Gregg Wilson

Yes. These gentlemen are the REAL heroes. I have nothing more to add.

Linda Pompeo (Worden)

Thank you Al.  May we never forget each and every one who lost their lives in the service of our country.  

Bill Hamilton

Ross's true name was Glenn Ross Phillips which is the name he enlisted under.  You might try looking for that name.

Virginia Wolfe (Scheffer)

I would like to thank those of you who are posting plaques, headstones of our classmates who have fallen.  May we always appreciate their service to this fine country!  Thank You!

Al Peffley

Hello Bill,

I was also aware of Ross' birth name. No searches brought up any memorial grave site information at Willamette for his given name. Maybe his remains were buried at a private cemetery site, or he is not buried in the Pacific Northwest. He could also be at a Washington State national cemetery, because records state his parents lived in Kent, Washington at the time of his death. I will keep looking. The Catholic Church in Kent may have more information on Ross. I have other vet friends that are buried at Tahoma National Cemetery out by Covington, WA, however, I would be surprised if his remains are there because it opened in 1993. Cremation urns are sometimes hard to find because they can be transfered easily to a new internment site, the ashes can be spread at a favorite outdoor site, or even kept by the family. I will not pry too deeply because I respect his family's right to privacy and any residual feelings they might have. I knew Ross at school, but not well enough to approach his family for information that might bring back painful memories of the loss of a son or brother. I lost my son in 2007 and I know the pain and suppressed grief that memories of an untimely death can bring up. RIP Ross.

Sherry Sanders (Kimbrough)

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/111643473/glenn-ross-phillips

Al Peffley

Thank you Sherry for finding Ross' grave site. Theron Wood's father was buried there last winter. His father was a survivor of the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. He was also a great warrior and a humble man that spent two years in hospitals recovering from his wounds. My brother in law, who will be 97 in December, also fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

Unfortunately, our "Baby Boomer" generation of military men was subject to the Draft. Some of our "Boomer" peers are also the at root of the modern-day, communist political revolution. They are responsible for our current division of traditional Republic form of government nationalists vice an extreme socialism form of government crowd (AKA UN "New World Order" "communism") being promoted in Washington DC and our left coast states. The Vietnam war was a failure because we signed a bad treaty, we were unprepared for assymetric warfare, we had inadequate force preparation for the campaign, and had politically-restricted (stupid) rules of engagement. Each president, from Kennedy to Nixon, was a poor Commander in Chief of our war fighters during the Vietnam War. This is my perspective from serving during the Vietnam period and working in the Aerospace industry on military systems development and fielding for almost 40 years.

Gregg Wilson

Isn't it wonderful to fight in a war against communism only to have it being a leading political force today.

You cannot win an Asian land war. Nixon inherited a total mess and finally got us out of it. By 1968, none of our Marines in our artillery regiment thought we would win the war. We were simply trying to survive.

The socialism / communism was being taught in our universities. That is where it came from.

Al Peffley

It saddens me to see some of my own children "drinking the NWO Kool Aid" and not realizing the propaganda they have been taught in schools, public & private.

My job in the Navy was a strategic mission to monitor and if need be interdict Soviet and Chinese submarines from the air, especially if they threated to end our life and liberty. You had the tougher job than I. Thank you for your honorable service, Gregg. When I was in ASW flight school for my ECM "seat training" at Los Alamitos, CA the "doper baby", Vietnam protestors tried to run the front gate. They also tried to plant a pipe bomb in the barracks next to mine. The US Marines' Air Base Guards stopped the march cold, about 50 feet from the gate, with a Minuteman-style armed force presentation to the mob. A member of that type of group of protestors is now running Congress. I did not approve of the Vietnam War, but I did my duty as was ordered by my superiors. The two squadrons (24 airplanes) of lightly armed SP-2V's were sent to Vietnam for Junk patrols, and they were all shot down by Migs or SAM's. Only a few squadron crew members from those two squadrons came home alive. The Navy abandoned that aviation shore patrol mission and only flew high RECCE with the new P-3's.

I must say as an after thought comment that some of the South Vietnamese imigrant engineers that I worked with at Boeing were the hardest working, kindest, and honorable people I ever met. They were very grateful for having the opportunity to become Americans. Yes, you are correct. Many other countries, including the French, could not win protracted war campaigns in Vietnam. The Vietnam people are very intelligent and fierce warriors. It was all about expanding Asian communism, influential northern Vietnam war lords, rice, crude oil, and rubber. It was like the police going to a domestic violence call, only to have both combatants turn and fight them when they interceeded during the cultural war incident...

