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During various stages of
arrival times and dates, the final turnout for this reunion was very
impressive for our small group. We
had 13 Night Rustics present or represented and including our guests, 22
people attended overall, with 21 of those dining at our ending banquet. Just for the record, if you couldn’t make
it this year, WE ALL MISSED YOU! A
few of you even had to cancel from the reunion at the last minute due to unfortunate
circumstances, but we met our hotel contract obligations with no sweat. From the agenda below, there seemed to be
enough variety of events in the city while we were there, to satisfy even the
toughest rebels of the unit.
Actually, as chairman, it was a bit like trying to herd cats at times,
but in the end it was realized that the cats will ALWAYS come home for
dinner, right? Thus, our mealtimes
were awesome, not only with the local epicurian delights and restaurateurs,
but with all the visiting, reminiscing and telling of old tales, which
somehow seem to get bigger and better each reunion. Regardless, all those who expressed their opinions following
the outing offered a strong affirmation of having a great time! You can see below that there was plenty to
do with the group and some did everything planned, while others went to
different favorite attractions of their own, as well as visits with old
friends and family in the San Antonio area.
There is certainly no lack of things to do and see in that part of
Texas, especially on the Riverwalk and our hotel accomodations right on the
river were very nice, not to mention at a great price.
We are very
pleased that after several years of invitations and conflicts, we were
finally able to get Ms. Gloria Auth, our advertised “mystery guest”, to
attend one of our reunions. She is the
wife of Ret. Lt.Col. Jerry Auth who flew the very first FAC O-2A Rustic
mission into Cambodia when our operation was born. Jerry passed away suddenly in 1994 with brain cancer. We would like to have his Rustic callsign
for the Roster if anyone knows what that was. Gloria is a very delightful addition to our group and was
accompanied by her close friend, Nick Nichols.
We are also
very happy to have had two other first-time Rustic pilots join us for a
reunion; Bill “Wild Bill” Healey (R-32) and Ret. Lt.Col. Tony Winkler (R-22)
with his wife, Nancy. It was very
interesting to see how well all these new faces were enfolded into our “old
reunioners” circle of friendship and comraderie. I believe that we are indeed a family of kindred souls, as well
as a unit of the tightest, toughest, smartest, most cunning FAC pilots to
have ever engaged in aerial battle with an enemy!!!!
There were two
more new faces on the ladys’ side of the equation at this reunion, as
well. One was the guest of Bob
“Redeye” Harris (R-33), Ms. Cheryl Kerr.
She is quite the spirited Southern Bell entrepreneur and it has been
subsequently brought to our attention that she is no longer his guest, but
has since become Bob’s fiancee!!!!
Congratulations to both of you!
The second new lady is the very charming wife of Ret. Lt.Col. Bill
Lemke (R-27), Bonnie Lemke. You
should hear their moving love story….it is a match made in heaven, if ever
there was one! On behalf of the Night
Rustics, I would like to officially welcome the new ladies to “Our Gang”, a
dubious distinction at best.
Ret. Lt.Col.
Mike “Chunk” Thrower (R-34) was gracious enough to engage his personal
contacts at Randolph and arranged to get our group a mission briefing and a
personal tour of the T-38 Instructor School there. We even visited the sims and a static display on the flight
line, where many of us got our 40-some-years-later “T-38 Hero Shot” update
for comparison with our UPT originals (see reunion photos)!! It was very interesting to see how young
all those airmen, not to mention the Field Grade Officers, looked. I’m fairly certain the airmen said to one
another after we departed ops, “What in the heck is a FAC?” “Is someone who FACs called a FACker?”
On a serious
note, I would like to thank all of those who attended and made this such a
special time to remember for all of us.
It is my regret that many others could not make it. It is my fear that we may not be able to
continue these biennial reunions for any one of a number of reasons: lack of
interest, poor health, death, finances, epidemics, terrorism, martial law,
civil war……who knows what tomorrow will bring in this precarious, upside down
world? The point is, we each
need to consider not putting off the next reunion in favor of one in the
future, as that future one may never come.
Your support
of my efforts as chairman of this event and as webmaster are, and have always
been, greatly appreciated.
- Dave DeKoker (R-32)
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