We Salute

WE SALUTE THESE MEN AND WOMEN,
our Classmates from the Class of 1962,
for their service to our country.*
 

Honor Roll of Service

Chip Abernathy, United States Army, Coast Guard Reserves
Don Ackerman, United States Air Force
William Allen, United States Army
Allan G. Alter, United States Marine Corps (Patsy IVEY Alter)
Clyde Anderson, United States Air Force
Danny Anderson, United States Air Force
George Eldred Anderson, United States Navy (Jenny RASMUSSEN Anderson)
Allen Michael "Mike" Andre, United States Air Force
Carl Barnes, United States Army
Julianne BATTAGLIA Tillman, Department of Defense
Garry Preston Becker, United States Army
Claude Belcher, United States Navy
D. Meade Bernard, United States Naval Reserve (Libby GIRLINGHOUSE Bernard)
David BICKNER Layne, United States Army
John Bobbitt, United States Air Force
Henry Larry Breitmoser, United States Army (Judy CHANCEY Breitmoser)
Don Brown, United States Air Force
Frank Brubaker, United States Coast Guard (Evelyn STEINMEYER Brubaker)
Lloyd Bruce, United States Air Force
Lester "Butch" Burroughs, United States Army
John Callender, United States Army
Rusty Camp, United States Coast Guard
Jim Caraway, United States Air Force (Joanne GRIFFIN Caraway)
Lawrence M. "Larry" Carter, United States Navy
Su CHANDLER Ferguson, American Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces
Mark W. Clark, United States Navy (Kaye HIGGINBOTHAM Clark)
Phillip Cushman, United States Army (Jerry Patterson)
Roxanne DAVIS Tweedy, United States Air Force, United States Navy
Andrea Braboy Dixon, United States Air Force (Warren Dixon)
Warren Dixon, United States Air Force
Earl E. Edenfield, Jr., United States Coast Guard (Dianne DAVIS Edenfield)
Robert E. "Bob" Eubanks, United States Army
James B. Ferguson III, United States Navy (Su CHANDLER Ferguson)
Judith FETTERS Trickett, United States Navy
James (J C) Frier, United States Marine Corps
Chris Garbow, United States Army
Broadus William Garrett, United States Marine Corps
Louis Gregory, United States Marine Corps
James Jerry Grimsley, United States Air Force, Florida Air National Guard
Dee Hargett, United States Coast Guard (Linda Jane CULVER Hargett)
David Hargnett, United States Army
Bob Hayes, United States Navy
Jim Hicks, United States Air Force
Thomas Hiers, United States Army
Thomas L. Houk, Jr., United States Navy (Gayle GODWIN Houk)
Mike Hoyt, United States Navy
Bill Hudgens, United States Navy (Claudia KELLY Hudgens)
Victor Hughes, United States Coast Guard (Charlene BOGGS Hughes)
Zane Hutcherson, United States Navy
Bob Johnson, United States Navy (Su EGNER Johnson Peterson)
Jeff Johnson, United States Navy
Richard Johnson, United States Air Force
Raymond Jones, United States Navy
Robb Jones, United States Army
Thomas Hilliard Jones, United States Navy
Buddy Kellum, United States Air Force
Wayne Killian, United States Navy
Larry Lasater, United States Navy
Mike Madigan, United States Air Force
Earl Mally, United States Army (Claudia HART Mally)
Mike Manko, United States Navy (Pat RONEY Manko)
Richard David Mann, United States Marine Corps
Robert E. "Bobby" Martin, United States Army National Guard
Gene McCormack, United States Air Force
John McLeod, United States Navy, Defense Intelligence Agency
Don Musselwhite, United States Army
Milton Edward Myers, United States Air Force
Duncan C. Newkirk, United States Army (Susan MIMS Newkirk)
Wright Edward "Butch" Noble, United States Army
Jack Overton, United States Navy
Inous Parrish, Jr., United States Army
Jerry Patterson, United States Navy
David Pettigrew, United States Navy (Virginia SWEAT Pettigrew)
Suzanne PITMAN Hassinger, United States Air Force
Craig Pooser, United States Army, National Guard
John Pugh, United States Marine Corps
David Rice, United States Marines
Sidney Robinson, United States Navy
Pat RONEY Manko, United States Navy
Paul Sandefer, United States Air Force, Florida Air National Guard 
Thomas Michael "Mike" Seale, Florida National Guard
Gary Sikes, United States Army (KIA)
Larry Silas, United States Marines Reserve
Claudos Spears, United States Army
John H. Spencer IV ("Hank"), United States Army Reserve, National Guard
Lewis Spencer, Jr., United States Army
Clayton H. Spikes, United States Navy (Nunna ALLEN Spikes)
Samuel Steen, United States Army
William M. "Bill" Strickland, United States Navy (Mary Beth DAVIS Strickland)
John E. Thrasher, United States Army (Jean MOORE Thrasher)
Jeff Van Rope, United States Army
Joseph Vaine, United States Air Force ROTC
Nelson Voelker, United States Marine Corps Reserve
Roger Waters, United States Air Force
Andy C. Whiddon, United States Marine Corps (Marilyn MILNER Whiddon)
Robert B. "Bob" Whitley, United States Navy
Charles Whittier, United States Air Force
Ronald Wilkinson, United States Air Force

