USAFA Class Heritage Class of 1963

Retired Maj Air Force 82: CP (Command Pilot): 

97-12: Water Officer Fire Fighter Driver, Clarkridge Volun- teer Fire Department Mountain Home AR (Arkansas); 9504: Cattleman / Farmer Mountain Home AR (Arkansas);

88-89: SalesAssoc Century 21 LeMacRealty Mountain Home AR;

84-68: RealEstateSales Mountain Home AR;

80-82: 0 Contr (Contractor) 97BmbWg CmdPost Blythville AFB;

79-80: AcftCmdrKC-135 97ARefSq Blythville AFB;

76-79: EAO/DutyDir HgPACAF Hickam AFB;

73-76: SysAnlst HqSAC;

71-73: CPContrDet19 9BmbWg Otis AFB;

69-71: Pit (Pilot) 917ARefSq Dyess AFB;

67-68: Pit (Pilot) 20HeliSq Udorn AB;

65-67: Pit (Pilot) 46ARefSq KISawyer AFB;

63-64: PIITng Webb AFB; 

1DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross)-9AM (Air Medal)-3AFCM (Air Force Commendation Medal); 

1117 County Road 784 Mountain Home AR (Arkansas) 72653-8030

35th Reunion (1998): Iam very proud to be a graduate of USAFA. I’m sure I would have washed out of the academy my first semester if Cadets Nicholson and Dinsmore of the Class of ‘62 had not learned that I was failing history, math and biology. They went over my history lesson with me each day before class and got me special instruction from my history instructor. I had to stand special inspections at night, but they started asking me history questions instead of fourth-class knowledge. I appreciated them very much. Without their help I would not have made it. All I knew about airplanes before going to the academy was that B stood for bomber, C stood for cargo and F stood for fighter. I am very proud to have been an Air Force pilot. I enjoyed flying helicopters in SEA. The highlight of my career was saving the life of the A-1E squadron commander from NKP in 1968 when his wing was shot off while flying cover for our unarmed and unarmored helicopter as we crossed a heavily defended road returning from a mission into North Vietnam. With no guns and no fire suppression support, it was a miracle that we picked him up without taking a hit. Most of my flying was in the KC-135. I also enjoyed flying the T-39 at HQ SAC where I worked as a programmer/systems analyst on the Honeywell 6080. While at SAC I was passed over twice for temporary major, but, praise the Lord, I wrote an excellent letter to the promotion board and was selected for permanent major. That assignment was followed by an enjoyable but, careerwise, unprofitable three years at PACAF HQ in Hawaii. Having entered the academy with prior service, I was able to retire aat Blytheville AFB in January 1982 with twenty-one years of service. I bought two hundred acres of land and moved my family to Mountain Home, AK, where I sold real estate for eight years. The best thing I got out of the real estate business is my second wife, Patsy Ruth. I sold her and her husband a lot here in 1989. Then my first wife, Patsy, divorced me in 1992, and Patsy Ruth’s husband died of a heart attack in January 1993. We developed a closer relationship by phone and letters, and after our class reunion in 1993, I drove on out to California and married her. We enjoy raising beef cattle in our remaining hundred acres and working to establish a new Baptist church in our rural area. I have two married daughters of whom I am very proud and two very young grandsons.