Our Planning Committee/Work Team is geared up for our 7th C-133 Crew
Reunion @ DAFB,
June 11th! We have confirmed attendance for 68 inspired
people.
We will be celebrating the history of ALL our Crew-Mates! So you can be with us in spirit, if not in person, here is the Welcoming Address by Rick Spencer:
This evening, ladies, gentlemen, guests, and all others,
we welcome one another back to DAFB and the C-133’s seventh reunion as we move
toward our 60th and Diamond anniversary year.
Tonight, we also pay homage to those members not with us
because off illness, the natural passages of life, or the fatal accidents that
we endured.
It has now been almost 60 years since the Douglas C-133A
Cargomaster was rolled out for its debut in CA and we can all say that we have
been with it in spirit, if not body, from its beginning to its end.
Given the size of the USAF and the years gone by, we were
a very small group of people maintaining and flying a very large airplane
around the world. It was an ‘eye
popper’ for all those seeing it.
We were involved in important and memorable missions with the best air
and ground crews ever assembled. Should I use the word ‘elite’ to describe
us? I think so! When one surveys today’s aero
technology, we were iron men in wooden ships.
There were a mere fifty C-133’s built, based at two
locations, and their lifespan and “heyday’, the 1960’s, were compressed into a
very short period compared to nearly all other AF aircraft. The final landing
of a C-133A, 61999, some 35 years after its official retirement and subsequent
private ownership, was at the Travis Air Show in 2008 prior to it becoming a
part of their AMC Museum display. Now, sadly, there are no more.
In one of the quirks of our history, the C-133A now at
Travis AFB was originally a DAFB bird, and the display here was originally a
Travis bird. That incongruity
between what one would expect to happen and what actually happened has created
a closer relationship between the two Museums and among all C-133 veterans
associated with this historic transport.
We are now family; and, we now have an obligation, one to the other, to
maintain these special aircraft that were an unusually important phase in the
life of military cargo flight.
Our reunions, including this 7th, have always
celebrated a grand and glorious interval of our life - that of our service in
the USAF and our personal relationship with the C-133A and Dover AFB. We were
young then, very young, and it was a time like no other in our lives.
A continuous ongoing and out pouring of interest in one
another for over 50 years poses an interesting but central question, “Why?” Our
mere attendance would seem to suggest a simple answer: Enduring friendship
engendered by our small size with a big mission.
But, it is more complex than that and we have to look into
antiquity to understand it. So,
here is the complex answer and after hearing it one may want to revert to the
simpler. It is equally as true.
The reasons, in my opinion, for our reunion and hundreds
of others involving military veterans revolves about two concepts: one
important to the nation and the other important to those who served the nation
in uniform.
The former, importance to the nation, is the common sense
observation that escapes many of our citizens and the political bodies of the
country: that military organizations exist to win wars. Winning the nation’s wars is the military’s
functional imperative. In fact, it
is the only reason for a liberal society to maintain standing armies. We were personally a part of that
important national organization dedicated to preserving freedom and protecting
our citizens. We were proud to be so and to do so. And, we remain so.
The latter, importance to the veterans, is traced to
antiquity. Aristotle conceived it
and the Greeks called it ”phillia”.
It is broadly defined as
‘brotherly love’ and it is the glue of the military ethos, then and
now. It is that bond formed among
disparate individuals who may have nothing in common but facing the dangerous
unknowns of military duty. We performed personal acts to help one another that
were inherently good. That was a
major factor for our success during some of the trying times we faced with the
C-133.
“Phillia” exists to this day as the foundation for all
military organizations throughout the world. The many reunions of veterans that we see taking place every
year, including ours, results from an ethos first noted by the ancient Greeks. It exists in the USAF from the ground
crews to the flight crews; and, tonight we have participants from all levels of
our C-133 organization. Phillia
never leaves the individual and the individual never leaves the military. That ethos, ‘brotherly love’, remains
to our last.
During today we have been enjoying the fruits of our
‘enduring friendships’ that were fostered by our ‘brotherly love’ that began
some 50 years ago here at DAFB. They were the offspring of our relationship
with the world’s flagship military air transport, the C-133A Cargomaster. It
was the unselfish nature of service for the nation in the uniform of the USAF
that brings us together, once again for celebration and to embrace America’s
Exceptionalism. I am not certain
there is another AF retiree group that shares such mutual feelings of trust and
affection as we.
I would like to say that the many who could not join us
today were here in spirit. How do
we know? They told us so through their many communications with the committee
and through their friends. They send to us their best to enjoy this festive
occasion and to keep them in mind: and, we send to them our best as well. We never forget!
Lastly, but most importantly, I would like to welcome our
wives once again to this occasion.
They were not in uniform but they were the backbone of our personal
successes, and thus the success of the USAF. They were there when we were away. They were there caring for our families not knowing of our
return. They were there as the
guiding lights building the foundation for the future success of America. The country owes them a greater
gratitude than it has acknowledged. But, we know of their unselfish efforts on
behalf of all and for all, and we once again acknowledge it tonight. Thank you for your service to the
country for without your devotion to the cause of freedom our tasks would have
been far more difficult and our results far less successful.
Again, welcome!
Enjoy your meal, enjoy your stories, and enjoy the time together that is
always so fleeting. Thank you.
Sincerely and upon behalf of the reunion committee,
Richard L. Spencer, Ph.D.
Lt Col, USAF Ret.
39th ATS, MATS
DAFB, DE
1962-1965 Thursday, May 24,
2012
