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LZ ANGEL FIRE |
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LZ: Angel Fire, NM
Vietnam Memorial
November 11, 2002
Saturday, 9 Nov 2002
20:30 Finally decided we’re going to Angel Fire. Packed hastily and was on the road at 21:30 rained from Miami Arizona all the way to Socorro, NM
Sunday, 10 Nov 2002
3:30 stopped in Socorro New Mexico to get some shuteye and back on the road at 8:30
Got to Angel Fire about 1:30 (would have been sooner but the Pueblo of Pojoaque police officer decided they wanted some Arizona money.) Visited the Memorial. Then did a recon of the area. Beautiful valley. Didn’t know where anybody was staying so found us a cabin in Eagle’s Nest. After dinner at the Lucky Shoe it was snowing, so we thought we’d take a drive. Didn’t take long for us desert rats to know we had no busy driving in the snow. Retired for the night.
Monday, 11 Nov 2002
Up and had breakfast and made it to the LZ about 9:00. Viewed the visitor center and visited with a lot of other vets. Met Dr. Victor Westphall (92 years young and getting around good in his wheelchair.) He has done a marvelous job on the memorial. The locals all say that every year they have a great Memorial Day and Veterans Day. 10:30 Heard the copter coming up the valley, it landed on the road about 4 miles away and picked up Dr. Westphall, then it made a fly over escorted by three Blackhawks. As the Blackhawks were landing down on the airstrip, the Huey made another Passover then landed about 50 yards from the chapel in the snow and the rotor wash threw snow everywhere, but it sure was beautiful. At 11:00 there was a flyover of F16s. Talked to all the crew, the Warriors and the Comancheros sure made quite an impression from the first LZ to the last LZ. The crew said the skids were spread a little after Houston (just joking Jerry). Jerry must have made quite an impression on the crew; I assume that’s why they were talking about him so much. Seen the Comancheros patch on the doorframe and the Warrior patch up on the transmission well. Very impressive! The program had outstanding speakers with special tribute to the Native American’s who have served our country. We met Bob Short.
13:30 departed for home. Would have liked to stayed for the barbeque, but had to be at work the next morning.
Arrived home a 01:30 the next morning, after recouping some of our fund from a different tribe. (Casino). Made Tuesday a long day.
See above pictures.
Jerry Wofford (another BCer)
Warrior 11
Richard,
I haven't gotten my photos of Angel Fire developed yet but I wanted to drop you
an the rest of the flight a line and let you know how Veterans Day was there.
Angel Fire
New Mexico is a beautiful place. It snowed the night before and a little
on Monday. There's not much there. A ski resort, a small town and
the Veterans Memorial. The memorial is up on a rise and it over looks the
whole valley. It felt good to be with other veterans on this
Veterans Day. Jerry Wofford, (Warrior 11) and his wife were there.
He lives in Casa Grande, AZ and they decided to come up on Saturday. But
the best part of the day was aircraft "091". I gave her a
hug for everybody. I saw there was a "Comanchero" sticker on
the bulkhead, (probably Gary Lee's doing). But I sent her
on her way with an original "Comanchero" patch. I had two
from the old country (stitched by some little old Vietnamese woman just before
she went out on her nightly ambush) so donated one to the project. If you
get to see "091", look for our patch .
After I get the photos developed I'll send you some. In the mean time
look on the Shadow of the Blade web site (
www.intheshadowoftheblade.com
). In the news section click on the story about Nov. 11th . There
are some photos posted there that were taken by the project still
photographer. In the photo that shows the fly-by of the F-16s I'm the
person on the far left in the denim shirt.
Talk to ya
later,
Bob Short
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