_______________________
* This list was compiled from the profiles in Classmates and individual submissions. Please use Contact Us to send additional names.


*     *     *     *     *
 

We remember THOMAS GARY SIKES, our classmate and friend, who was a First Lieutenant in the United States Army when he made the ultimate sacrifice in combat in Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam, on December 20, 1968, just 13 days shy of his 24th birthday. In country just three months and two weeks, Gary was awarded a Purple Heart, and National Defense, Vietnam Service, and Vietnam Campaign medals.

*     *     *     *     *

Jeffrey Bruce Johnson

Navy Commendation Medal for Meritorious Service
National Defense Medal
Republic of Vietnam Medal
Navy Commendation Medals (4)
Navy Air Medals (17)

February 25, 1945 - August 20, 2019
 

Our classmate, Jeff Johnson, is pictured in the same airplane in which heroic naval aviator, LT Peter Russell, made the ultimate sacrifice for his country and which is now on display in the National Naval Aviation Museum.

Editor’s Comments:

One of the comments in the "Shared Memories" section attached to Jeff’s obituary first caught my attention: "I heard Jeff's voice come up on the Guard emergency frequency stating that his lead pilot in the front seat of his OV-10 Bronco had taken a round to the head." The same incident was alluded to in the text of the obituary. Barely three months later, Georgie Johnson shared the letter below, which is a first-hand account from Bill Waters, the naval officer who actually called for air support. I asked and received Georgie’s permission to share its contents with his Lee classmates. 

Before Bill’s letter, I had never heard of the Black Ponies, much less an OV-10 Bronco, so I began researching to become better informed. As it turns out, this incident is well documented on the Internet, and I have cited two of my sources, one of which is Wikipedia, the other is an article from the  National Naval Air Museum where the actual aircraft Jeff was flying on that fateful day is on display.

I am proud to share this account of Jeff’s heroism with his classmates. I wish he were still with us to receive this tribute, which he richly deserves, in person. No less a hero throughout all of this is Georgie. As I told her, " . . . it dawned on me that you were no less a hero for supporting him throughout his career—an unsung hero, perhaps, but a hero nevertheless."

 

"I was the guy calling for air support!"

Georgie,
 

   This is Bill Waters checking in as a fellow Classmate of Jeff's.  I've been meaning to send you this note for quite some time upon learning of Jeff's passing in August but when I read the article in the current Shipmate magazine synopsizing Jeff's career, I need hesitate no further in writing you and your family.  First, my wife, Mary, and I extend our sincerest condolences to you over the loss of your beloved Jeff. He was in the 33rd Company while I was in the 7th Company which made us geographically "worlds" apart while living in Bancroft Hall but we did manage to have several classes together tackling some mystifying academic subject throughout our four years at USNA. Jeff was a great guy; I really enjoyed his humor, always smiling, and always positive.

   
I had often wondered to myself over this past half century if Jeff had ever shared with you any of the details of his flying days with VAL-4 in Vietnam. When I read the Shipmate story about the Black Ponies encounter on 25 May 1969 [sic] where Jeff was the co-pilot in a two-plane OV-10 firefight with the enemy on the ground, I knew I must write you to give, as the great Paul Harvey was fond of saying, "the rest of the story" of that specific day. The Shipmate article said that Jeff's plane and the other plane provided air support for ambushed "US soldiers."  In fact, those "US Soldiers" were actually two US Navy River Patrol Boats (PBRs) on the Cai Long River south of Rach Gia, South Vietnam, that fateful day which had been ambushed by the Viet Cong and I was on one of those boats and I was the guy calling for air support to help suppress the enemy's attack on our boats. For the record, the actual day of this firefight when LT Peter Russell was killed was 23 May 1969.

