Fourth Quarterly 2013
Longtrip E-Newsletter
Updated: 5 December 2013
Our veterans group mailing list is an opt–in/opt–out type arrangement. So long as you wish to receive our group email messages your contact information will remain in the MailChimp email box groups named: Longtrip Email List, Engr Email List, or Catkillers Email List. If you wish to no longer receive messages within any group mailing, just send me a private email and ask to be removed from the group, or opt–out when you receive a group email with an available unsubscribe feature. Again, if you desire to be included in a group’s email list, please complete a separate form for each group on the form and Subscribe. This is how we remain compliant with CAN-SPAM Act. Donald M. Ricks, Webmaster.
Click here for: Direct Source for Sign–up Form
HONOR ROLL: (Empty)
FOUND LONG TRIPPERS: (October 31)
Don, I just stumbled across the CAC website and I’ve spent the last couple of hours going through the pictures and the stories. Totally enjoyed it. Thank you for putting this together! I wish I had known about the reunion in Las Vegas. Should have found the website sooner.
I am going to send you a picture to put next to my name, and I am going to review my Vietnam pictures for some that might be of interest to CAC survivors.
Curtis B. Harvey, Kilgore, Texas [see the roster]
I was with CAC from Jan 1972 to Jan1973, CPT then, and stayed in Army until 1991 retiring as LTC. Real name: Gilbert Montgomery.
Mac Montgomery, North Carolina [see the roster]
I had a brief conversation today with Herbert Valencia, CAC, 1972. Hoping to soon hear from Herb with more information.
See the entry below regarding Jim Killette.
LONG THANH NORTH AIRFIELD REUNION, LAS VEGAS, OCTOBER 2013: (October 7)
Not having a copy of the contract in front of me as I write this, my comments must be tempered with the use only of what I saw and experienced first hand. It is, first of all, regretful that I would have anything negative to write about the facility we trusted to help us plan and execute an enjoyable and memorable reunion, as the effort expended and expense paid in our various modes of getting to Glitter City was not insignificant.
RATING, on a ten point scale: Travel to Las Vegas, for me a 4 (it’s a long car trip from Alabama; others might have a higher number here). The New Tropicana Hotel guest rooms are an 8 rating, at least). The New Tropicana’s overall attitude toward our group and adherence to the contract was a 4, at best!, and the convenience of the facility for distance from the room to the front entrance parking lot (the only one from which you could personally load/unload your car) and the distance to things within the hotel was a 5 out of 10. Not having a Hospitality Room available upon arrival (as provided for in the contract), and one which we appealed for all during the next day, was a Zero!
Meeting the men and their ladies at the event was Priceless!!! We had a great time seeing one another, sharing a drink, talking and rekindling old memories. This went on all during the reunion. Our nice looking and actively engaged ladies added to the enjoyment of all events as they joined in conversations and usually intervened when obvious exaggerations did not match previous stories. Such enjoyable camaraderie was one area of our reunion the hotel could not have messed up, no matter what. Here are some comments to punctuate this statement:
CAC Reunion Oct. 2013 Las Vegas:
To the extraordinary group known as the Command Airplane Company pilots of Saigon and Long Thanh North and all that served I would like to express my appreciation for the heartfelt welcome my wife and I received at our 2013 reunion and the wonderful experience of being with so many people with whom I shared such an important and growing time in my life. How fortunate, privileged, honored and proud I feel to have been a part of this group. A profound “Thank you” and may all of you continue to prosper in the enjoyment of life.
Capt. Jerome “Robe” Robelen
I am sure that all of you were worried that at my advanced age, and without Joe to guide me through the rigors of air travel you were worried that I might never make it home.
Well I have , and I want to thank all of you for making the event most enjoyable. I would also thank those that put all the work and effort into our gathering THANK YOU !! I know the issues you faced and must commend you for the outstanding job you did.
I look forward to our next reunion.
Peter Faber
Don: Let me add my personal thanks to you for the significant energy of yours evident in the web site and the reunion [I add Joe Tilghman to this line for he was mostly responsible for the reception and dinner]. We had a great time at the CAC reception and dinner...and at the weddings Saturday and Sunday. We cruised around the hotel when we were there on Sat/Sun just to look for Lost Long Trippers, but without luck. Really enjoyed connecting with guys I knew and several that now are new friends. Sincere thanks for your making this happen for me.
Dave Heebner
Thanks to Joe Tilghman for his last minute contact and appeal to the hotel event staff (who probably still had not fully read and understood all the contract). He ensured we had a patio setup for our first event (but unexpectedly) on a windy and very cool Friday during a cocktail hour 5:00 until 7:00 so all could get acquainted. If we had been given the Hospitality Room as promised we might have avoided a windy patio scene that threatened to spoil our planned Memorial Service. However, again, Joe Tilghman got personally involved with the hotel’s event staff personnel and arranged for the use of an adjacent chapel where we met in privacy for a short events briefing and could easily hear our MC, Al Smith. Joe and Al had their first opportunity to address the group as a whole and there passed out needed information. Following that we had a solemn service in remembrance of our KIA/MIA brothers and those who have passed on since Vietnam.
