The 2005 ANA reunion has passed into history but certainly is not forgotten by those who attended and were involved in making it a success - and a success it was!

The attendance was good but could have been better. Those who did not go to the meeting missed an exciting, informative and fun filled event. I thank all of the GPS volunteers who helped make the reunion a success.

Two men from our squadron were instrumental to making the 2005 ANA reunion a success. They are Bud Kretsinger and Ray LeCompte. It was determined by ANA HQ that the San Diego squadron, which was to host and support the reunion as they had in past, was unable to carry out this mission. Starting in January Bud and Ray volunteered to aid ANA HQ with hosting and supporting the reunion. To do this they traveled to San Diego several times, made numerous phone calls, and developed a list of volunteers to help with many of the reunion activities. During the reunion they were everywhere with the ANA staff insuring tasks were accomplished and that all events were coordinated. They were behind the scenes keeping the wheels greased. Thus, the reunion was well run and everyone enjoyed the fruits of their labor and that of the ANA staff. They gave of their time and treasure to insure that a great ANA reunion came to past. They have the right ANA-GPS stuff!! You made us all proud to be Grampaw Pettibone Squadron members. Bud and Ray we thank you both for your excellent work and dedication to the ANA mission.

Thirty-two GPS members and spouses attended all or part of the 2005 ANA Reunion and Meeting in San Diego on June 1-4. There were many especially interesting presentations, visits to military activities, and plenty of camaraderie with old friends. We had a fun time. One thing that was abundantly clear in those four days was that our military men and women are doing great things for our country and us. The following brief highlights of some of the presentations and activities will provide the flavor of what all we did and heard:

Special Forces Presentation: A comprehensive overview of SEAL and other Special Forces operations in Afghanistan and Iraq was presented by CAPT James O'Connell, Commander Naval Special Warfare Group One. He then introduced two SEAL Chief Petty Officers who had been directly in the fight behind enemy lines. They vividly described their actions, challenges, and the intensity of their operations. We heard the Unclassified version - which was spell binding. It's hard to imagine what the Classified version would have revealed. Suffice to say that the Chief was wearing a Navy Cross! They were very clear in their appreciation for naval air – FA-18's, helo's, and P-3's. The first two were "there when we need them, dropping closely and accurately", and the P-3's state-of-the-art sensors provided great surveillance and targeting of the bad guys.

U.S. Coast Guard: RDML John Currier, Chief of Staff, coast Guard Pacific Area, gave us a very detailed and down-to-earth description of Coast Guard air operations in their many venues – homeland security, the war on terror, search and rescue, and drug interdiction. One of the interesting facets of the counter drug operations is their Jacksonville, FL based HITRON, flying armed helicopters. They can easily catch up with the drug running "Go-Fast" boats coming out of South America. They lay a few 10-round "stitches" of machine gun fire across their bow. But if the boat does not stop, a sniper with a 50-caliber, bolt-action rifle (That's one big rifle!) takes aim and shoots out their high horsepower outboard engines one at a time. Soon the "Go-Fast" is an "All-Stop", where surface vessels can apprehend them. He also described a recent rescue operation in the Aleutian Islands. A grounded ship and ugly conditions - monstrous seas, extreme winds, low visibility and eventual darkness. The rescue helo was hit by ‘green water' from a rogue wave smashing against the broached ship and crashed. A smaller, less capable helo made a difficult launch from a ship and courageously effected rescue of the helo crew, transported them to Dutch Harbor, then returned and lifted off the ships master and a USCG rescue swimmer – all while flying with night vision goggles due to the dark, restricted visibility. Not surprisingly, at the subsequent ANA Awards Luncheon that helo crew was the recipient of ANA's achievement award for helicopter operations – and received a standing ovation from the ballroom full of attendees.

