September 1998 – East Tennessee and “Momma Malone” as Booger called his Mother, gave 53-F one of our most colorful and respected members.

Bob, as he was known by many, Booger, as he was known by most, was born in Niota, Tennessee. He died of cancer on September 11, 1998 during the Fox reunion which he had planned so much on attending. Booger never married and was looked after in his late life by many friends and his nephew, Major Harold W. Emick, Jr of Pearland, Texas.

Booger left us with his own terse but colorful description of his military career:

F-86 Nellis, K-55, Kadena. T-33 instructor - Greenville(basic), James Connally(IPIS). T-39 instructor - Randolph AFB(IPIS). F-100 Luke, Homestead. TUSLOG DET 119. T-39 Tan Son Nhut - also Base Ops Officer.

One bailout, one crash landing, one midair, one "got landed on top of", several dead sticks and single engine, many "pass overs", NO wife, no kids, no retired job....

Footnote: Robert W. Malone died in the Ft. Sam Houston, TX hospital during the Fox reunion. He passed away in his sleep. Cremated...no formal ceremony, however, many of his friends gathered at Booger’s favorite “after hours spot” and held an informal wake. Booger was there…both his ashes and his spirit and many toasts were given. He requested his ashes be disbursed from the air. His nephew, Major Harold W. Emick, Jr., 2721 Glendale Drive, Pearland, TX 77584 attended the reunion brunch and gave us details. A later message from Harold told us of Booger’s last flight………..

Today, Robert W. (Booger) Malone (Maj, USAF Ret) took his final jet ride at Ellington, AFB (Texas). It was his last wish to be placed into the slip stream by a fighter type aircraft. It was difficult but, not impossible for his Army nephew. Bob boarded the F-4 about 1400 hours in the first class section (Air Brake). The CO flying the front seat was none other than BG Richard Steve Richie (Ace, USAF Vietnam - 1972). Steve retired last year, but is still flying F4s. He was honored to render such a fitting good-bye to Booger Malone. I hope you all get this info out to all members of the team. Bob passed away last year (Sep 11, 1998) at Brooks Army Medical Hospital at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas during last years reunion. I attended last breakfast at the Randolph AFB Enlisted Club. I really enjoyed meeting all that spoke with me and wish you all the best for the new millennium.

I don't have everyone’s e-mail address, but please pass the SITREP (Situation Report) to all the team. Keep your nose up, airspeed up, and your wings straight and level.

AND MORE SAD NEWS….. Another 53-Fox makes his last flight…. Richard L. Wolfe, fellow classmate, died October 6, 1998 in San Antonio. He had been ill with Alzheimer’s Disease for several years. Wife, Margaret, sent a note to Jim Mayton to let us all know of Dick’s passing. Dick was a native of Muncie, Indiana. His first assignment out of pilot training was with the 326th FIS at Richards-Gebaur AFB flying F-86Ds. It is believed that he got out after his first tour and attended medical school.

The class of 53-Fox had its second “practice” reunion in three years, when they arrived at San Antonio, TX on September 10-13, 1998. Over 190 members, family, friends and instructors spent hours remembering days of fun and frustration. Tears, laughter and happy memories came to the front and made the years disappear with each retelling of “remember when...?” The hard work and leadership of Jake Watson, Don Condra and Bill Eagle paid big dividends in camaraderie, good will and Texas hospitality.

Events ranged all the way from tours of San Antonio, photo opportunities at the Randolph AFB Air Park with T-6, T-28, and T-33 from pilot training days, hospitality suites, dinners, dancing, brunches, memorial service for departed classmates, and schmoozing with friendships that developed over 45 years ago.

Many Foxes began gathering well before the reunion officially began and got a head start on visiting, etc. The Clarion Suites in Universal City served as “headquarters” and Foxes were see early and late having a great time. On Thursday night, the action moved to the Randolph AFB Officers Club…what a beautiful place…for registration, attitude alignments, and socializing. Food and drink aplenty move things along.

Friday saw a full day of activities. Many took tours of San Antonio and surrounding area. The Hondo graduates banded together and went to Hondo for an Air Force guided tour. The facility continues to be used for pilot training. The local newspaper published a picture of the visiting group with an unkind remark about them being graduates of the Navigation School… Oh well, that was a long time ago!

At 1645 hours, the group moved to the base theatre in the Taj Mahal for a memorial service to remember those deceased members of the class..now numbering over 200 of the 1150 or so of us who started training. Campbell Proudfit conducted the service with that wonderful speaking voice of his making it a most inspirational service. He was ably assisted as shown in the progam which follows.

