Sep2007News
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USAF Officer Candidate School -- Class 1957C
Newsletter: September 2007 Our Staff: President . . . . . . . . . . Jack Fox Vice President. . . . . . . Dale Shipley Secretary/Treasurer. . . . . Phil Meek Webmaster. . . . . . . . . Dick Nagel Photographer . . . . . . . Bobby Sims Golf Pro . . . . . . . . . Milt Jones Bar Tender . . . . . . . . . Frank Walls
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Our Website:
WWW.Webspawner.com/user/ocsclass57c/index.html
JACK’S CORNER: (JACK FOX)
The dog days of August are upon us again only this year we're melting in the heat. Daily temperatures have averaged 10 degrees above normal all summer. But I don't believe Al Gore is right. We have two business decisions upcoming and would like member input before acting.
At our 50th reunion in San Antonio in April, John Ferris and Bob Lee were appointed to investigate establishment of a memorial for our OCS 57-C Class to be located at locations such as the Dayton Air Museum or Lackland AFB. They are to be commended for a job well done in getting the information needed to start a memorial project. They found that the cost of a wall-mounted plaque at Dayton would cost about $2,000. A bench at Lackland will run about the same amount. See more detailed information in John and Bob's report in this newsletter. Let me know if you concur with either of the two methods of leaving a mark for future generations to remember us by. Write, email or call me at (714) 633-0207.
The second business item involves our next reunion. Discussions at the reunion narrowed location choices to Las Vegas and Laughlin, Nevada. Both are excellent locations but we have a better management situation in Las Vegas with one member being on site. We also have connections with the Gold Coast Casino and have established good rapport with the management group there. Members of 57-A, B, & D expressed interest in being invited, just as we have done in the past. If we sponsor a reunion, it is to our advantage to set the agenda and establish the planning process. The preferred time is mid-April, 2009. If you want a voice in the decision, let me know your preferences and intentions to attend or pass. Twenty one months isn't too early for preliminary inquiries because the ideal dates in April 09 are already being reserved. So get back to me by mid-September and Dale, Phil and I will quickly decide if, where and when we'll get together again. How about a moment of silence about 1000 hours on 20 September? In the OCS spirit -
Jack
DALE’S Domain (DALE SHIPLEY)
Bobby Sims has produced nearly 200 pictures from the San Antonio reunion. Many, many thanks Bobby. Dick Nagel has posted the pictures on our website. Please take a few minutes to look at the pictures. The URL for our website is on the first page of this newsletter just before Jack's Corner. While you are there take the time to sign the guest book and give Dick a pat on the back for a great job.
Well I hope the association membership will keep Jack's phone ringing and his mail box full with your opinions on the memorial and our next reunion. Every member should voice his/her opinion so that a democratic decision can be made. Does anyone else have a better suggestion for the funds in our treasury?
It is no longer just a rumor that the USAF is going to discontinue base decals. A news release by the Air Force Retiree News Service (AFRNS) on August 21, 2007 announced the change of policy. Here are the first two paragraphs:
"WASHINGTON (AFRNS) -- Air Force officials are working with the other services to allow its people to enter military installations without requiring them to display a base decal on their vehicles.
"Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley recently ended use of the sticker, officially called a DD Form 2220, on Air Force installations because of cost, a lack of utility and long-term threats facing bases."
The news release went on about how this policy change will enhance security.
Another AFRNS news release on the same day advised that - "In commemoration of the Air Force's 60th anniversary, the director of Services is encouraging all major command and installation commanders to allow retirees to use dining facilities Sept. 18." If you haven't had the opportunity to eat at a USAF dining facility, you should check with a local base and give it a try. Our family has done it many times at F.E. Warren AFB. It is always a revealing and memorable experience-nothing like the "Mess Halls" of yore.
About four weeks ago the Denver Post had an article about the veterans from the 10th Mountain Division that trained at Camp Hale here in Colorado. The secondary headline read, "The frail and aging members of World War II's 10th Mountain Division attended what some believe will be the last large national reunion for the soldiers on skis." Someday similar words might be written about our reunions. After all the WWII veterans are only a bit more than a decade ahead of us. Just remember that, "The last officer should turn off the lights."
Dale
PHIL’S BILLS (Phil Meek)
Financial Report
(As of August 21, 2007)
Beginning Balance $3,179.32
Receipts: Dues 70.00
Disbursements
Web Hosting:
2006 and 2007 84.00
Ending Balance $3,165.32
We now have 39 dues paying members of the association. Members who wish to stay in touch are encouraged to maintain current membership. Dues are only $10.00 per year. You can determine your current status from the roster which is noted in red letters after your name (i.e. MO8 means you are paid until Sep 08). Dues may be sent to Forrest (Phil) Meek 1319 E. Palo Verde Dr., Phoenix, AZ 85014.
