Category Archives: People

Operation Homecoming Part 5: Always Leading and Always Will

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Ed

by Orson Swindle (USMC, Ret) Prisoner of War in North Viet Nam (Orson Swindle was shot down on November 11, 1966, released on March 4, 1973) Reproduced with permission of USNI and the author … for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity … Continue reading →

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Operation Homecoming Part 4: The Bracelets

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Ed

(Note: This piece was originally published on the Project White Horse Forum for Veterans Day 2010.) In high school, Joleta McNelis was never far away from a man she had never met. She carried Lt. John “Jack” Ensch in her heart … Continue reading →

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Operation Homecoming Part 3: Jack Fellowes

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Ed

By Commander Jack H. Fellowes, U. S. Navy, with Lisa Hillman John Heaphy “Jack” Fellowes (November 22, 1932 – May 3, 2010) was the the pilot of an A-6 Intruder from squadron VA-65 operating from the USS Constellation (CV-64), on his 55th bombing mission … Continue reading →

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Operation Homecoming Part 2: Some History

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Ed

“When we got airborne and the frailty of being a POW turned into the reality of freedom, we yelled, cried and cheered.” Feb. 18, 1973, Maj. Gen. Ed Mechenbier, the last Vietnam POW to serve in the USAF. Three’s In and … Continue reading →

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Christmas ’72 Stories: (7) A Gentlemen’s Gentleman

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Ed

Linebacker II was halted on 29 December 1972. The North Vietnamese agreed to come back to the negotiations in Paris. Having enjoyed Christmas, Midway left Singapore and celebrated New Years Eve at sea on the way back to the Gulf … Continue reading →

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Smokey- For love of the game

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Ed

This post was originally done for Memorial Day 2012. It includes a link to the eulogy to Smokey, read into the Congressional Record by another of my VA-56 pals, and another of Smokey’s great friends, Max Carey. I have brought it … Continue reading →

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Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines: Heroes & Relics

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Ed

Believe that some good thing is possible, find the principle that makes it so, put the principle into practice, there you have it – Freedom Richard Bach As related in the previous two posts, Remembered Sky certainly flows from … Continue reading →

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Story Telling

Posted on October 14, 2012 by Ed

Richard Bach -“Paradise is a personal thing.” Once taken on, flying runs deeply and permanently in one’s blood, and I find that since I can’t “do” anymore, I need to remember and to “tell” and have some fun doing it. … Continue reading →

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James Tiberius Kirk, Where Are You?

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Ed

Ask any pilot, why or how they got into flying and you’ll find multiple answers, many will overlap but some will be unique, but all will be a personal thing long remembered.

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Sticks & Wires & Cloth

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Ed

“An airplane is just a bunch of sticks and wires and cloth, a tool for learning about the sky and about what kind of person I am, when I fly. An airplane stands for freedom, for joy, for the power … Continue reading →