THANK YOU!!!!
"Many Thanks" to Ron Hyatt and to Lou Amari for their generous contribution to the upkeep of this website. Your support is greatly appreciated by your humble webmaster! Mick McClary, April 20, 2008
Another huge "Thank you!" goes out today to Joe Menno and to Ken Godwin for their check received today. You guys are all great and this is going to guarantee that the 9th AVRS Gallery will live on! Mick, April 26, 2008
Time is long overdue for me to say another "Thank you!" to Frank Iava, and to Frank Cintolo, and to Don Ziter for their contribution. Thank you, gentlemen!! Mick, May 22, 2008
One more big shout-out of "Thank You!" to George Hickok for his generosity. As always, I appreciate your support! Mick Aug 28, 2008
Jan 6, 2009: Happy New Year! The time is 11:00p.m. and that means that I've now been retired (for the second time) for all of 30 and 1/2 hours! So, now I'll have a little more time to attend to this feature. I've added Vin Bricca's photos, so go look at 'em!
Love ya guys! Mick
"Mick, You are our historian and we will be forever grateful."
Joe Menno (27 Oct 07)
You guys have bestowed upon me the honor of trusting me with your images and your memories. My job is to display it all here and then sit back and just enjoy the exchanges among you all.
With respect, Mick
"Hey Mick, I think this is just as much fun for us as it is for you, except that we didn't do all this work."
Ward Colbree (10/28/07)
"You are officiallly part of the 9th AVRS. I said so!"
Ron Hyatt (28 Oct 07)
Thanks, Ron! I'm proud to accept, sir!
Mick
"Hi Mick,
I just wanted to take time to thank you for all the work you have done on behalf of the 9th. I think it turned out really great. What a great opportunity for guys like me to look back on some pretty good years. All those wonderful photos that the guys sent in really sparked some fine memories of what a great outfit the 9th really was. I made some good friends there, even though Okinawa was not exactly a tropical paradise. I remember the men of the 9th got along, and looked out for one another. They were a special group. I'm hoping that more of them will find the website. It sure would be nice to get in touch with more old friends. Again, and I know I speak for all of us when I say thanks. I'm fowarding a copy of this email to all the others that I have in my address book."
Lou Amari (31 Oct 07)
Thank you, Lou!
I hope that you can understand how much it means to me to read your words.
All of you guys I admire and respect so much. You might have been a generation of airmen and patriots ahead of me but I recognize that it was you who cleared the path, who did the heavy lifting to make a tour on Okinawa as much fun - and a fairly "cushy" assignment - as it was for me and my family.
Things were, in my opinion, pretty austere during my first tour on island. But, seeing what you had to deal with it makes it seem like I didn't have it so bad when I was there as a newly-wed three-striped buck sergeant.
I first went to Okinawa in 1972. I went back again in 1986. There was a big change in many ways in that 14 year interim. But, there were so many things about Okinawa that hadn't changed a bit - especially up North.
Kadena Air Base is like a modern-day community now - housing and facilities very modern. When I look at your pictures and see what it was like living and working out of quonset huts it just makes me appreciate, just that much more, how it was you who broke the ground and paved the way to the modern place that it is now.
Much as you might admire the guys who first did the hard work in the 1940s I recognize and admire what you did in the 50s. Without your contributions it just wouldn't be the place it is now. Actually, I don't have a clue what it's like now since I stepped off the island in 1990 and haven't had the pleasure of going back yet since then.
What I do with my website is to share my love for the islands and to serve as a means by which others might learn about Okinawa and, of course, to give folks like yourselves a forum with which to showcase your experiences - those years of your life that you gave to the people of Okinawa and for the citizens of our country through the early Cold War years. God bless each and every one of you!!
It is my hope that I can get someone at Kadena, the Air Division historian for example, to take a look at your gallery and that it helps to fill in some of the blanks that might have fallen from modern-day memory.
*Snappy Salute*
Mick
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