Bill Hamilton

Mike was another classmate who gave his life in the service of our country.

LTJG Michael Kelley McCarthy

Birth: 5 Aug 1946 USA

Death: 29 Aug 1970 (aged 24) California, USA

Burial: Sunset Hills Memorial Park, Bellevue, King County, Washington, USA

Lieutenant Junior Grade Mike McCarthy, 24, of Seattle was lost at sea when his light attack jet aircraft crashed off the California Coast.  Mike was flying an A-7B (Corsair II) when it crashed during night operations off the USS Hancock (CVA-19), west of San Francisco.  It was believed there was an explosion. A search turned up nothing. McCarthy, was a 1968 Washington State University graduate, where he was a member of the Washington Alpha chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity. Mike entered active duty with the Navy later in 1968. He was stationed at the Lemoore Naval Air Station. His wife, Andres, and their month-old daughter, Erin, survive.

Ruth Scholtes (Murphy)

Thanks Bill . He waa my first kiss . A short but memorable Jr High  romance.

Al Peffley

Thank you Bill. I knew of Mike's Naval Air aviation incident and the Naval Air after action report of his loss at sea. Since it was reported that they could not find any remains, then it is interesting that there is a burial site listed. I was in the process of being transferred to NAS Whidbey when Miike and his fighter plane were lost at sea. We had no VA Squadron Corsair A-7's at Whidbey in 1970, to my recollection. Whidbey was the home base for A-6 Intruder (nuclear weapon capable fighter/attack bombers), EA-6B (Signal Disruption/Active Electronic Counter Measures Interdiction), S-2 Viking (Anti-Submarine Warfare - I don't remember a whole squadron there), and helo (ASW dipping sonar) carrier-deployed aircraft squadrons. VP squadrons like I flew in were only operated out of land airfields (no "tail hook" capability). Thanks for sharing Mike's military photo - it is a really good picture of Mike.

The Corsair II was a new multimisson, fighter/bomber "work horse" for the Navy & Marines in the mid-1960's during the Vietnam Conflict and into the 1980's. I worked with an engineer at Ling Temco Vought in 1986 at Dallas, Texas who flew Navy Corsair II's in combat missions over Vietnam. LTV produced the Corsair parts in New England and later moved the whole program to Dallas, Texas for final production after the full merger with Ling-Temco (corrected history statement - 05Jun19). I did not think to ask the engineer if he knew of Mike's demise or personally flew with Mike. Even if Mike was able to eject, the chances of surviving the night mission mishap at that latitiude and ocean temperature if he was injured are slim to none. It is something we all accepted while performing flight missions out over the Pacific Ocean.

Al

Marty Ellison

Sadly, Mike’s loss was the first of many I experienced in my career in the Navy.  As it turned out, Class 29-68 of the Navy flight training school in Pensacola had 4 Highline grads from the class of ‘64.  Mike, John Leonard, Bruce Mennella, and me.  All finished training and went on to fly off carriers.  Mike and John to the East coast, Brice and I to the West coast.  Photo below I took during Officer Candidate training in Sept, 1968. 

Steve Morris

Achtung, Reunionaires - There will be a Friday nite pre-reunion function at Angelo's Resaurant, 601 SW 153 St, Burien, starting at 5 PM. Be there or be square!

Linda Pompeo (Worden)

It's a great picture Marty.

Thank you

Tom Nixon

As a response to Marty’s post......there were actually 5 of us from our class training at Pensacola in ‘68 and ‘69. I arrived in June ( my class number was 6-28-68?) and had a rocky time with a knee that had been operated on 6 months prior. I finished my T 34 training at Saufley in early ‘69 but soon after washed out of the program because of the knee. After 3 surgeries, finally had it replaced a number of years ago.

I remember bumping into John in the chow line once early in training but no memory of seeing the others. I was held back several times so I lagged everyone by the time I got to flight training.

But I did know that 5 of us from the same class at HHS were training together. I was working for a few weeks in the PR department on base (while getting treatment for my knee) and mentioned it to somebody and they did a short story about us in the base paper. Of course I never kept a copy. Dummy!