  
It was a beautiful day weather-wise on the river when the bad guys started shooting at us as we returned their fire with our own boat's weapons; while the enemy's aim was right on in bearing, fortunately their shots went predominantly high with most of their rounds going over our heads but they were pretty well entrenched in the thick tree line & underbrush along the river bank and we weren't able to dislodge them.  That's when Jeff and the Black Ponies showed up to save the day for us. Rach Gia is on the west side of Vietnam, opening out on the Gulf of Thailand and at the entrance to the Cai Long River where we were patrolling and which runs a long way into the Cau Mau peninsula, a veritable Viet Cong stronghold/safe-haven;  the whole place was literally infested with bad guys.

  
After several on-target strafing runs using machine guns and rockets by both planes, the enemy's fire on my boats had virtually dissipated. On that pivotal last strafing run with Jeff's plane, I was silently cheering them on when I suddenly realized that Jeff's plane was continuing to strafe but was also in a progressively steady shallow dive towards the tree line. I first thought that Jeff's plane had drawn a good bead on some of the bad guys and was really delivering effective ordnance on target but they just kept coming and coming in that shallow relentless dive. It was then that I thought to myself but recall uttering aloud the words "…Oh my gosh, he (referring to Jeff's plane) has target fixation, pull up, pull up."  As you probably know, target fixation occurs when the pilot sort'a becomes mesmerized by his target and forgets about the situational awareness around him in the cockpit like flying the airplane. I honestly thought they were going to fly straight into the ground; I started rehearsing in my mind just how I and my PBR-mates were going to attempt a rescue of a downed plane in the jungle surrounded by bad guys. Of course, all this took place in a matter of seconds but it seemed like time simply stood still while all this played out in extreme slow motion.

 
It was just as Jeff's plane was literally at tree top level and still in a dive attitude that I witnessed an extreme aerobatic maneuver pulling instantly out of the dive and virtually straight up into the air.  Almost simultaneously, I heard a new voice come over the tactical radio that I was monitoring which was one as calm, cool, & collected as ever heard. That voice just said 9 simple words which I'll never forget "this is the back seat, I have the aircraft." It was Jeff's voice, of course, which I recognized immediately from our Academy days. Jeff broke off contact with us and the enemy and headed straight back to his home airfield where sadly LT Russell had died from a single enemy round through the plane's windshield. 

 
I just happened to see Jeff a month or so later that summer of 1969 when I was in Binh Thuy, near Can Tho along the Bassac River, which was both a major PBR base and Black Ponies airfield. That was the last time I was ever to see Jeff. He recounted his harrowing experience of saving himself and the aircraft.  He allayed my concerns about target fixation by telling me that the copilot's primary job in such a firefight that he and LT Russell found themselves was to prevent that very thing, target fixation, by keeping his (Jeff's) hand lightly on the control stick during strafing runs. He said that the instant he felt the stick go loose in his hand he instinctively knew something was wrong and yanked back on the stick to pull the aircraft out of its dive. He recounted the experience in the same calm manner and tone as the voice I heard come over the radio the day it happened. What a terrific pilot and hero!  You would have been so proud of his skill and courage that day as I know you are of his entire Naval service.  I know he flew other missions for other beleaguered PBR sailors but this was a special mission since I was the direct benefactor of his professional airmanship. 

 
There were undoubtedly numerous other occasions where USNA '67 classmates supported one another in combat but most likely unknowingly as to just who that classmate was at the time. For me, the occasion was very real, very scary, but very reassuring to know almost immediately it was your husband, Jeff Johnson, USNA Class of 1967, who helped out a fellow classmate in need of some timely air support.  Thank you, Jeff.  Fair winds and following seas, forever.

 

  Just wanted you to know.  I realize this will be a sad, first Christmas & holiday season for you and your family without Jeff but we will remember you all in our thoughts and prayers.

 

 

In love,

Bill Waters

New Smyrna Beach, FL

*     *     *     *     *

 

Vietnam War Memorial

All of us have friends or family or both who served in Vietnam and who gave the last full measure of devotion. Our own Gary Sikes is among them.

Larry Lasater has shared the link below which takes you to a virtual Vietnam War Memorial. To quote from Larry's note: "Someone spent a lot of time and effort to create it. ...Pass the link on to others, as many knew wonderful people whose names are listed."

http://www.virtualwall.org/iStates.htm

• Choose a State, then scroll down to the city where the names will appear.
• You can also search by Last Name or Military Unit.
• Scroll down to the name where you will see a picture of the person or at least their biography and medals.

