Barbara Wilkerson Donnelly, Joy Rubins Morris, Rainer Klauss, Bobby Cochran, Collins (CE) Wynn, Eddie Sykes, Don Wynn, Paula Spencer Kephart, Cherri Polly Massey
Contributors: The Members of Lee High School Classes of 64-65-66 and Others
I fell a little behind on this issue, but a lot has happened this week. Sue's youngest daughter gave birth to our new granddaughter on Tuesday morning so we jumped in the car and I drove Sue to Lexington, KY that day, and left her there and drove back solo on Wednesday. I finally finished emptying one of my paid storage sheds on Friday and what a relief. The stuff's been there since 1994. Saturday night I attended the wedding of Rick Bragg, the Pulitzer Prize winner and author of All Over But the Shouting, and I Am A Soldier, Too - The Jessica Lynch Story. He's the one who wrote part of the intro to my last book and someone that I have come to call a friend. It was at the Peabody Hotel, and the reception was up on the roof (remember Tom Cruise in The Firm?) so it was a must attend event. Anyway, since I really had until Monday to get the Traveller out, I'm still not late.
Please include your name and class year with your e-mail to me.
T. Tommy
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This Week's
Lee-Bay Items
From Our
Mailbox
Last Week's
Lee-Bay Items
20th Special Forces
by Collins (CE) Wynn
Class of ‘64
You know, John Scales was absolutely right in his recent email to the Traveller. The officers and men of the 20th Special Forces are the finest soldiers anywhere and I am personally honored to have been accepted as a colleague by them. Every member of the command, regardless of their position or function, was extremely busy during the Reagan years, training almost exclusively in the European Theater on a wide range of missions.
I was medically retired in 1993 shortly after Desert Storm due to a parachute injury and was unable to continue my military career. Even though I have embarked on 3 additional careers since then, believe me, I have missed the military service every day since I left. Although it now sounds sexist to say, it is not meant to be -- I was proud to be a man among men.
Out of my 30 years of service, I spent the last 15 of them in the 20th. I was told then and have been told many times since, that joining the 20th mid-career at age 34 would close many assignment and coincidental promotion doors to me and it certainly did. But I would not change a thing. During that service I formed friendships and bonds that have been more personal and permanent than all others.
The 20th Group missions I participated in were strategically important to the nation and emotionally fulfilling. For example, many of the activities we engaged in involved the "hearts and minds" of our allies with the goal of solidifying, on both a political and military level, our international relationships. I recall one specific example from 1985. The officers and men John spoke of, including himself, were probably on this mission but I don't specifically recall everyone involved.
Colonel Jim Horak, Commander of the 20th Special Forces and Colonel Jim Morris, Commander of Special Operations Command, Europe led this particular mission to Tancos, Portugal in the spring of 1985 from our operating base in southern Spain. (Having these two senior commanders together on the same mission was unusual in itself). The mission involved bringing one of our really first rate USAF C-130 Hercules aircraft to the Portuguese airfield and teaching members of their armed forces to parachute using American aircraft, parachutes and procedures. As is always conducted at the end of all these type events, an award ceremony was held whereby every Portuguese member successfully participating was formally awarded the US Army Parachutist Badge (this is the "heart" part with the "minds" part being related to the technicalities of the training). You can believe me when I say those young Portuguese soldiers swelled with pride that day as their American Paratrooper Wings were pinned to their chests. What made this such a memorable event for me was that as our beautiful C-130 landed at their airfield that day and we came walking down the rear ramp and stepped off onto the tarmac, about 500 Portuguese soldiers lined up along the airfield waiting for us began to wave and cheer over and over again screaming, "Hooray, The Americans Are Here! Hooray, The Americans Are Here". One cannot buy the feeling I had at that moment. I am proud to say I am a Portuguese Parachutist as well having been awarded their wings at the end of that day(one of only a relatively few Americans to hold that qualification at the time). I am reminded of this story daily because I have a large framed photograph hanging in my den of myself and my friend Sergeant Major Jim Ryan (from Decatur) surrounded by hundreds of smiling Portuguese soldiers.
Oftentimes there is a little humor in everything if you look hard enough. I spent most, but not all, my years in Europe working with the Italians. Because I was a staff officer at the time many of my responsibilities involved coordination directly with Italian citizens at all levels (taxi drivers, military officers, para-military police[the Carabineri], airfield operators, etc) for every imaginable need. Once I accepted the fact that they were not in nearly as big a hurry as I, I came to admire them very much both as a people and a culture. Those of you who may have visited Italy are probably familiar with the terms “no problemo, domani” and “no problemo, dodo domani” (that would be “not now, come back tomorrow” and “not now, come back the day after tomorrow”); not good phrases to hear when you are looking for food, or fuel, or ammo. I say all that as a lead in to an amusing antidote about the Italian psyche and the real thing that it is.
