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Combat Talon Reunion--Memorial Day Weekend in FWB


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Re:Talon Reunion

***Unofficial Info*****

Combat Talon Reunion

Sponsored by: 7th ACS and Stray Goose, combined

Inviting all Combat Talon, past and present

Quality Inn Bayside

322 Miracle Strip Parkway

Fort Walton Beach, FL

850-275-0300

Rooms-Reunion rate= $115.00 (reserve by 29 April)

Friday May 30th----------Wurst Burn/Social

Saturday May 31st--------Pig Roast picnic

Sunday June 1st AM--------Memorial Service

The 7th Commando Newsletter reported that details would be posted on their website (although I haven\'t seen it yet):

<http//7THSOS.ORG>

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  • 1 month later...

Worldwide Combat Talon Reunion! Just in case any of you don\'t know about this gathering or Talon Warriors. I hope to see you all there. I will be staying at the Hampton Inn on the Island my cell # 216-262-1313.

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When: 30 May – 1 June

Where: Ft. Walton Beach FL

Location: Quality Inn Bayside

Cost (Includes food and drinks): $25 for one day (either Friday or Saturday) or $50 for the entire weekend. Pay at the door or mail checks to \"7th ACS CT Reunion\" c/o Max Friedauer, 10 Ridgelake Dr, Mary Esther, FL 32569.

Agenda: Friday night Wurst Burn hosted by 7th ACS (Quality Inn)

Saturday night BBQ hosted by Stray Goose International (Quality Inn)

Sunday Memorial Service (Hurlburt Field Air Park)

Ok troops it is time to exercise your right to travel to FWB for the first ever World Wide Combat Talon Reunion.

Buff Underwood of 7th Air Commando Society and Lee \"Papasan\" Hess have joined forces to make this the reunion something to remember and marvel at for years to come.

If you were assigned to any Combat Talon organization we are asking you to show up and share your experiences with your fellow Talon bubbas. We will be working hard to have as many active duty Talon troops as possible in attendance.

If you have a suggestion on how to make the reunion even better please drop Papasan ([email protected]) or Buff ([email protected]) a note.

The full details of the reunion will be posted on the website and included in the next newsletter. I know you will all want to book your rooms early so here is the address and phone number of the Quality Inn. Rooms will be held at the reunion rate of $115.00 per night until 29 April 2008. Make sure you mention that you are attending the Combat Talon Reunion.

Quality Inn Bayside

322 Miracle Strip Pkwy

850-275-0300

Combat Talon Reunion

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

I\'m definitely planning on being there too, but may be a late arrival Friday evening (tentative, due to possible travel).

Hoping there is a good turnout, and the weather cooperates.....

John

P.S. Also hoping someone will bring some of the Joe Sheldon music to play (and maybe sell copies) during the event.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey, I was there too and had a great time! I spent so much time talking to old friends, I hardly had time to seek out new ones--would have liked to met US Herk and others. Oh, well, maybe next time.

Stray Goose International still plans to have a Saturday picnic on Columbus Day weekend at the Hurlburt picnic grounds, and will participate with the Air Commando Assn for a Memorial Service on Sunday.

John

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Combat Talon I operators gather for reunion, tribute

Those affiliated with the historic plane, which is still flying, gather for reunion, memorial service

By TRACY CONNER Contributing writer

Leslie Chapman’s late husband, Lt. Col. Clayton Chapman, wasn’t one to talk about his military service. But she finds it comforting to spend time with people who know what his job was all about, which is why she attended last weekend’s Combat Talon Reunion at Hurlburt Field.

“It’s nice to remember those guys who really sort of started special ops,†said Chapman, who attended Sunday’s memorial service at the Hurlburt Field Memorial Air Park with family members, including her husband’s brother.

Lt. Col. Chapman was a navigator in the MC-130 Combat Talon, an airplane that has been involved in nearly every military operation the United States has taken part in since the mid 1960s. The reunion, held May 29-June 1, was the first that combined past and present members of the 7th Air Commando Society and Stray Goose International, which in the past have held separate get-togethers.

“During discussions last year between the two organizations, we decided we needed to include the entire Combat Talon community,†said reunion organizer Robert B. Underwood Jr.

Underwood, now with Lockheed Martin in Shalimar, logged more than 5,000 hours in the Combat Talon I before he retired from the Air Force in 1982. He said it’s important to bring crewmembers with shared experiences together.

“We need to bring the present and next generations of Combat Talon organizations into the fold and carry on the camaraderie,†Underwood said. It’s crucial, too, he said, to hold a memorial service at each reunion to honor those crewmembers who have died “for their service and sacrifice.â€

“We are still a small community and we are a close community,†he pointed out. “The memorial service for our fallen brothers and sisters is part of our grieving process and helps us to heal.â€

Having the first-ever gathering of Combat Talon operators at Hurlburt Field made sense because the base “is the home of Combat Talon and all of us have been through here several times in our careers,†Underwood said.

The Combat Talon, the special operations’ version of a C-130H Hercules, is currently flying all over the world. Squadrons are located at Hurlburt, Duke Field, RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom and Kadena Air Base in Japan. The activeduty version is the MC-130H Combat Talon II; Duke Field’s reservists fly the MC-130E Combat Talon I.

“This airplane has been involved in multiple missions. It’s very diverse,†explained Maj. Lon Lancaster, an instructor at Hurlburt’s Air Force Special Operations School. “The legacy of this airplane is amazing.â€

Among its most famous missions are the November 1970 raid on the North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp at Son Tay and the attempted rescue of the American hostages at the Iranian Embassy in 1980.

Lancaster said meeting some of the people who participated in those historymaking events was a highlight of the reunion.

“There were some people there who back in 1970 took part in an attempt in Vietnam to rescue a whole prison camp of POWs,†he said. “The North Vietnamese had just moved them, and when they landed the camp was empty, but you know, it totally changed the way the North Vietnamese treated prisoners of war. And it was the first time the POWs knew their fellow Americans were trying to rescue them. It was such a huge morale boost. And there were actually people at the reunion who flew that mission.â€

Also in attendance, Maj. Lancaster said, were survivors of the failed Desert One mission into Iran, along with people who’d taken part in Operation Fury in Grenada and helped capture Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega.

Spending time with them reminded Underwood “what great people I have been associated with and how that association affected my life.â€

“I learned that given the chance they would sign up and take the fight to the enemy still today,†he reported. “But I really (already) knew that in my heart.â€

The next Combat Talon Reunion is already in the planning stages and is set for May 2010 at Hurlburt Field.

A member of the Air Force honor guard gives Max Friedauer an American flag during the memorial service June 1. The flag was flown recently aboard a Combat Talon during combat missions in the Mideast. Four widows of Combat Talon crewmembers look on.

Photos special to Hurlburt Warrior

Gen. Norton Schwartz, commander of U.S. Transportation Command and former wing commander at Hurlburt Field, consoles surviving spouse Karen James.

A bagpiper plays “Amazing Grace†at the end of the memorial service June 1 in Hurlburt Field Memorial Air Park.

Gen. Norton Schwartz (from right), commander of U.S. Transportation Command and former wing commander at Hurlburt Field; Lt. Gen. Donald Wurster, Air Force Special Operations Command commander and his wife; Mrs. Cichowski and Maj. Gen. Kurt Cichowski, vice commander of AFSOC; and Col. Mark Alsid, vice commander of the 1st Special Operations Wing, listen to names of fallen Combat Talon brothers being read during the ceremony.

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