Guest Speaker

At the Saturday night banquet, Gen. William Begert spoke of alternative methods used in recent operations in Afganistan in lieu of flying FACs. His presentation included video surveillance clips testifying to the awesome accuracy and timely response upon target identification. Gen. Begert was a Covey FAC.

Our fund raising efforts were successful because of the generosity of FACs, their relatives and friends. We recently received $430 from EEM Tours that was attached to reunion registrations and designated by reunion attendees as a memorial donation. The names of the donors of the $430 has not been provided but has been promised in future correspondence by EEM Tours. All known donors were sent a letter of appreciation, a copy of the program and some photographs. This will be done for the last group, when identified by EEM Tours.

At this time we have $1,888 in the memorial account in Hawaii. We anticipate sending all remaining funds to the FAC Assn. treasurer.

The Hawaii Reunion 2002 committee members want to thank all of the donors for making it possible to create and install a lasting tribute to all of the American, Australian and New Zealand aviators who served together in Southeast Asia.

...a footnote: Unfortunately, a truck belonging to the Punchbowl Cemetery maintenance department struck the FAC memorial on May 31 and damaged the granite base. It has been removed for repair and the Director of the cemetery has promised that the VA will pay for the repairs.

Editors note: Bill Ernst impressed his colleagues on the FR2002 planning committee by his diligence and attention to detail. If I were writing his ER, I'd put all the Xs to the farthest right they could go and recommend him for any project you'd want zero defects performance. Along with him, Mike Cavanaugh deserves special mention for his work as Chairman of Protocol and Banquet MC.

"Hen, please put in a best wishes for Charlie Pocock. He had to evacuate his house north of C Springs yesterday because of that terrible fire. We pray that he and his wife are safe and he does not lose his home."

(ed. Apparently, this is in reference to the Hayman Fire in Colorado.) A FACNET posting by Charlie stated he was heading out from his house with computer hard drive in hand. Once again God has taken care of Charlie and both he and the house escaped unharmed.)

In a report to FAC Assn President Toby Rushforth, Charlie wrote: "...It has been about a month since I returned from the Great Hawaiian Reunion and I owe you an update on the change in the direction the FACBOOK committee is taking.

1. I believe the 100 page mini-book went over quite well. In spite of the poor reproduction quality of the pictures, I've received several kudos on the effort. I've agreed with Claude Newland that if you approve of the idea we'll put together a fall mailing to everyone who pays their 2002 Association dues.

2. I proposed to the Executive Committee that we should establish a cutoff date for additional stories and pictures for an eventual book. However, the committee decided that we should continue collecting stories and pictures forever, even though some might not make it into our first published effort. I agreed with this concept and will continue to collect stories, pictures and other related information.

3. Since no one has yet stepped forward with the knowledge, skill, energy, etc., to publish a real book, the Executive Committee agreed that the next best plan would be to put all of our data on a CD and have it available for sale at the next reunion. While this is less of a task than publishing a book it is still a tremendous undertaking to organize and edit the material in a format suitable for a CD.

4. The stated objective of the FACBOOK project is to collect our history and make it available to the world. So far we have collected more than 1,000 pages of stories and over 450 pictures. So the collection objective is being met and we are now starting into a new phase of making the information available to whomever wants it. Accordingly, I've reorganized our committee slightly with the emphasis on editing. A new committee listing is attached to this e-mail. I have just distributed a CD with all of our stories and pictures to the key editors and they should have it by the end of this week. This also ensures that if anything happens to me or my computer the data will be in several other hands. "

"...Greg (Bassine) threw me a curve ball and I would like you to really consider it hard. His idea is to supplement the CD concept (done by Larry or Bob) with a stand alone History Book website, which he would build and maintain, on a time available basis. (Remember this is business) His idea is that the FAC Association website and the History Book website would be cross linked, but the history book site would only contain the history, while the Association Website would contain all of the information about the Association. This is not a bad concept, considering the objective of making our history available to the world and the large amount of history information we are going to be producing. It would also relieve Zot of the responsibility of maintaining the history book section of the present website. The downside would be that there would be a cost for doing this...Greg's initial effort can be viewed at: http://www.buddysbend.com/FAC-Website/index.html. (Zot's Comment - The FAC Book will take on a life of its own and this makes a lot of sense because it will entail a lot of effort.)