I mentioned I was a staff officer and as such I did not often get to participate directly in some of the training we conducted with our Italian colleagues. Our day two of the 20th finest NCOs (Sergeants), Sergeant Major Jim Cadden (Arab) and then Master Sergeant Don Dudchock (Birmingham) mentioned to me that they were scheduled to conduct an exchange jump for the Italian Folgore’ troops (similar to the Portuguese operation mentioned above) and wanted to know if I’d like to come along and help with the operation. Having a little time available and not many opportunities to participate in similar events, I readily agreed to serve as an Assistant Jumpmaster pushing the group of paratroopers out of the aircraft while Don was the Jumpmaster who worked the door and Jim was the Lead Instructor. As a side note, duties related to airborne operations are not assigned by rank but by individual skill and experience – Don was more experienced as a Jumpmaster than I at the time therefore he had the lead position. Anyway, I was behind the last Italian paratrooper in the aircraft and, in accordance with American procedures, I was wearing my parachute and was “hooked up” the same as the Italians. When we got over the drop zone somewhere over Tuscany north of Florence, Don got the jump doors open and we put the paratroopers out of the aircraft with relative ease. As I neared the jump door I figured “what the heck, I’m hooked up” so I jumped with them as the last man out much to the surprise of my colleague standing by the door whom I saluted as I went by. This was not our normal operating procedure.
Anyway, it was a nice ride to the ground that day – clear skies and calm winds with a beautiful view of the Italian countryside. Now, finally, to the point of the story. Once I got on the ground and collected my wits a young Italian conscript came across the drop zone to me to help pick up my gear and carry it off the drop zone (a practice not followed by the US military; regardless of rank an American paratrooper carries his own stuff). So as we walked the mile or so to the turn in point (remember, I was the last one out), the Italian Machismo was demonstrated for me in a very personal way. This young Italian Private soldier turned to me, an American Army Field Grade Officer, and asked in broken English if I was “John Wayne” to which I replied in my broken Italian “No, son, I am not John Wayne”. Then he says “Where’s your gun?” My reply was that Americans don’t train with “guns” unless it is necessary. To which he promptly replied while un-holstering his Beretta 9mm pistol, “I am an Italian soldier and I have a gun and I have bullets as well!!” He was telling me he was a man and as good as any American because his government gave him a weapon and ammunition even when it was completely unnecessary and totally uncalled for. It was a little game of international one-upmanship played on a personal level.
Every foreign soldier I ever met (and there were thousands of them from many countries), including all ranks, positions, or functions were absolutely pro-American in every sense of the phrase regardless of the political climate in their home countries. These kinds of joint training events routinely conducted by the men of the 20th Special Forces Group are a big part of the reasons why.
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More Car Stuff
by Various Classmates
Don Wynn, Class of '67 sent in this picture of his brother Collins (CE) Wynn sitting in that 56 Ford he has written about.
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Collins (CE) Wynn, Class of ‘64 - I’ve been enjoying our conversations lately about the cars we had at Lee. As luck will have it, I attended a Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours a few days ago at a business down here called Muscle Car Mania. It was an impressive operation and I recommend it to anyone who has an interest in classic cars. The museum is first class and holds about 30 cars in a large, immaculate showroom a few of which are for sale. The display cars are all fully restored to their original condition and the inventory is rotated on a regular basis.
They are located on the west side of AL 59 at the intersection of County Road 32 in Summerdale, Alabama a mile or two north of the Foley Beach Express. Anyone going to or from Alabama’s beaches will pass by the showroom. If you stop in, I recommend allowing 45 minutes to an hour to look at all the display vehicles.
We were talking about muscle cars an issue or two back and particularly GTOs. If I recall correctly I think I paid around $3,800 for the one I had. Ironically, I saw one in the showroom in Summerdale. It was a stunning fully restored black over white 65 GTO convertible with a black interior complete with the original floor mats. It looked like it just came off the assembly line. In fact the only real difference I could detect was the price tag – up from $3,800 to a hefty $42,000. The others available there were similarly priced. These cars will take your breath away by reason of price if nothing else.