Comments from the Secretary/Treasurer: I recently received a copy of the book Beyond the Wild Blue which is a history of the USAF which as you know is celebrating its 60th anniversary during September. The anniversary was a keynote of the Memorial Day parade in March of this year and will be celebrated and noted in several other ways. Many of us have been a part of the Air Force and helped make the history during all or at least most of the past 60 years.
I am sure that many of you, like me, are asked questions about the Air Force from people we meet. Often these questions have to do with what is happening in Iraq. Considering our experience, it seems to me that we have a continuing responsibility to keep as current as possible with what is happening and to advise anyone who asks why we must remain well armed and strong. We are in a religious war not a secular war and must remain vigilant against the Islamofascists, wherever they may be.
Phil
Miscellany
Memorial Update:
John Ferris reported the committee's progress:
Robert E. Lee contacted the National Museum of the USAF at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, about the possibility of a memorial plaque.
The National Museum of the United States Air Force (NMUSAF) started the Memorial Park in 1971 as a way for units and individuals associated with the Air Force to be honored for their contributions to the Air Force. The park currently contains over 500 memorials.
Sites available for memorials are:
THE MEMORIAL WALL: The wall will hold 128 plaques and was constructed by Dod's Monuments in Xenia, Ohio. The first wall is currently filled and several plaques have been mounted on the second wall with several other applications from units and individuals pending. Plaques are mounted in the next available position.
GRANITE MEMORIAL BENCHES: Locations for memorial benches are outside the museum's entrance doors, along the exterior of the Early Years and Air Power Galleries. Benches are placed in the next available position.
BENCH COST: $500 to the Air Force Museum foundation (for perpetual care). Cost of bench, foundations, etc.; $3,000-$5,000. Total cost will be between $4,000 and $7,000.
PLAQUE COST: Payment to the Air Force Museum Foundation, Inc. (includes prorated cost of granite wall, $50.00 mounting fee, $400 perpetual care) $1,050.
Cost of the Plaque - Estimate $500-$1,000 (paid to contactor). Total cost will be between $1,500 - $2,100.
Perpetual Care/Park Maintenance: A portion of the money paid to the Air Force Museum Foundation covers perpetual care and park maintenance. This is a one-time maintenance fee and is due by the time of the memorial dedication. If there is no memorial dedication, the perpetual care fee is due promptly after the memorial is placed in the park. The funds will not be used to spruce up memorials. Perpetual care includes the following maintenance:
* General park maintenance (mulch, sprinkler system, sidewalk).
* Repair of damage caused by acts of nature or vandalism.
*Repair or replacement of items that become safety hazards.
Bob did an excellent job of getting the information and talking to their representative.
If this cost is too high, we have another option; Lackland AFB is building concrete benches, more info on this later.
John
Obituaries:
Margaret Sims passed away during the night of June 13th. Our sympathy and prayers go out to Bobby and Margaret
Comment from your editor. Two months ago Elaine and I attended my brother's funeral. Shortly thereafter we received a touching letter from a close friend. He and his wife had just returned from the funeral of his sister-in-law. In the letter he wonderfully expresses the sentiments surrounding the gathering of friends and relatives at a funeral. He has asked to remain anonymous. However, with his permission the following is from his letter.
As several of us discussed in the past two days, our generation (up in the fourth quartile of a century) simply does not communicate with each other as was done 75 years ago. Then letters and post cards (some with portraits of family members or floral pictures) passed back and forth quite often. Of course, other communication means like we have today were not possible. Long distance telephone costs were guarded and not all people had phones. Today many of us send emails back and forth. But a part of this sending is simply a forwarding of ideas, pictures, urgings and thoughts developed by other people, most of them unknown to us. It's too easy. I am also guilty of ignoring friends and relatives so much of the time.
Last night when we got back from being gone two days there were 16 emails waiting. Only two of them could be called personal kinds of communication and we were appreciative of them.
The visitation at the funeral home was from 5 to 7 and we saw then and at the funeral and the luncheon after the many cousins, in-laws, grandchildren, and the like, that we had not seen for one, three, ten, thirty and sixty years. As we talked about that I mentioned that funerals I attended as a boy were attended by people living in a radius of 50 miles that were seen rather often. Nowadays, relatives are so scattered over the map and when they attend a reunion, funeral, or wedding they may travel far and will not have seen each other since the last similar occasion. Is this wisdom or obvious platitudes I am mouthing or writing?
We learned of surprising things ... and some people we'd never seen for decades and decades. There were greetings of pleasure, laughing and joking; things I think were not so common at the funerals I attended as a child. Then exchanges were more dignified, more funereal, more grief expressed -- there was not the distance of time between visits or the seeing of others as there is now. I've begun to pontificate.
Thank you dear friend.
Listing Updates:
The listing has had a few changes and the changes have been high lighted with yellow.
We may have remade contact with Boyd Dailey. The post office returned his mail and gave a forwarding address but said that the time period for forwarding had expired. The last newsletter was mailed to the new address with a note asking him to respond. He did not respond and neither was the newsletter returned. Perhaps someone in the Phoenix area could check on him at the new address.
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