FAC BOOK ‘POINTS OF CONTACT’:

PERSONAL/PERSONNEL MATTERS

FACs recognized recently as still moving up the active duty ladder are Gen. Danny James, III and Gen. Ralph E. Eberhart. Gen. James was an O-1 driver at Gia Nghia and Ban Me Thout 1969/70 and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be the new Director of the ANG. Gen. Eberhart was an O-2 FAC at Pleiku in 1970 and was nominated by the President to be the Cdr US Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command at Peterson AFB, CO. Congratulations, gentlemen!

Fred Pumroy and Dennis Crouch joined in the dedication of Valor Park at the Wright-Patterson Museum at which five living Medal of Honor winners were in attendance. Our own George "Bud" Day was among those honored by about 300 guests who were privileged to hear the stories of each of the MOH holders.

Chris Neale, Jade 08, wrote "...It has been in the back of my mind for some time, but would "regional reunions" be worth discussing or mentioning in the Newsletter. I am in the process of setting up a move to central Calif., so won't be able to do much for some time, but it seems as if we could work up "all call sign" gatherings of guys in close proximity. I know the guys near FWB do this all the time, so it seems like others could do the same in other area. (ed. Chris can be reached at jade08@worldnet.att.net)

FAC TRIVIA BOOKS AVAILABLE

The FAC Trivia Book is available for sale by the FAC Association at $10.00 per copy. This 100 page booklet is a wonderful historical document of many of the individual accomplishments of FACs in SEA. You'll find it a great read and most entertaining. See the Dues Form (enclosed) to order your booklet. (Note: Charter members of the association should already have received a copy of this booklet in 2001 as a result of their becoming a charter member.)

DID YOU KNOW…?

...that Aussie and Kiwi FACs who served with US Forces did not receive Air Medals. Their respective governments did not authorize acceptance of any awards or medals from the US. Ken Semmerle reports that his government "did a back flip on this" in the mid '90s, however, "few of us kept any paperwork or whatever…" Don Mercer, Rustic FAC who has worked on other Awards and Decoration oversights of the SEA conflict is providing leads to help our down-under friends obtain the guidelines and find appropriate channels for the consideration of such awards. If you have any inclination to assist in this effort, please contact FAC Association president Toby Rushforth.

...that there is a group of retirees living in Thailand who are in the process of organizing a reunion for any and all of those who were stationed and or worked in South East Asia? Families and guests are welcome. The reunion is scheduled for 27-29 September 2002 to take advantage of off-season hotel and transportation rates. The venue will be the Ambassador Hotel on Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok, a 3-star hotel charging US$25/day, good for 3 weeks on either side of the reunion dates. For further information, contact les@loxinfo.co.th and indicate (1) If you are definitely planning, (2) giving it serious thought, or (3) just thinking about it. Also, how many in your party and other tour interests.

...that the Cessna O-1 Bird Dog flown over the Hawaii FAC Reunion dedication ceremony was making its final flight before being donated to the Military Aviation Museum of the Pacific which is slated to reopen at its new location on Dec. 7, 2004 in the historic hangars and control tower on the south side of Ford Island. FACs who enjoyed the O-1 and O-2 flyover during the dedication can thank the pilots via the editor's email address: Willy Schauer (Col. USAF, ret.) flew the O-1; David Gray (USA, ret) flew the O-2. A trivia question: The current civilian N number of the O-1 is N5074B. What was its original USAF tail number?

A PARTING SHOT
Hen Min Hiu, Chairman, FR2002

The Hawaii FAC Association gratefully acknowledges the help of many volunteers during FR2002. Carolyn and Ben Petty (Nail FAC) of EEM Tours provided professional advice and on-site assistance from beginning to end while many of you made spontaneous donations of goods and greenbacks.

I am happily in debt to the HIFACs for their loyalty, hard work, and cheerful encouragement. Namely: William Begert, Vic Bonfiglio, John Callahan, Mike Cavanaugh, Bill Ernst, David Greenlee, Mac McNeill, Putt Richards, Toby Rushforth, and Buck Welch.

And thanks of course to my wife Arlene for her usual indulgence and support. MAHALO to all of you!