Subject: Report from the Home Front.
This is a good time to pass on to all a" how goes it" back here at the 55th home front. The Association has been busy with some very important activities lately and we have made "contact" with the new wing leadership. All is well on the home front.
We had a good opportunity to say our farewells to BGen Koziol. We got him his personal copy of "We See All" and participated with the local Air Force Association Chapter in the design, purchase and installation of the flag/pole at the base cemetery. T'was his idea to put a flag there. How did so many of us for so long not notice? That's history now and a beautiful flag flies over the cemetery. A great project and a fitting opportunity for the Association to pay our respects to BGen Koziol for his support to the Association and then to become known by the new wing commander. My personal thanks to Mike Cook for the suggestion to ask Col George to make the formal dedication. The ceremony was solemn and very colorfully done. Max has put together another great article with plenty of pictures (for the pilots). Checkout the Association web site www.55srwa.org for the cemetery article. It is the headliner now on our website unless you are on a government network like me. Max also provided inputs to a very good Air Pulse article on the dedication.
Next, we took Col George to dinner at Gorats Steakhouse. Former 55th Wing Commanders, Directors, and Omaha Caucus members dressed in their finest to include "regimental ties", of course, came out to extend a welcome and to present our best wishes for the continued mission success of the Fightin' Fifty-Fifth. Despite the snow/ice storm howling outside, the get-together was a grand success. Max has provided another article with more pilot pictures which I have attached. He even got one picture, the "Four Wing Commanders" published in the Air Pulse. Grif- Please add this attached article on the dinner event to the website. Max sez it is ready to go.
Col George responded to our goodwill by requesting the presence of a few Association members at the next Standup Briefing where he acknowledged, to 60 or so of the wing leadership, the panoramic, monument picture donated to the wing by Harry Tull. He then talked about the Association and its significance to the current 55th Wing. Col George does not waste words. He gets right to the point. The new commander is "on board" with the Association. He shares many of our values. Our next step is a return "show" at Standup in January. We will have the floor to expose to the entire wing leadership who we are and where we are coming from. Max and Robb are dusting off an old outlined brief and rounding up some old, key photos of planes and things that carry the right message.
Planning for the reunion has slowed now as the emphasis has shifted to the next major event, the Birthday Ball coming 1 April 2005. For our participation that is the Tales of the 55th , the Award For Excellence and the Hall of Fame process. If you know of anyone working on a Hall of Fame submission or thinking about one, encourage them to continue and that the deadline is 15 January 2006. The pace will pick up after the new year roles around.
Best Wishes for a Happy Holiday Season and a Healthy and Successful New Year to All.
Videmus Omnia
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