The next event was our CAC dinner at 7:30. We were disappointed that the table set up for us did not have enough joining tables and chairs to accommodate each person who attended. We were separated into three booths of four each with the remainder seated at the short table. Folks, this to me is unforgivable treatment and poor service by a disjointed hotel staff that was given sufficient notice of the numbers of attending guests.
My overall assessment, embarrassingly written as a Hilton Honors Member, is that I am disgusted with the Tropicana Hotel staff’s failure to have a Hospitality Room available upon our check–in and for their insensitive pricing versus value for our important dinner events. For one example, after the CAC Friday evening dinner (at a price of $80 per person), when many had already departed the room, the staff that served us presented a bill that charged each person who ordered coffee an extra $5.00. Tea, coffee and water should have been included in such a price. Others who ordered wine were charged $11 for a few ounces of house wine on top of the cost of their meal. We were not prepared for this add–on charge that should have been clearly noted in the contract. Small aggrivations, true, but on top of the major one mentioned above they merely stirred up the bee’s nest. I like the positive way Peter Faber said it (speaking to Joe Tilghman), “I know the issues you faced and must commend you for the outstanding job you did.”
I departed early on Saturday morning due to a family matter that required my attention so I did not experience the Saturday evening dinner and will leave that one to Terry Edmunds to discuss.
Lessons learned in Las Vegas will help insure these mistakes do not reoccur at our next reunion. Though we have not experienced anything negative when having reunions with the Long Thanh North crew, due to our growing numbers, some have suggested we most likely would opt for a pure CAC event the next time around. We will discuss this possibility in the future.
Jack Watson and his lovely wife Leigh made sure we had a basket full of photos from the Friday event. Jack promised to send them to me soon, but I have this one taken with a Canon camera from a distance. As soon as those taken by Jack arrive I will start putting together a set for publication:
L–R, front row: Jack Watson , Joe Tilghman, John Moore, Peter Faber, David Heebner, Jerry Robelen.L–R, second row: Dave Barlow, Craig Herget, Alan Smith, Bob Kirksey, Garnett Crask, Grant Ferreira, Bill Ipock, Don Ricks, and Linwood Stevenson.
Jimmy Johnson arrived as the reunion began but I did not see him due to the lack of a Hospitality Room. Unfortunately, his son was involved in a T–Bone accident caused by an uninsured drunk driver. Jimmy departed immediately after receiving the news and returned to be with his son who was in crital care for three days with a concission. Jimmy says, “He is home now doing well—very lucky—drunk was uninsured.” Our best wishes for your son’s complete recovery, Jimmy.
In closing, we all thank Terry Edmunds for his efforts and personal sacrifice in setting up the reunion. Grant Ferreira on station assisted with a lot of leg work too, but when it came down to execution the hotel did not perform well. Terry and I both agree that not having a Hospitality Room was a major reason we will seek redress from the hotel. More on that in the future. In spite of any negative preception from my take on this event, each one who attended enjoyed the fact we were able to meet and share an old spirit still alive—so much so that we eagerly look forward to the next one.
MACV FLIGHT DETACHMENT PERSONNEL:
During the last few months I have spoken with three previous members of MACV Flight Detachment. We now have contact with two who are alo on the roster: CPT Carl Yoder and LTC (Ret) James Killette. Here is a note from Jim Killette anmd a rare look at the MACV Flt Det patch:
I got to NAM in July 1965 and was supposed to go to the AMERICAL DIV but was switched to the MACV FLT DET when they found out I had a lot of twin time in U8F. Our base ops was at the base of the control tower at SAIGON. When I left in JULY 1966 it was still THE MACV FLT DET. More information coming after I dig it out.
[From readingf the USARV Flight Detachment history page] I knew all the guys mentioned in the MACV FLT DET in 1965/66. LTC Gunn was the commanding officer. A few names I recall: BAUGH, TERRELL, FRIX, HURST, BAYNE, BONNETT, MORGEN, and ALLMAN. I would like to hear from anyone [Editor has his contact info]. I have waited a long time searching for someone to contact and talk too about the MACV FLT DET—THANKS
Jim Killette
PS: I have 6 original patchs that I brought home from NAM.
JERRY ROBELEN’S AIRCRAFT WAS A HIT TOUR IN LAS VEGAS!
Jerry Robelen invited anyone attending the Las Vegas Reunion 2014 to come out to his local hangar for a visit and to check out his Seawind 3000. There were many who did and it appears they had a great time. What a neat and pretty hangar, Jerry! Here are a few photos, courtesy of Bob Cartwright:
COLONEL GLEN D. CLARK, DECEASED, 28 NOVEMBER 2013:
Tomorrow, December 6, is the funeral for Colonel Glen D. Clark in Peoria, Arizona, and we send our condolences to Jackie Clark and her family and friends during their mourning:
