Reunion - 1996, Minnesota Style

(Originally published in The Mohawk Association's Mohawker Newsletter No. 25)

Over the weekend of the 16th to the 18th of August, the Association held its 7th Annual Reunion and Fly-In at Anoka County Airport, Minnesota. As has been the case in the past, the facilities of the American Wings Air Museum were in full use and the Museum volunteers are to be thanked projusely for the work which went into another successful Reunion. I certainly feft on Sunday feeling as though everone had a great time.

Things got underway, as they usually do, by nightfall on ... Wednesday with a few early arrivals; became more eventful all day thursday and really got into full swing on Friday. The Museum had hoped to have the new building finished enough to hold this reunion in that marvelous new facility, but the weather and contractors managed to get in the way and we once again met at the familiar "Langer Hangar", which we cleaned out and rearranged to give the necessary room for the festivities. The weather was kind to us, with lots of sunshine, not excessive humidity and no rain. This helped, as Mike and the crew had two Mohawks on the flight line, plus four of the unassambled OV-1s which still are to be restored. Also gracing the line is the A model which the Museum had recently acquired from Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics and which is currently under assembly. This made for a lot of stuff to look at and admire. There were no special side attractions this year, except for the obligatory trip to the Mall of the Americas, which occured on Saturday.

The barbeque on Friday night, lunch on Saturday and the final banquet on Saturday were the major social events, but they simply served to hold together the plethora of bull sessions, lie telling and "can you top this" conversations which seem to be part of any Mohawk reunion. The food was great and the comradeship wonderful and that is what these events are all about.

At the business meeting on Saturday morning, Ed Finnegan was elected to replace Beelte Bailey as the Membership Director and Chuck Schall was reaffirmed to serve a second term as the Secretary/Treasurer. We also discussed where to hold next years Reunion and it was a consensus to go to the Ft. Eustis, Va area. The date is yet to be finalized, but likely will be late September.

For the very last time we were honored to have two OV-1s from the 224th MI Bn, Hunter AAF, GA; flown by Bob Carr and Mark Marinelli. Since all of the active duty Mohawks were retired prior to 30 September, that was it for us and the Active Army units. We certainly appreciate what the 224th did for us. AWAM flew the Super C on both Saturday and Sunday, but the D had been damaged in a thunderstorm just after returning from Oshkosh and couldn't participate.

The feature of the Saturday night banquet was the inspiring and emothional speech by one of our own, MG(Ret) Bill Page. He graciously agreed to repeat the speech which he gave at the retirement and dedication ceremony at Ft. Hood several years ago. I, for one, certainly enjoyed it and I am sure that it stirred emotions that many of us have always held but managed to suppress. There were more than a few wet eyes in the crowd, mine among them. Thanks, Bill.

Although the numbers of members present at this Reunion didn't match those of last year, there was unanimity that the spirit was hight and everyone seemed to have a great time. That is what reunions are all about and I think that we did it right again. VIRGINIA IN 1997!!!