MCAS Miramar Visit. Two busloads of ANA'ers went to MCAS Miramar. A superb lunch in the Officers Club was followed by an interesting and detailed operations briefing by Col Roy Arnold, Assistant Wing Commander, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. Even after the large and delicious meal there were no ‘sleepy heads' – as it is absolutely fascinating and impressive what our Marines are doing in "hot spots" on a daily basis. A flight line tour let us see up close the Marine's workhorse CH-46 & CH-54 helo's, a FA-18, and visit with their aircrews.
Fleet Response Plan (FRP) and Tsunami Deployment: CAPT Lawrence Burt, Commander Carrier Air Wing Two, USS Abraham Lincoln, provided a readily understandable review of how the FRP works. The FRP lets the Navy surge deploy battle groups and ships based on the need, and can occur at many points in what has been traditionally an 18-month training/deployment cycle. It was on just such a surge deployment to the Far East that the Lincoln was diverted to Indonesia for tsunami relief. CAG-2 recounted what they faced and what they did. The first was extreme devastation from the tsunami, starving people, and potential operations in a Muslim nation, not friendly to the U.S., beset by civil war. Initial wary negotiations provided a framework for relief operations, and the helo's and sailors from the Lincoln and other U.S. ships soon went to work. They provided medical assistance and airlift, ferried tons of food, water, and supplies to what remained of remote villages, sometimes wondering who was in control of the village – military or rebel. Photos of the utter devastation and suffering were all too real. The Navy and their efforts were good ambassadors for the U.S., with one village expressing their appreciation by flying a sizeable American flag at the helo landing zone – a flag handmade from available cloth. [This presentation will be coming to a future GPS luncheon, courtesy of former GPS CO Bud Kretsinger who nailed down the arrangements.]

Battle of Midway Commemoration: An evening reception aboard the USS Midway museum, attended by over 1000 people, including many ANA'ers, commemorated the decisive Battle of Midway 63 years ago. From the Midway's flight deck attendees enjoyed good food, libations, and camaraderie, a very moving ceremony commemorating the battle, and a fly-over of WWII aircraft (SBD, F4F, Zero) and a final pass by the Zero and a modern FA-18.

USS Belleau Wood visit: Changes to the USS Ronald Reagan's schedule precluded a hoped for aircraft carrier visit on Saturday, thus on very short notice the large deck amphibious assault ship USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3) was substituted. The Commanding Officer, CAPT Robert Ford, energetically welcomed our 46 ANAer's, and we were soon split into three groups, each with three petty officers as guides. We toured the well deck, hangar deck, vehicle deck, flight deck, mess deck, bridge, CIC, and the extensive battle casualty/medical facilities. In/on each there was a knowledgeable petty officer to tell us about what we were seeing and what their job was. Very interesting and informative. While telling us about the medical department the First Class Corpsman was asked (by a WWII/Korean War vintage ANAer): "Do you still give APC's for every ache and pain?" The answer was "Nope, now it's Ibuprofen or a straw." To which she soon added: "And we just tell them to ‘Suck-it-up!'" Lots of spirit on that ship! As clean and squared away as the ship and crew were it was discouraging to note that the 27 year old, 820 foot ship has one more at-sea period, then returns to San Diego for decommissioning. She will be stripped, and eventually towed to Hawaii for sinking as a reef. With this in the ships future, the crew's professionalism was even more impressive - they haven't thrown in the towel.

Banquet: The Saturday banquet included a delicious dinner, remarks by ADM Leon Edney, ANA Chairman of the Board (acting) and RADM P.D. Smith, ANA President, and the keynote speech by ADM John Nathman, Commander Fleet Forces Command.

Camaraderie/receptions: And as expected, two receptions at the reunion hotel, plus the evening aboard Midway, did let us socialize. At the Salute to Active Duty/flight jacket reception we had the chance to talk with many active duty Navy and Marine aviation personnel and their spouses, and were honored by the attendance of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Installations and Environment), a retired naval aviator with over 6500 flight hours.

ANA Business: At the CO/ANA Trustee meeting, and later at Saturday's general membership meeting, considerable discussion revolved around ANA's future direction. Too many details to cover here, so please read the ANA President's "Flight Plan" in the Spring 2005 edition of Wings of Gold, which should have made it into your mailbox in mid-June.

Bottom Line: What we all learned at ANA 2005 – The accomplishments, dedication and professionalism of our military personnel are unbelievably outstanding!!

GPS'ers attending ANA 2005 Reunion and Meeting (The asterisk (*) denotes those who ably assisted the reunion chairman at the registration desk, as bus managers, ticket takers, etc.): Andy Andresen*, Greg Bishop, Mel & Marty Blixt, Tim Brown, Pete Cherbak, Lorraine Dadamo*, Andy Gilcrest*, Bill & Sally Grizzell, Ted Heineman*, Bob Helton*, Jack Hindes & Dora DeWitt, Roy & Rete Janiec, Bud* & Chris Kretsinger, Ray Lecompte*, Mel Locke*, Dick Martin, Nick Melnick, Jim* & Florence Menees, Bob Morrison, Dave Newbro*, Bob* & Marty* Olds, Joe O'Toole*, Fran Pieri, Bill Schubert, and Chuck Simons*.

