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AFTER ACTION REPORT FOR 2009 - LOUISVILLE
The 2009 reunion was held on March 6-8th, 2009. The hospitality room opened earlier than normal at 3 PM. There were a handful of attendees waiting for the gathering to begin as early as 2 PM and everything kicked into high gear by 4. The last die-hard participant wandered out after well after midnight. A dance troupe from Indiana performed an excellent patriot salute to the troops at 8 PM. Saturday morning saw a group head off to Fort Knox to the Patton Museum. Another group departed for the Clark County Airport to fly helicopters for the first time in 40 years. Just as we had experienced two years ago, the muscle memory and skills were still there for the nearly 50 "senior" helicopter pilots. The smiles, joy and satisfaction of getting to fly again was evident with everyone. Between 2007 and 2009, Whirlaway Helicopters at Clark County Airport provided nearly 90 Vietnam Helicopter pilots a chance to fly again. The highlight of the flying experience was when Jim Hobstetter flew again. While Jim was getting set in the front, Dan Gardner from Virginia was slipped in the back seat without Jim's knowledge. What was so special was that Jim had saved Dan's life 39 years ago when he did a medivac near the Da Nang area. Dan Gardner had been looking for the pilot that saved him for 39 years and had only found Jim this past year. They had yet to arrange a time to reunite. The local media ran the story which later played on CNN. Saturday night was a special event with 100 more people than normal attending the dinner. The additional attendees were a result of multiple mailings, personal calls and especially our guest speakers Joe Galloway and General Hal Moore. After dinner General Hal Moore and Joe signed both their books. The reunion for the Ohio River LZ Chapter has grown from the initial group of 15 to an average of over 100 for the past 9 years. The reunion in 2010 will be our 23rd gathering.
THE 2010 REGISTRATION FORM WILL NOT BE POSTED UNTIL LATE THIS YEAR WHEN THE REUNION POSTCARD IS MAILED TO YOUR HOME. UNTIL THEN, CONSULT THIS SITE FROM TIME TO TIME AS WE WILL UPDATE THE 2010 REUNION PLANS.
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