Always have regretted not continuing in the Navy but if I had, I would never have met my wife of 49 years......

Gregg Wilson

Richard Gumerman died on March 19, 2019 of cancer. He served in the US Navy as an officer and later practiced many years as a mechanical engineer.

Ken Becker

I’m sorry to hear of the passing of Rick Gummerman. We had math together for 3 years at HHS, and were in the same Mechanical Engineering class at UW. Gregg’s post reminded me that Rick, Dick Bock &I did a design project together when we were juniors. None of us could type, so I talked a cute girl in my dorm into typing it up for us (I think my copy is in the basement somewhere).  The cute girl was named, Judy, & we’ve been married 48 years.   R.I.P., Rick. 

Al Peffley

Sorry to hear about Rick's passing (especially since he had cancer, because of the painful and drawn-out consequences for Rick and his family.) It is surprising to me how many of my classmates joined (or were drafted into) the US Navy and Marines Corps for military service commitment.

I worked with Dick Bock at Boeing Aerospace on space and defense programs. Dick and I both worked in Parametric Cost Estimating on R&D program proposals and evaluations at the Kent Space Center. Did Rick work for Boeing during his engineering career?

Gregg Wilson

Rick did not work at Boeing. After his discharge from the Navy, he married and moved to Missouri. I believe he worked on building design and such things as air conditioning, etc.

Rick and I were buddies from the 7th grade through college. I last met him in 1970.

Al Peffley

It is too bad that the 55th Reunion has turned out to cost so much. As people get older and their health seems to begin to fade, most of us don't tend to spend as much on entertainment and socialize as much as we use to a decade or two ago. The pocket book gets a little tighter for many of us who had a meager savings set aside (especially after the market technology/.com stocks crash) for retirement, and we are all confronted with increasing health expenses. Many people have also settled down in a retirement community a long way away from Burien and Puget Sound.

Maybe we could reserve the Normandy Park Cove Hall, or a cook shack with a group activity recreation area and a summer pinic theme if we have a future reunion get together? There are lots of beautiful park areas not far away from Seattle to host an outdoor reunion in the Pacific Northwest. Maybe some of the stress of planning and putting a deposit on facilities for the event may be relieved? A pot luck feed would work fine for us.

Just some thoughts after reading Gary's post today. Bon and I have made our reservations. Hope to see y'all there. It seems our alumni ranks are beginning to thin quickly. I was glad I attended the 50th to visit with Fred Grabos for the last time -- we had a great heart-to-heart talk together, I miss him. You never know who won't be able to attend the next reunion...

Tom Nixon

Al, I’m not so sure the cost of the reunion is the cause for the low turnout thus far. I think people have other things going on in the summer with travel, family and other interests........those interests may not include a class reunion. Plus many people live out of the area and it’s not convenient to attend. Not sure of the easiest way to contact Gary K but if there is a personal shortfall financially at his end, I’ll assist him. And I hope others will step up too. He shouldn’t have to take a significant financial hit because of a lack of interest by his classmates. Thanks Gary for your time and leadership over the years.

Linda Johnson (Martin)

The park idea sounds great, as does the potluck, but for "out of towners" lilke me, the conveneince of staying where the reunion is and not having to worry about travel elsewhere is a plus. And trying to provide food when you are staying at a hotel would be hard.   Maybe the buffet and/or the bar can be eliminated to cut costs?  Not sure if this would be an option, but it popped into my head so thought I'd share.  I think we would all try to do whatever it takes to keep this going.  All you have to do is ask, Gary...Already some good ideas coming in, so at least the brainstorming has begun.  L.

Linda Pompeo (Worden)

First of all, a big thank you to Gary and ? for all of the work that has gone into each reunion since we graduated.  A lot of work, and probably a big headache along with it.  

Perhaps a year or so prior to the next big get-together there could be a request for suggestions from  classmates, and a vote on the final couple of ideas.  Along with that, Gary. please reach out and see who would like to volunteer to help with part of the planning and execution.

If the cost of this years reunion does not end up being covered by participants, put a note on the message forum and those that are able to contribute, (whether a little or a lot), can help pick up the remainder.

Again.....thank you for all of the time and effort put into arranging the reunions.

Gregg Wilson

The cost to Gary is already a fact. We can contribute to his cost by paying at this reunion. Gary has been carrying this burden for many years, while I haven't done squat.