Took my Terminally Ill Army Buddy Flying Sunday - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Air&Road · #1 07-09-2014, 02:37 AM

A bonafide war hero that I served with in '69 & '70 has stage four cancer. I wrote about him here before. He was one of the very first pair of fighting boots in Vietnam when LBJ progressed past the "advisors" stage in November '65. He was also one of the very first to be drenched by agent orange. Something I just found out Sunday. I thought that they didn't use it that early.

I reconnected with him in early May and in the course of reacquainting, he was excited to learn that I have a plane and immediately and excitedly asked for a ride.

My plane is hangared well over a hundred miles from where he is located, so I had to find the right day with the right weather. I THOUGHT that I had good weather on a non working day, but the weather doesn't always do what the meteorologists say it will do.

I took off 6AM Sunday morning fighting a heavy headwind at altitude. I couldn't find a good altitude, so I fought it all the way to our meeting point. It is a towered airport and they had me do a long final. I flew over a hot air balloon on final. Visibility was hazy, but still a pleasant albeit slow flight so far.

He had asked to fly over a large lake north of Dallas. He met me at the plane so I didn't even have a chance to get out and stretch my legs. We took off and cruised all around the large lake discovering things neither of us had ever seen from the land or the water.

We then landed at a nearby airport for fuel and a break. It was still not even nine o'clock at that point, but when we took off the air was getting rough. I got him back where I picked him up and while they topped off the tanks we visited for a short while before I headed home.

I got in the air before ten AM but the air was already really rough. Usually you can climb out of the rough air at two or three thousand feet, but I couldn't even get out at four thousand. Not a huge problem. I just hung on.

I got near my home airport with one runway and the weather reported a gusty wind directly across the runway. Descending through terribly rough air to a high gusty crosswind was something I didn't want to deal with in a tailwheel airplane. I diverted to an airport 20 miles away with three runways and was happy to put it on the ground on a runway with almost no gusty crosswind.

My wife came and picked me up. We went home, cooked out and waited for a wind change. I finally got the plane in its hangar about seven o'clock. It was a relief.

All said and done, I logged exactly five hours of flight time. It was not the usual pleasure flying that I do, but was all really worth it to fulfill my buddies simple wish. It was very satisfying to see him enjoy himself so much before starting chemo.

All goes to show that a bad day of flying is not only better than a good day working, but doing it for the right reason can make even some rough flying very satisfying.

Jim B. · #2 07-09-2014, 03:36 AM

You're a good man, Larry

Skid Row Joe · #3 07-09-2014, 03:58 AM

Heeding the weather, keep a you alive. Good story, Larry.

Botnst · #4 07-09-2014, 07:36 AM

Well done.

SwampYankee · #5 07-09-2014, 08:18 AM

Sounds like a great day given the circumstances!

JB3 · #6 07-09-2014, 08:31 AM

when you have to land a private plane at a diverted airport like that, how does it work? do you pay parking fees based on hourly use? is it like a marina with guest docking?

good for you larry, nice thing to do for your friend.

tbomachines · #7 07-09-2014, 08:32 AM

Great story Larry, must have made his day!

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jplinville · #8 07-09-2014, 08:47 AM

AO was certainly used that early...My dad was there in April of '65, and was coated in it as well. It's because of that damned chemical that my brothers and I were born with asthma...one of the first linked diseases from that crap. Luckily, that seems to have been the only birth defect we inherited, that we know of. As time goes by, more and more diseases are cropping up that are linked to it.

Good for you, Larry...being able to do that for your buddy surely made his day.

Air&Road · #9 07-09-2014, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JB3

when you have to land a private plane at a diverted airport like that, how does it work? do you pay parking fees based on hourly use? is it like a marina with guest docking?

good for you larry, nice thing to do for your friend.

Many general aviation (small plane) airports are municipalities. They are managed by the city. Supported financially by hangar rental fees and fuel sales.

At such an airport, you land, tie down and someone picks you up. No fees or anything. Some of the fields geared more toward major business travelers, such as Addison Airport in the north dallas area, charge a landing fee that is waived if you buy fuel there.

About half of my flying is in and out of private grass strips. The other half municipal airports. Ive yet to incur any more of a landing fee than an inflated fuel price.

Its not as if I'm jetting around the country in a Gulfstream.

Air&Road · #10 07-09-2014, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jplinville

AO was certainly used that early...My dad was there in April of '65, and was coated in it as well. It's because of that damned chemical that my brothers and I were born with asthma...one of the first linked diseases from that crap. Luckily, that seems to have been the only birth defect we inherited, that we know of. As time goes by, more and more diseases are cropping up that are linked to it.

Good for you, Larry...being able to do that for your buddy surely made his day.

Okay then maybe it was Nov 64 that the first of the first cav arrived.

jplinville · #11 07-09-2014, 09:34 AM

I take that back...Diabetes is also another thing my brothers and I inherited from AO. It's something they knew was bad, yet still dumped.

It's a legacy of the Vietnam War that will be with us for generations...

strelnik · #12 07-09-2014, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Botnst

Well done.

Agreed. The one project which I support is the Wounded Warrior project because I have seen all this trauma and heartache up close.

I encourage other people to help or at least, inquire.

dynalow · #13 07-09-2014, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Botnst

Well done.

X2.

The summer of '65. Good-bye 4S deferrment. Hello 1A. Selective Service. (Selective ?

) Draft physical in October. Enlisted in the Navy in Nov.

IIRC from the movie...and Hal Moore's book, the 7th went over in ' 65 and the Ia Drang action was in Oct or Nov?

Larry, I salute you for taking the time to do this for a friend and comrade.
My best friend Mike was enrolled in a flying school when he was drafted. He took a Huey Cobra to work in 67-68. He died July 14, 2008. Throat cancer.

Support the Wounded Warrior Project. I do.

Can't Know · #14 07-09-2014, 11:23 AM

Whatever the cause of your friend's ailments, it's exceedingly good that you were able to help him take his mind off them for a while and I'm sure you have no regrets about it. Really, the rough air through which you had to fly exemplifies as a microcosm the rough weather with which he lives each day of his life.

It's a great memory you'll both have for the rest of your days. Well done, sir.

Air&Road · #15 07-09-2014, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dynalow

X2.

The summer of '65. Good-bye 4S deferrment. Hello 1A. Selective Service. (Selective ?

) Draft physical in October. Enlisted in the Navy in Nov.

IIRC from the movie...and Hal Moore's book, the 7th went over in ' 65 and the Ia Drang action was in Oct or Nov?

Larry, I salute you for taking the time to do this for a friend and comrade.
My best friend Mike was enrolled in a flying school when he was drafted. He took a Huey Cobra to work in 67-68. He died July 14, 2008. Throat cancer.

Support the Wounded Warrior Project. I do.

Yes it was '65. What JP said made me doubt my accuracy caused me to look it up. In the course of looking that up I found something in wiki that might not be very accurate. (Wiki not accurate

)

The wiki said that a different battalion 2 1/2 miles away was massacred while Hal Moores battalion was surrounded. Danny and i spent a LOT of time together while in the army and he talked about it VERY little. In the course of recent conversation, he said that he was on the other side of the mountain and from what he said, i understood that hal moores battalion got it worse, but i might have understood wrong. I'm going to try to get more details. It may very well be that danny was a survivor from the massacred batalion.