MEMORIAL SERVICE

September 11, 1998

In Memoriam – Over 200 in number including five who were killed in action in Vietnam. They are Allen Fellows, James Metz, Jerry Phillips, Joseph Stine and Patrick Wood. The “roll was called” by Bud Libengood, Hork Dimon, Campbell Proudfit, Fritz Forrer, John Geron, and Joe Holt.

Following the service, the group once again made its way to the Randolph AFB Officers Club where many late comers signed in and were greeted. A buffet was served and the bar was open. Visiting continued well into the night.

Saturday was another full day. Outdoor activities were curtailed by almost continuous rain. Several braved the rain to visit the Randolph Airpark which contains the T-6, T-28, T-33 as well as several other training aircraft. A great photo op and many pictures were taken. Saturday night the group moved to the Randolph Enlisted Club for a buffet, picture taking, story telling, and a summation of the executive meeting held earlier. Again, a wonderful time was had by all. And words will never serve to tell the whole story of the evening. Simply a wonderful experience to see and have friends together again after 45 years!

A Sunday morning brunch at the Enlisted Club was attended by many and afforded one last chance to visit and say our farewells and to heartily proclaim “See you in 2001”!

53-Fox Class Structure Finalized….Officers confirmed….Primary Base COs Become the Executive Committee

Remember our pitch about getting organized in the 1998 reunion bulletins? We asked for volunteers to step forward to act as Squadron COs for each of the Primary bases and assume the tasks of organizing/locating/administering each Squadron(primary base) until such time as organizational meetings could be held. And the response was very gratifying. Some 50 or so unlocated, unresponsive Foxes joined our ranks as a result!

At the organizational meeting attended by class leader, John Geron, the concept was formalized and was later approved by the general membership. It was decided that the primary base commanders would become the Executive Committee, each speaking on behalf of their respective base classmates, thereby simplifying and expediting "whole class" business.

WING(Overall class management) - act as overall coordinator maintaining the master roster, produce a periodic newsletter, generate revenue to support administrative efforts, schedule and organize Wing(full class) reunions at regular intervals, and other efforts necessary to maintain a full class organization and promote continuing fellowship.

Wing officers/leaders were established at the organizational meeting and were approved by proclamation at the whole class meeting to serve until the next executive meeting in 2001. Jake Watson, co-founder of our 53 Fox reunions, was posthumously acclaimed as Permanent Wing Commanding Officer.

SQUADRON(Primary base management) - form an organization for each primary base, maintain a squadron roster and assist Wing in locating and maintaining a full class roster, schedule and organize Squadron reunions as desired, generate revenue to support Squadron activities, assist as necessary in Wing affairs such as generating news items for the Wing news letter, and other efforts necessary to organize and promote continuing fellowship.

Following is the list of primary base CO's & Deputies. Some changes were made from the list of volunteers…Would each of the following review and help me make sure the list is correct. The order of CO's and Deputies may not be correct in some cases, also.

Bainbridge AB, GA -- Note: Neither of the acting officers were present at the 1998 reunion. James R. Beisel attended and agreed to serve as CO in their absence. Sort this out guys….

ATTENTION LADY FOXES...Katherine Ann Holt volunteered to serve as leader of the ladies auxiliary and serve as a focal point for ladies activities. She has the following to pass along to the ladies…..

What a wonderful time we had in San Antonio! And now we are planning a great get-together in Colorado Springs, year 2001. Sounds like a long time away but as you know it will be here soon and we want to be ready.

Some of you were so helpful in giving me ideas for our LADY FOXES activities. Thank goodness some of you have been to Colorado Springs and have several good thoughts on what type of program would be fun and entertaining.

At the present time we are contacting their local Chamber of Commerce for information on tours, exhibits, fashion shows and any side trips in the general area. Please, if you have any information I could use in planning our reunion I would certainly appreciate it. Also, if we are lucky enough to stay at the Air Force Academy, we’ll have many activities to do.

So, don’t forget to let me know what you think about any information you have on the Colorado Springs area. I NEED YOUR HELP...

