Sampson Vets - President’s Column

Dear Fellow Sampson Vets.

Here it is the 7th of June. Memorial Day has come and gone.
Again, I must extend a great big thank you to Tom Kirk and
Don Lehman for again staging an outstanding Association
participation in the Waterloo, New York parade on the 30th
of May. For those of you who do not know, Waterloo is the
home of Memorial Day. Anyhow, we had over 20 vets and
their wives/girl friends participate in the parade. For those
who could not march Jim Wohaska again provided his 1952
tractor and trailer to ride on. Thanks Jim.
You will find a picture of a fire truck on the last page of this Roll Call. This fire truck was featured in this year's parade. It suffered during the 9/11 attacks and was taken to the New Jersey demolition site for disposal. The Trauma Response Assistance for Children discovered the fire truck and rescued it. They refurbished it and the names of the First Responders who lost their lives are memorialized on the sides of the truck. The Director of Special Operations is Michael Bellone and his office is at Main St. center, Suite 206, Waterloo, NY 13165. His e-mail address is mbellone@tracteam.org and the web site is www.tracteam.org.

Before I forget, I would like to thank Jack Ross and his wife Spring, Hob Davis and his wife Esther and my wife Alice for the pictures of the parade.

As those of you who attended the May work party, you know I was not there. Alice and I were in California attending a large family reunion. I need to extend another great big thank you to those who did show up. You did a fantastic job and got the museum ready for its opening.

On page 19 of this Roll Call you will find a picture of the 915th Aircraft Control and Warning Site, Souix Lookout, Ontario, Canada. A couple of weeks ago I opened my e-mail and discovered there is a web site for the radar site. I was stationed there from March 1956 to March 1957. What a pleasant surprise. Brought back many, many memories. The main reason for the picture is I needed to fill in some white space.

The small room turned into a walk way between the museum and the library has been finished and it turned out great. A few pictures of the effort are included. Now we are busy putting in cement pads to hold cement benches around the Memorial Statue and the T-33. We are also installing two flag poles around the Memorial Statue. One for the American flag and one for the Air Force flag. The American flag will be lighted at night.

I hope a lot of you will be able to come to this year's reunion to witness the improvements to your museum. So far the response has been rather slow, we only have 86 people signed up Way below the normal. If you are thinking of coming, please get your registration form in soon.

Also, the ticket raffle and the Members Only Raffles have slowed up. Remember, we need to leave a trust fund for the state so they can operate the museum after we are all gone. If you want to see the museum remain an attraction, again, please get your raffle monies in.

Enough begging. You Association is really healthy and things are going great.

I hope you all have a great summer and I am looking forward to seeing all of you at the reunion in September.

Chip Phillips, President