Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Background: Back in September of 2001 HBO began a wonderful mini-series “Band Of Brothers” based on the men of E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne, as written about in Stephen Ambrose’s book.

Within a couple of episodes being broadcast … 9-11-01 happened …

Just as with everyone here, I was cut to the soul. That story of those men of Easy Company kept me strong and clear-minded through the madness that followed those planes …

I went to the HBO message boards for the series to discuss the episodes indepth … and met some very wonderful history-minded people and veterans of our military/wars.

One is a (retired) Marine who flew on a chopper in Vietnam and manned the big gun onboard.

He just sent me this story about his “lady love” that has been given a face-lift and honored for her service to this country.

Ain’t she a peach???!!??

Check out the Pop A Smoke site for more USMC Chopper news/history.

‘Phrog’ Honored By Corps For Four Decades Of Service

(jdnews)

The “Mighty Battle Phrog” has joined two of its brethren at the Aviation Memorial in Marine Corps Air Station New River.

A special dedication ceremony and ribbon cutting was held Friday in front of the recently restored CH-46E helicopter to officially honor its contributions to the Marine Corps over the last 40 years.

The Aviation Memorial, located just inside the New River gate, commemorates all those who died aboard New River aircraft since 1944. There are three choppers - a CH-53, CH-34 and CH-46E - on display.

Col. Darrell L. Thacker Jr., commanding officer of MCAS New River, said he logged numerous hours on the CH-46, which has been involved in every major conflict since Vietnam.

With 40 years of service, and just short of 11,000 flight hours, Thacker said the helicopter served six squadrons in the Marine Corps and had traveled the equivalent of 52 times around the planet. He said it served Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 162, the oldest squadron in the air station, for 25 of its 40 years.

“With multiple deployments and thousands of pilots flying it and maintaining it, this is not an aircraft, this is a classic,” Thacker said of the helicopter.

Thacker said it was fitting to dedicate and celebrate the legacy of the helicopter in the same year as the air station’s 64th anniversary, since it has been such a key part of the Air Station’s history.

Thacker asked Bill Janning and B.J. Farrington to join him in the ribbon cutting. Janning served in the Marine Corps for 21 years in helicopter maintenance and 27 years as a Boeing field service representative. Farrington, with L-3 Communications Vertex, was the lead planner and coordinator in the restoration of the helicopter.

“A lot of people have had their careers made on the H-46, me included,” Janning said. “It has also saved a lot of lives as a med evac, and has even served in humanitarian efforts like the tsunami. It is the best assault aircraft that certainly the Marine Corps has ever had, and was designed in such a way that it could be maintained anywhere - it was designed to be maintenance-friendly.”