RESCUE REUNION

RESCUE REUNION

Air Force Rescue has a long history in the Portland area. Those of you who have been around for a while will remember some of the many rescues and lives saved over the years. Among the most notable were Mt St Helens and the Episcopal School on Mt Hood. The 939th Rescue Wing is converting to a KC-135 Air Refueling Wing effective in April. This is undoubtedly a sad time for us as rescue is near and dear to our hearts.

Well, the reunion has come and gone and a good time was had by all! We had about 250 plus folks join us over the three day event and you can bet there were some great stories going around. We were very fortunate to have folks from as far back as 1957 (Gene Ingram, Dennis Lambie, Pappy LaCass to name a few) as well as a few who just returned from Operation IRAQI FREEDOM (Dave Armstrong). The picture shows were excellent and those DVDs can be purchased, see below for more information. The "Missing Man" table was very moving and our Honor Guard did a tremendous job. We made the evening new live at five on Channel 2 Friday during the social. We had an interview on KPAM radio Saturday evening during the dinner and we made the front page of the Oregonian on Monday following the Sunday picnic! Click on the link below to see the newspaper article.

We had some great speakers too. Lars Larson talked about how much rescue will be missed in Portland and about some of the great rescues the unit was involved in. He talked about Bagger and the wonderful things he had to say he then attributed to every member of the unit. General "Rusty" Moen gave a very heartwarming talk about what the unit meant to him; General Mike Peters had some great things to say as well. We also heard from Col Tom Jones, Felix McLarney, Col Neil Schultz and a few others added their on accounts of their time with the unit.

Food for all three events was plentiful and very tasty. As you can all guess, there were plenty of spirits flowing too. Everyone who participated in Saturday's golf tournament enjoyed the day fully and we were very lucky to have the weather cooperate Saturday, as well as Sunday for the picnic. All in all, it was a huge success due in no small part to the members of the committee who worked so hard to make sure everything was as close to perfect as could be. In 2007 the unit will celebrate it's 50 anniversary. If anyone would like to take up the chalice and plan for another reunion please let one of the committee members know and we will be happy to get you all the information we have. Check out the links below for pictures of the 3-day event as well as info on ordering DVDs, model aircraft and wine, etc. Thanks again to everyone for making this reunion one that won't soon be forgotten!