Guest Speaker - Capt. E. Royce Williams, USN (Ret)

By Dr. Dick Fields, Public Affairs Officer

Royce Williams is another pilot of great renown whose love for airplanes started at a very young age. His first airplane ride happened at age 4 and took place in a Ford Tri-Motor out of a farmer's field in South Dakota. As he grew older, his heroes were Charles Lindbergh and Roscoe Turner. He cleaned a friend's Travel Air in return for rides. He wanted to become a naval aviator and Annapolis midshipman in the worst way and did all manner of things to accomplish that goal: He became an Eagle Scout, the first in his community. He joined the Minnesota National Guard in 1942. Next he joined the Navy's V-5 program in 1943. He pointed out that while we consider the world changed after 9-11, this is nothing like it was after Pearl Harbor --- there were almost no young men around and people were collecting scrap items to be recycled into weapons --- the change was drastic. In his early service years he flew Hellcats, Corsairs and Bearcats (he really liked the Bearcat).

During the Korean war, he was assigned to VF 781, the Pacemakers, based at Los Alamitos. Their unit became part of Air Group 102 and Task Force 77, flying off the Oriskany. On Royce's most famous day, he flew an early morning mission against industrial targets near the Korean-Russian border. The weather was terrible with a snowstorm extending from 400 feet to 12,000 feet and high seas. After returning to the ship, their flight was again launched as a combat air patrol responding to the radar sighting of a large group of MiG aircraft heading south from Vladivostok at 50,000 feet. Two ships of their flight of four had to immediately return to the ship because of mechanical problems, leaving Royce and his wingman, Dave Rowland, to deal with SEVEN MiGs on their own! They spotted the MiGs leaving contrails above but as they climbed, the MiGs descended and their flight of two was jumped by 4 MiGs. Although they were instructed not to fire, they found themselves in an intense firefight and had to fire back. One MiG went down trailing smoke with Dave Rowland close behind. Royce nailed one of the remaining three, firing so close and effectively that he literally had to duck the flying debris. Many more gun runs took place with the combat lasting over 30 minutes. Royce fired on the other MiGs with good hits. Royce, however took a hit that blew away his hydraulic system. He dived for the snowstorm layer, emerged below and attempted to land his crippled F9F-5 Cougar on the ship. He got the hook and gear down by gravity but had no control hydraulics and no flaps. The approach was necessarily made at very high speed and when Royce could not line up on the ship, the ship changed course to accommodate him, resulting in a perfect, centered 2-wire trap.

Things got really strange after landing. What had happened was not for publication or even to be spoken of --- we were not at war with Russia!? Ultimately Royce met with President Elect Eisenhower and his staff and was credited with "at least" three MiG kills. A recent internet report from Russia, however, named four pilots lost in that encounter, so the figure was most likely four. The secrecy requirement was only dropped about 5 years ago.

Royce remained in the Navy for many years, holding many positions and training many Navy airmen. He currently lives in Escondido with Camilla, his wife of 58 years. Thanks, Royce, for the fascinating tale of victory.

NAVY HELICOPTER NOVEL WRITTEN
by GPS Member Duke Libby

Uniform Romeo, written by GPS member, Duke Libby, tells the story of a rookie USN pilot's rite-of-passage as part of a helo detachment's 1959 mission to the South Atlantic aboard a "goofball" LST. The thrills and laughs come fast in this novel that features exciting flight ops and frivolous antics by colorful Navy shipmates as they operate along a line of idyllic islands from Barbados to Brazil.

"Although the book is fiction, many of the events took place," said Libby, who flew navy jets and helicopters in the late 50s. "It was a time and place when the men who manned the aircraft and ships were a bit playful."
Uniform Romeo received a nice review in a recent issue of ANA's Wings of Gold magazine. Published by Author House, the book is available through all retail outlets in hard and soft cover and can be ordered by calling 888-280-7715 or online at: uniformromeo.com or amazon.com.

XO TOURS USS RONALD REAGAN
By Mel Locke, XO GPS

On June 4, 2005, while at the Association of Naval Aviation Reunion 2005, I drove to the Naval Air Station North Island on Coronado. After shopping at the Base Exchange, I drove to the dock of the CVN 76 Ronald Reagan. I met with AW3 Reichard who was in charge of visitor passes. I convinced him to give me a personal tour of the carrier.