Una HOWELL Pardue
July 25, 2020

Mike, that is so interesting and so sad. To see the cold statistics of someone you knew and cared about is truly moving and brings home the harsh reality of war. Thank you for sharing. I have passed this along to Sonja who was in the class of ‘61.


Sam Welch
July 25, 2020
 

After reading your post today, so many memories of our class members came back. So many of us went together from elementary school (West Riverside Elementary) to John Gorrie Junior High School and then on to Lee.. And were my brothers in DeMolay.

 

I wish I could have served with our group in Viet Nam, but I flunked my physical (the broken neck I got in High School gymnastics trying to match that brilliant Nelson Voelker).

 

Years later, the DoD contacted me and asked me to do something for them. To create a body of study for the US Army General Command Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth - https://usacac.army.mil/organizations/cace/cgsc and at Ft. Belvoir https://home.army.mil/belvoir/ in Washington, DC. They wanted me to write and present on Knowledge Management strategies for men and women in each of the services. So I did, and I did it as a gift of my services to them, for several years.

Joanne GRIFFIN Caraway
July 25, 2020
 

Thanks for sharing! I looked up Kendrick K. Kelley, and Beth LePage's brother, too.

Seems like we were thinking there just might be one more, but the name isn't registering with me.

Su EGNER Peterson
July 26, 2020

Sad to say, I had names to look up; one of whose wife I escorted home from Japan after his plane was shot down. A hard way to grow up.
 

*     *     *     *     *
 

Jefferson Grey Busbee
A Happy Ending . . . A New Beginning!

Editor's Note: Surviving spouses of our classmates are invited to stay in touch via email and our Class of '62 website. Jeff's wife, Georgie, has kept abreast of Jeff's classmates' activities and, now, is happily sharing some news of her own, which we join her in celebrating.

February 21, 2021
Georgie Johnson
 

Hi Mike,

 

Such a lovely story about the Schmidt’s. Thanks for sharing it. I wish them many more years of happiness.
 

I am hanging in here. Hoping spring will arrive sooner than later! We have added one more grandson to our family. Jefferson Grey Busbee was born in June (Juneteenth) 2020. He was named, of course, after Jeff Johnson—a blend in the name. We call him Grey. He is one precious boy I must admit! Jeff would be very proud. Of course we are proud of all eight grands! I guess I feel like he is just a little more special as he is the last one and Jeff really wanted Jessica to have another and especially a boy. Grey has a sleeper that says, “It was Grandpa’s idea!" We laugh at that! Anyway, keep up the good work. Hope all is well with everyone.

 

*     *     *     *     *
 

United States Military Academy | Class of 1966

 

WRIGHT E. NOBLE JR. 1966
Column No. 26655-1966 | Died in Jacksonville, Florida
Interred in Newnansville Cemetery, Alachua, Florida

Wright Edward "Butch" Noble was well known throughout the Corps of Cadets for his athletic ability and for his wonderful sense of humor, and his memory is firmly established among all who knew him, on both counts. Butch was an outstanding high school athlete whose dream it was to go to West Point and to play on its football team. Despite the lack of a ready appointment and his small stature, Butch attained both goals.

During Beast Barracks, Butch weighed less than 150 lbs., but Coach Tipton already wanted him for his 150-lb. football squad. Butch was determined to play with the varsity, however, and nothing short of that would do. In spite of the fact that he was the smallest man on the squad, he fought for and won a starting position in the defensive backfield. His remarkable athletic ability and his tremendous enthusiasm for the game made him a standout player in his last two season. Nor did he limit himself to football. In his first-class year, Butch learned the fine points of the game of rugby and helped that team to register a winning season.

Butch had a weakness for clowning. Whether he was on top of the world or feeling its entire weight on his shoulders, he never disappointed those sho looked to him for the assurance that no setback was so great that it couldn't be dissolved by humor, and Butch's humor was rich for its spontaneity. When he was turned out in Ordnance Engineering the final semester of his first-class year, he was concerned--but he was amused, too: as a turn-out, he was excused from making the trip to Aberdeen Proving Ground. He hadn't wanted to make the trip in the first place. It was typical of him to be able to see the bright side. He had that kind of a personality.

Butch loved his country and was willing to make sacrifices for it. He was prouder of his commission than the degree he received with it. He anxiously awaited Ranger training and the tour in Vietnam that would follow.

His death came as a severe blow to his family and to his host of friends in his own Class and the rest of the Corps. The country and the Army lost one of its most promising young officers.

 

 

https://youtu.be/2YaCjsUT1ys