Colorado Springs and Dayton are on our radar screens for 2001 and 2003, respectively. Bud Liebengood has kindly volunteered to set up arrangements, and will need assistance from other 53-Foxes in the Colorado Springs area. Using the Air Force Academy as the focal point, Bud’s experience will help us to enjoy the adventure as much as we enjoyed the Randolph-based activities, so smoothly handled by Bill Eagle. In 2003, the reunion at Wright-Patterson AFB will center around the Air Force Museum. Plan now to attend both of these memorable events! And if you have any ideas or preferences for activities at either location, please contact Bud, Don Condra, or John Geron.

The Executive Group decided at the executive meeting that a $5 annual membership fee, with a $20 fee for five years was in order. This fee will help to defray the cost of two newsletters annually, buildup of an administrative kitty for future announcements, aid in locating lost members, etc. In addition, the process of organizing the next reunion requires advanced deposits, mailings, etc which will put a strain on existing funds which consist of "left over" funds collected at the 1998 reunion. We have relied, to a great extent, upon the generosity of our members for funding. And that has been gratifying. And we will continue to do so to a great extent. A heartfelt thanks is extended to all that have contributed in this way.

Now is the time for all good Foxes to come to the aid of their classmates. Check the class roster and you will see many with no addresses. They have not been found(identified by the * in the status column). If you have the capability to locate any of these gentlemen, please contact them and get permission to add their addresses to the mailing list. Better still, work on them to come to Colorado Springs in 2001 and Dayton in 2003. (Egad! 50th Anniversary of graduation.) Find these fellows! Sadly, there are a number of our classmates who have never responded to our mailings. We are sure we have good addresses in many cases and are at a loss to understand why no response(identified by the & in status column). All you eager beavers (er, foxes), use your friendly power of persuasion to get the missing and reluctant involved with their classmates once again.

In July of 1952, 30 young Dutchmen set sail for the United States in order to become “FLYING DUTCHMEN!” The Dutchmen were amongst many MDAP cadets that would (or would NOT) receive their wings from the US Air Force. The largest contingent were Frenchmen, but Holland, Norway, Belgium, Denmar, Italy and England were about equally represented. After landing in Hoboken, NJ, we were split in groups of two’s and three’s and sent to all the standard primary bases throughout the United States.

Most of us were not to see one another again until we arrived at LUKE some 15 months later. Pre-flight was a pain in the neck for most of us, especially since we had already gone through three months of bootcamp in our native countries. Groundschool proved to be very hard for those cadets who did not master the English language, but since we had 25 hours of screening instruction in our home countries, the flying didn’t seem so hard.

Yet, we lost quite a number of cadets to “washouts.” From the original 30, only 20 earned their wings. That’s a wash-out rate of 33%! Some foreign students had a worse ratio because of language problems, but I really do not know how the 33% compare to the American wash-out or the overall percentage.

Two of our classmates crashed in Holland in F-84s, Jan Baetens and Jan Zonhoven, and most of the others left the Royal Netherland Air Force to join the Airline industry. Some made a career of the RNAF and one (Jan Ravier) ended up as the private Helicopter Pilot for Her Majesty Queen Juliana. Jan de Ruiter became a General.

All in all, 53-F provided us with a heck of an experience and a great opportunity for which we’re forever grateful. Frits Forrer

P.S. And now we’re looking for 53-Fox MDAP contacts in France, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Italy and England. Contact John Geron at eMail johndger@erols.com or Tel 301-449-6654.

***************

WEB SITES OF INTEREST FOR 53- FOX NERDS

If you have any URLs that might be of interest to classmates, send them along to johndger@yahoo.com. For starters, here are:

Arlington Cemetery, http://www.arlingtoncemetery.com/; Air Force Association, http://www.afa.org/; Air Force Times, http://www.airforcetimes.com/; Air Force News Service, "82. USAFnews"

CLASS ROSTER/HISTORY BOOK

The 53-F class roster, the short version, follows as an attachment. Much information is contained, however, the personal information is not included. Many of you ordered the extended version a couple of years ago. It consisted of several pages and cost nearly $15 each to have it printed. It continues to be updated as information is obtained. Both it and these newsletters depend on YOU for information. From year to year we gain more addresses and information on our classmates. We hope that eventually and prior to the 50^th anniversary reunion to have enough information to have a great history of the class including then and now photos. Many of you have shared your photos and provided personal information and stories. Please continue to provide us with these. If you don’t care to write, you might use a technique that the Confederate Air Force is using. They ask their comrades to make a verbal recording of their stories and exploits. We’ll take it any way we can get it!!

ANOTHER “FOX” MAKES HIS LAST FLIGHT

MEMORIAL SERVICE

September 11, 1998