Meeting the guys from the 361st

If you haven't read the post entitled "At The Reunion" then stop. You need to read that first so you can follow.

I left off with my introduction to Woody. Remember, "...goosebumps....." Yeah... some serious goosebumps! They were quite visible. Even Woody noticed and apologized. I smiled and told him no apology was necessary. It was a good thing.
The 1st moment was weird. Here is a guy that knew my dad. How is this supposed to work? I wondered. But it actually was easy. Woody went straight to the night my dad crashed. He started telling me about the search for the chopper.

( I'm worried about this post becoming way too long for anyone to want to read, so I will hit the highlights and introduce the guys. I'll figure out a way to share the details through video. I took video of the guys talking about my father and the search operation, but I don't know what the size limits are. One of the videos is kind of long. We'll see. But for now, let me at least introduce the guys that knew my dad.)

As mentioned, the first one I met was Woody. Woody was always smiling. He struck me as a fellow that enjoys and appreciates life. I suppose living in Florida contributes to the laid back approach to living! He was a lot of fun to talk with and he was always gracious and respectful. A joy to be around! After chatting a little while he pointed to John. John knew my dad too. John was more soft spoken. Not as outgoing, but no less respectful. Really nice man. I didn't get to visit with John as long. He didn't have as much interaction with my dad, but he was one of the 1st 2 choppers launched to search for my dad (if I am remembering correctly) John is the guy in the middle of the picture of 3 guys. John told me he remembers "that night" very well. He described feeling a black cloud settling in over Camp Holloway when my father didn't show up when he was supposed to.
Let me apologize now if I get something mixed up. I took in a LOT of information between Thursday & Saturday. I'll make corrections as needed. Now, back to the guys. Then there was Mike. Another real nice guy... a little louder than the others :-)
Very generous fellow. I thoroughly enjoyed talking with Mike. He's the guy that saw to it that I was attending the banquet (which I hadn't planned on attending). One thing I can say about Mike, he likes to hear himself talk! I think he'd admit that. Then I met Dana. Dana was probably the most eloquent speaker of the bunch. I loved listening to his stories. He has a great story-telling voice and he placed emphasis and pauses in just the right places. Great story teller! Dana was one of the 2nd pair of pilots launched to search for my dad. He and Woody flew out together that night after Lash & John had to return to camp b/c of mechanical trouble. Their helicopters didn't have enough power to negotiate the weather safely. Later Woody and Dana had to land at an Air Force field due to mechanical problems too. In fact, Woody's compressor stalled out around 11,000 feet. (That's a good story in itself! I'll call that one "Steak or Lobster?" Boy, am I glad I have these tales on video!) Dana's story about his end of the search was amusing. Even under the ominous atmosphere surrounding my father's crash, there was humor to be found. The last fellow I met was perhaps the most talkative! This was Lash. He laughed and smiled a lot! Mike told me a little about Lash before I met him. One of the first things Mike told me was, "You know that your father was gay, right?" There was some chuckling among the ranks. Then he continued, "Lash was his lover in Vietnam." That was followed by considerable laughter, including mine. (Sorry, Mom. It was all in jest.) Keep in mind, this was Thursday and I didn't meet Lash until Friday. And he wasn't around to hear this either. So he didn't know. It was all pretty funny. I'll share the outcome later... that is funny as well. I need to bring this to a close for now. Needless to say, I was now looking forward to meeting Lash. But not just for the joke... but because Lash was my dad's roommate.

Thanks for taking the time to read this tale as it unfolds. Until the next time...
be well.