Folks started showing up in mid-afternoon and, thankfully, they came in a few at a time so I was reasonably able to remember names for a while. Anyone who knows me is aware of my inate inability to remember names. Joe and Terry Menno were the first encounter; not surprisingly since Joe seems to be the organizer, shepherd and go-to guy for this event. He has been terrific with me anyway, keepiing me posted to all the planning, any changes or modifications of plans along the way.It has been very interesting and rewarding to see faces and shake hands in the fleshwith these folks that it seems I've known since the 9th AVRS feature was born in 2007. Sadly, the guy who started it all, with me anyway, Ron Hyatt, isn't able to make it this year so I will still have not met the fella who gave rise to the Gallery. I was reading through some of my old guestbook entries a couple of weeks ago and did note that Joe Menno was really my first contatc with the 9th. He had submitted some comments to the website several years ago and, pleasant as that was, it was only a foreshadowing of things to come - the virtual explosion of materials - stories and photos - of the days of the squadron.
Soon after the initial greetings, stories began to flow from memories of days past. Some of them heart-warming and some just plain nuts - in a funny way. A couple of the fellas told of the days when they would have house girls taking care of their laundry, etc. Young Okinawan women who would arrive by "cattle trucks," they said. Large military trucks with high corrugated steel sides with holes cut so they'd have air to breathe; would be rounded up and trucked to the base and delivered to their respective barracks. They would take care of many of the house-keeping chores and the house boys who would "clean and clean and clean - and when it was all cleaned up they'd play cards the rest of the day," with the GIs.
Lou walked into a barracks bay one day and saw a bunch of guys sitting on their bunks, each with a pan of some kind of solution into which they were soaking their genitals. After the initial shock of seeing that he inquired and learned that they were all being treated for chancroid! Ah, the good ol' days, huh?
Bob and Lou bantering about the time he, Bob, was court-martialed for falling asleep on duty. As fortune would have it, Bob had played football for the squadron and the judge at the court-martial was a team-mate. Lou went to bat for Bob, testified as to what a great guy he was, and in the end Bob got off with having to give up only 2/3 of one month's pay. He concedes that his sentence may have been harsher if his offense had occurred one day earlier. As it was, he fell asleep on the first day following the close of Korean War hostilities.
Not all of the memories were of Okinawa though, of course, since those days were a few decades ago. Amari told of a hunting trip with Fred. They were out and shot a deer. As they were dragging the deer Fred had a heart attack. So there they were, deer on the ground, Fred on the ground, and Lou faced with a major decision. He commited to a plan - he dragged the deer the rest of the way leaving Fred on the ground with reassurance, "I'll be back for ya!" He got the deer on the truck and then went for help. When asked why he chose to take the deer instead of his hunting partner, Lou told them, "I figured nobody would want to steal Fred."
As hunting stories go, one story reminds the next guy of another and so it went. Joe was out hunting with some buddies and one of them got lost. He wandered around for hours and couldn't find the rest of the party. So, the guy climbed a tree and in the far distance spotted a farm house. He hiked to the farm house, explained his plight and the farmer agreed to drive him back into town where the lost hunter figured his friends would be waiting for him. Meanwhile, his buddies found their way back out to road and had been waiting for hours for their lost companion. After a while the farmer's truck is approaching the hunting party and comes to a stop. Out pops the lost soul, much to the amazement of the rest of the party. Well, maybe you had to be there...