We climbed the gangplank to the hangar deck, cleared security, and entered. To the left was the Reagan room with memorabilia. We viewed a video of the Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter debate. Next we entered a passageway to a welcome room. At the left was a life-size statue of President Ronald Reagan, with his right hand extended as if to shake hands. Also in this room were the 50 state flags in a semi-circle.
Departing the welcome room we climbed three ladders on the port side with twelve steps each. This took us through officers' country. We then climbed three ladders on the starboard side and arrived at the flight deck. At the stern of the flight deck, I viewed only three arresting cables. Walking the length of the main deck, I saw two catapults. There were also two catapults on the canted deck. The main flight deck is 1,092 feet, but the canted deck is shorter. Height of the island from the water line to the top of the mast is 20 stories. Typically the CVN Reagan has 80 combat aircraft. Four bronze propellers are each 21 feet across and weigh 66,220 pounds. The top speed is more than 30 knots. The two nuclear reactors can operate for more than 20 years without refueling.

All aircraft were at NAS North Island for maintenance because the carrier had recently arrived from the East Coast. San Diego will be the home port for the CVN76 Ronald Reagan. During peacetime, the ship will be a visible deterrence to potential aggressors. In the event of war, the nation's newest aircraft carrier will launch air attacks on enemies and protect friendly forces as directed by the President of the United States.
You may arrange a tour of the carrier by sending an e-mail request to apao@reagan:navy.mil. You will receive an appointment for your visit.

FROM YOUR MEMBERSHIP OFFICER
Fran Pieri

So, as always, keeping current members and bringing new members into the ANA and The Grampaw Pettibone Sqdn. is the responsibility of all of us. We must maintain a strong organization to promote the ideals and objectives of ANA. Also, we need to maintain the strength of the Association, and to make all the advantages that we have had, available for the new members we will be welcoming. Our newest member is Mr. Bob Atkinson. "Welcome Aboard", sir. Credit for signing up Bob is our XO Mel Locke. This makes the 5th new member Mel has signed-up this year making him an "ACE". "Attaboy", Mel. The Ray Pett "let me buy you a drink" contest is still at $200.00. Tell your friends the ANA is a civilian organization and membership is open to anyone interested in Naval Aviation. No previous military service is required to become a member. The "Wings of Gold Magazine", by itself, is worth the annual fee of $40.00. As a reminder, our next luncheon is Thursday, July 14th. Bring a friend and sign-em-up. Carpooling is highly recommended. Keep the blue side up. Fran

PLANES OF FAME MUSEUM
by Fran Pieri

GPS Membership Officer and volunteer at the Planes of Fame Museum. The next event day at the Museum will be Saturday, July 2nd. They will be featuring Military Observation Aircraft. Most monthly events begin at 10:00 am with speakers who were directly associated with the featured topic. A flight demonstration by the appropriate aircraft usually follows the seminar. The Museum is open 7 days a week 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Admission is $8.95, $1.95 for children 5-11, children under 5, FREE. Located at the Chino Airport. 7000 Merrill, Chino,Calif. 91710. Ph (909) 597 3722 or www. planesoffame.org.

PARACHUTE ADVENTURE

GPS member Stu Nelson spent years flying fighters and half expected to have to bail out during his career but never did. As his 80th birthday was approaching, he decided it was now or never for parachuting. Stu went to the parachute school at Perris, California and was extensively prepared for a freefall jump from 12,500 feet. The plan was to jump along side two instructors in a solo (not tandem) jump. Stu left the aircraft and assumed the position and free fell as planned. The only hitch apparent was that the jumper-to-jumper radio did not work. The plan was to open when the altimeter read 6000 feet.

All jumpers deployed as planned, but the best laid plans sometimes go astray: Stu's chute malfunctioned and failed to open. Instead, there was very little opening shock and the canopy floated over his head like a ball. Since this was a solo jump, there was no one else to help out. The other jumpers chutes had deployed properly and they were left high above him as he continued to fall. With no one to help, it was all up to Stu who coolly reached up and shook the risers until he had full deployment and made a normal descent. Normal at least until touchdown: he landed in an auto junk yard. It was a great adventure. Although he has no interest in repeating the jump, Stu was very pleased about having done it. It was clearly better this way than having to leave a fatally damaged aircraft over who-knows-where!
By GPS PAO Dick Fields

GRAMPS HOPES YOU ENJOYED
THE ANA REUNION AT SAN DIEGO