Washington Anacostia

Wings of Gold, Summer 2002

Washington Anacostia. RADM Dick Gentz, USN (Ret.), was the guest speaker at the Washington Anacostia Squadron's June luncheon meeting at the Army Navy Country Club in Arlington, Virginia. RADM Gentz is the Transition Manager for the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum..

He is deeply involved in the Center which is located near Dulles airport outside Washington D.C. RADM Gentz is overseeing the movement of display aircraft from the Paul Garber refurbishing and storage facility in Maryland to the new site. His presentation drew special interest because this new "wing" of the museum is planned as the centerpiece for ANA's 2004 convention.

RADM Gentz, whose profound admiration for vintage aircraft was manifest in his talk, displayed graphics depicting the museum and a number of the aircraft which will be exhibited there. In the first picture, left to right, are RADM Gentz; VADM Dutch Schoultz; CAPT Bob Dawson, Washington Anacostia CO; Bill Surgi, Midway survivor and ANA trustee; and ANA President, RADM ED. Smith. The second photo shows the museum building under construction. An adjacent tower will be named in honor of VADM Don Engen, former Director of the National Air and Space Museum. USMC General, Jack Dailey, is the current director.

Roadrunners. The Phoenix Roadrunner Squadron is firmly established at its new Scottsdale ready room, first used for the 2001 Christmas party. Since then, member Pete Peterson has begun collecting a biographical sketch of each member for later compilation and distribution. The March event brought back RADM Dennis Wisely, USN (Ret.), who made such a favorable impression on his first "cruise" with the Roadrunners. As before, he kept the audience riveted with vignettes from his extraordinary career as a combat fighter pilot, test pilot, Blue Angels CO, and carrier skipper. Most intriguing were passages from his combat diary, detailing the 350 missions he flew in Southeast Asia between 1965 and 1972. Wisely, aVF-114 pilot, led the Navy for several years with two shootdowns: an An-2 in December 1966 and a MiG- 17 in April 1967.

But it wasn't always one-sided. On a subsequent mission his Phantom was tagged by AAA and he made a low-level ejection at 400 knots. Then-LT Wisely landed atop a 200-foot tree hard on the Laotian border ("I logged an OK-Tree" he grinned) and waited to see whether a SAR helo would fetch him before the Vietnamese arrived. His admiration for combat SAR crews is enormous, especially the Navy crew that flew clear across North Vietnam to help him and only turned back when the helo was damaged and the copilot wounded. A USAF "Jolly Green" finally arrived 30 minutes later for the rescue.

Subsequent duty included 6" Fleet Chief of Staff where Wisely glimpsed the inner workings of the Bush-Gorbachev summit at Malta. After conning USS John F Kennedy (CV-67), Wisely was selected for rear admiral. He retired in 1996. He closed his remarks by reading the inspirational message of CAPT Harve Henderson to JFK's crew when beginning operations against Afghanistan a few days before the ANA meeting. (Barrett Tillman)

More from the Roadrunners. For the sixth year, Arizona ANA members recognized the Marines at Yuma. Phoenix Roadrunner CO Dick Ferron recognized the MAG- 13 Harrier Pilot of the Year, MAJ Edward Montgomery; CO Ed Davis of the Tucson Desert Hawks recognized the MAWTS-1 Instructor of the Year, MAJ Preston Jones. Together the two ANA organizations also honored the VMFT-401 Adversary Instructor of the Year, LCOL Robert Underwood, USMCR. During the luncheon held in their honor at the MCAS Yuma Club on March 15th, the three officers each received an ANA plaque, a leather day-runner, a personal letter from Senator John McCain and an American flag flown over the Capitol in their names.

Guest speaker MGEN C.F. Bolden, Commandng General 3rd Aircraft Wing, gave a dynamic talk on the ongoing USMC actions in the fight against terrorism.

A highlight during the ceremony came when MAJ Montgomery, upon receiving his award, introduced the Marines from his detachment, who kept the aircdraft ready for flight with such great success.

In the first photo are the USMC awardees and their commanding officers with MGEN Bolden, 4th from the right. In the second picture, with MGEN Bolden, is Foster Lewis. ANA's Southwest Vice President. (Foster Lewis)

Helldivers. The Helldiver Squadron of Columbus, Ohio recently presented a Cleveland Indians flag to the CO of the Navy Recruitng District, Ohio, CDR Burt Palmer. On July 12th, 80 young men and women will be sworn into the Navy by NRD Ohio during a ceremony at Jacobs Field in Cleveland prior to the start of the Cleveland Indians versus New York Yankees baseball game. During their eight weeks of training, the recruits will.1 be known as the "Cleveland Indians Division" and will carry the flag wherever they march throughout the base. At left, making the presentation from the left is Helldiver CO, Joel Griggs, CAPT Jim Shaw of the squadron and CDR Palmer.