patriotic stuff” file and enlisted Linda to put them together on a Power Point presentation.  We were reprimanded however, for showing them during the meal because “It is hard to swallow when there is a big lump in your throat.”  That just tells us that “love of your country still abounds in the 6918^th Family” and why we are so proud to have served with the caliber of people that you are.

The banquet meal was followed by the Memorial Segment.  Dave Bethard , my able bodied co-emcee, and I, found that this segment of the program was the toughest to present.  We would like for you to think that we made it up, but, like the Dawg Flight Standard, we “respectfully borrowed” it from someone else.  Bill Francis, 6918^th Charlie Flighter, 1964 to 1966, developed the Memorial Table.  The table was set between the podiums making it highly visible during the entire program.  We had five frames with ten to twelve names in each frame.  We used similar set-ups in Vegas and St. Louis .  With St. Louis being a Squadron Reunion, our list of names on the table numbered substantially more than our Dawg Flight list in Vegas.  Bill, thank you for your insight!  Here is how it was presented:                  

“Please stand.  Let us take a moment to remember the men who are no longer with us.  We’ve set a place at the table for them.  The table cloth is white, symbolizing the purity of their intentions to respond to their country’s call to arms.  The chair is empty; they are not here.  The glass is upside down to remind us that they cannot join in our festivities.  A slice of lemon is on the bread plate to remind us of their bitter sweet fate.  The black napkin stands for the emptiness that our friends have left in the hearts of their families, their comrades, and in our circles of friendship.  And there is salt spilled on the bread plate, symbolic of their family’s tears.  Finally, the single red rose and red ribbon is for love.  The love of country and countrymen that led these sons, brothers, husbands, fathers, and friends to defend the principles of freedom…some even to the point of paying the ultimate sacrifice.”  A touching ceremony!  Again, Thanks to Bill Francis!

Next we were honored to have a guest speaker join us, Colonel Patrick Taylor and his lovely wife Christine.  Colonel Taylor is the Director, Aeronautical Services, Office of Global Navigation, National Geospacial Intelligence Agency (NGA). He leads aeronautical and geospatial analysts who produce information and services to support the Department of Defense’s worldwide aeronautical mission.  He was commissioned from Air Force ROTC in 1987.  He is a Command Pilot with over 4,800 flight hours in various aircraft and weapons systems. Colonel Taylor has commanded the 330th Combat Training Squadron, Robins AFB, Georgia., and the 7th Expeditionary Air Command and Control Squadron, Al Udeid, Qatar .   He has also served as Deputy Commander, 116th Operations Group.  He has three Master of Science degrees.  Colonel Taylor did a fantastic job of sharing his “Intel” military experience with us.  Everyone thoroughly enjoyed his talk.  He seemed so young to our old group.  After his presentation we had a question and answer secession in which he gingerly side-stepped the questions to which we did not have “the need to know!”  Colonel Pat, thank you so much for being part of our program and thank you for your service to our country.

From there, the program continued with raffle drawings of reunion souvenirs, a two night stay at the hotel, and many other items.  Someone even donated a “slot machine pay out ticket” to be given away.  It was for ten cents!  Thanks, Seed!  Next the “Old Business” segment included past reunions.  The “New Business” covered future reunions and why we have reunions.  The “Monkey Business” was a “roast” of several of the attendees.  Then we read notes from members who would have liked to attend but could not, but still had something that they wanted to say to the group.  Then the following segment did what this segment always does, “The Closing,” saddens and brings the end to the current reunion.  The rest of the night was spent by taking group and individual pictures, handshakes, hugs, promises to “keep in touch” and “good byes for now!”

In other newsletters, I have included a few pictures.  We have hundreds of them of the reunion.  This time there are no pictures of the reunion for a couple of reasons.  The first is; it takes a lot of space in a newsletter and there are many pictures already posted on the two web sites that Pinky does such a good job of maintaining.  The second is; Dave Bethard has produced a two disc DVD for the 2007 and the 2009(to be complete soon) reunions.  The second disc of each set contains the best of the best pictures and video of each gathering (At least as much as space will allow!).  For you “non-computer” guys, for “computer” guys, for “attendees” and for “not able to attend” guys, this many page newsletter can be seen in living color rather than just reading it.

Not only do they include reunion material, he has professionally produced a whole spectrum of viewing pleasure items that will be of great interest to you if you have the slightest interest in the 6918^th or your Japan stay.