SamMcGowan Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 (edited) Here are some photos from the 2012 TCTAA meeting in Warner Robins, GA. Stony Burk and Don Short in front of C-124. They were both in Shakies before they went to Herks, Stony at Evreux then at Clark, Orlando and Langley. Next is Don Short, Jim Tomlinson and Sam McGowan, all 35th TCS LMs. Memorial Service in C-130A, Sam McGowan and Stony Burk in C-130A,(Stony is stricking the SEA LM pose - in the left troop door.) Ralph emis and Charlie Armistead (2), Ralph Bemis, Bob Patterson, Major Award They caught me completely by surprise when they presented that glass sculpture to me. It is a very gracious award. I am looking at it right now. Tom Stalvey had it made in Atlanta. I have the name of the company if anyone is interested. Edited October 18, 2015 by SamMcGowan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamMcGowan Posted October 19, 2015 Author Share Posted October 19, 2015 I thought I would include this photo. Charlie Armistead and Ralph Bemis were telling me what happened at An Loc. In the photo , Charlie is telling how he was sitting against the CDS bufferboard and holding to tiedowns but the impact was so hard that he was picked up and thrown over the bufferboard and against the 245 bulkhead. Ralph was sitting with his back to the wall under the ladder and holding on to the stanchion. He was thrown across the cargo compartment and into the right side of the 245 bulkhead where he was trapped. Charlie and Robert Kirkpatrick, the nav. worked for half an hour - in a BURNING AIRPLANE - to free him! Some Army helicopters came in and their crewmembers helped get Ralph out of the airplane. They told me that they flew for about 15 minutes after they were hit over An Loc. They had the paratroop doors open and were watching the fire in their right wing. When the flap burned off, they told the pilot it was time to get the thing on the ground! Incidentally, this was the eighteenth mission that Ralph had flown on which his airplane took hits. The other seventeen were during his previous tour at Clark when he was right in the middle of the Tet Offensive, Khe Sanh, etc. Ralph was over Kham Duc with a crew waiting their turn to go in when the camp was declared evacuated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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