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Lynn Bozeman VanPelt, Class of '66 - My Mom had one of the very first mustangs in Huntsville....it was a 1964 Black with tan upholstery. It belonged to Woody Anderson's son first (he only had it for about 6 mos. from what I remember) and she got it in 1965 when I was a junior. I loved driving around in that car. The first time Mom let me drive it to school, I had to take my brother to Chapman middle school first, crossing Maysville to get to Lee after dropping him off I had a wreck....pulled right out in front of a car, it just bashed the front right side, no one injured. I went to the closest house to call my Mom....of course I was crying, she first asked if I was hurt, then about my brother then she said call the police. I said I don't have that's who I had the wreck with. The two policemen could not have been nicer....they even made excuses for me when my parents showed up, said mustangs had a "blind spot" and that I had not done anything wrong. A year later when I was working at the Lyric Theatre the same policemen came up to the window and said they recognized me from the wreck. The car was a classic and the whole family loved the car. Mom held onto for many years, finally deciding to sell it rather than make a decision on who to give it to, me or my brother. Jerry Craig, a county commissioner here in Madison county who collects classic cars bought it from her sometime in the late 80's. It was serendipity that she finally sold it because not long after selling it, my parents had a house fire and both cars in the garage were totally burned up. We all remarked how glad we were that the Mustang did not perish in the fire.
Glenn James, Class of '65 - Those strange looking things are instruments used on early space satellites to keep away gremlins and aliens.
Now the real answer they are presser feet for a sewing machine to do different things. My Grandmother had a foot operated sewing machine that used those things.
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Alice A. Brigman, Class of '64 -Tommy, the items look like attachments to a sewing machine to me. I had an old Singer and it had some that look like these. I never could make all of them work though.
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Barbara Seely Cooper, Class of '64 - The Lee-Bay items were used with a sewing machine, with the different attachments doing things such as buttonholes or embroidery. The brush was used to dust the parts of the machine.
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Subject:Chevy Trivia
Carolyn Burgess Featheringill
Class of '65
I may be able to answer the Chevy trivia question although, given the amount of boy toys featured on Lee-Bay lately, I've been completely at a loss. (Note that none of the girls recognized that oil can thingy!) The singer was Dinah Shore; her show was The Dinah Shore Chevy Show; and her trademark closing was a big kiss thrown to the audience after she had sung her themesong.
I enjoy the new edition of the Traveller each week, and I loved Elaine Lucas Hubbard's recent story about Joan (Graybill) and Vern Lucas. I agree with Elaine that the classmates and others in our three-class group who are married to each other ought to be recognized at the reunion. Maybe the first dance?
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Subject: Chevy Song
Charlie Hancock
Class of '66
I think that commercial was first played on the Lawrence Welk Show. I don't recall an introductory gesture.
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Subject:Reunion?
Carol Allen
Class of '68
Tommy and others, I'm from the class of '68...and sure wish other classes besides '64-'65-'66 could be included in your class reunions. Obviously, some I graduated with have gotten too old to plan anything. I tried to get a group together a couple years ago to plan our 35 year reunion and they were too busy going on trips to worry about such a thing. Since then my life has gotten pretty complicated with a elder mother I have to take care of but I would be willing to help in what way I could.
My sister graduated in '65 so I know lots of name from the class of '65 and definately know the class of '66, and '67 as well as '68.
(Editor's Note: Carol and others, we have put this question to the Reunion Committee and although we have not received an official report from the whole committee, there are lots of people who agree with you. Perhaps we'll have word by next week. In the meantime, are there others of you from some other classes who would also like to attend the reunion?)
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Carolyn Burgess Featheringill, Class of '65, has accused the editor of making it difficult for the female gender to guess the Lee-Bay Mystery Items, since they are normally boy's toys. Well, last week's item wasn't a boy's toy (the sewing machine parts) but she didn't venture a guess on that one either. Yes, Carolyn, I am picking on you!
This week is also probably a boy's toy, but every time I think that, Barbara Wilkerson Donnelly calls my hand on it and says she played with or used whatever it is.
Above is a very special Lee-Bay item. This is a magazine that I bought at a favorite place downtown where I bought a lot of comic books and model air planes as well as a few other magazines of this type.
The simple part of this Mystery is what was the name of the place that I bought it. This shouldn't be hard, since we've talked about it before.
Part two is a little harder, since I am looking for the cover price that I paid for the item in 1959.
The third part is the hardest one of all. We're going to play "The Price Is Right" this week, and see who can come closest to guessing the final price that this will sell for - without going over the actual bid price.
Since e-Bay bidding is a very strange ritual and since anyone could watch the auction go down to the wire and then jump in with their answer, I'm going to stop our guesses one hour prior to the actual end time. That means that your guess must have an e-mail time of one hour prior to May 26, 2005 20:39:35 PDT, the official ending time for this auction. For those that are going to look anyway, I'm make it easy by telling you that the Item Number is: 6961644534.
For those of you who plan to pay me back for all my hard work by buying this for me, please don't. Although I would appreciate the nice gesture, it just happens that I am the seller of it. I found it in the storage space that I finished cleaning out and am trying to get rid of it, so please don't do me any favors.
I've found a lot more stuff that is also going to be sold in the next few weeks so there will be more and maybe even another contest. For those of you who have never visited e-Bay, the web address is:
