GOLDEN EAGLE CONTINUING HISTORY 2006
This continuing historical summary covers the period from after the Red Lion Hanalei Hotel Golden Eagle Reunion in San Diego California on the 23rd of April 2005 until the completion of the D.C reunion held at Tyson’s Corner, Virginia on 1 May 2006.
The Northeast Flight held several reunion coordinating meetings at the Sheraton Premiere Hotel on 17 Aug, 19 Sept 2005, 9 Jan, and 13 Feb 2006. A mini reunion was held on 22 March 2006 at the newly rebuilt Belle Haven Country Club in preparation of the final plans for the annual reunion in the D.C. area. The Southeast Flight held a mini reunion 22 through 24 October 2005 in Wilmington, N.C. The Central Flight didn’t have many official meetings in the last couple of years. Most of the Casinos on the Gulf they enjoyed in the past for mini-reunions were wiped out and CF Golden Eagles were kept pretty busy rehabbing. Several lunch meetings occurred at the Naval Aviation Museum. The West Flight held two mini reunions in Oct 2005 and Feb 2006 at the Harbor House Restaurant in Seaport Village San Diego both of which had an attendance of over 65.
ANNUAL REUNION
The 2006 Annual Reunion of the Golden Eagles was held from Thursday 27 April through Monday 1 May at the Sheraton Premiere Hotel located at 8661 Leesburg Pike in Tyson’s Corner, Vienna, Virginia.
It was a great 50th reunion for everyone. The weather was perfect, the dogwoods were in full bloom and we had a record attendance. The last count was 141 Golden Eagles
including three Emeritus members and one Honorary member plus wives, guests and friends. There were 263 in attendance at the banquet. If that isn’t a record it is close to it.
RADM Jim Seely, Reunion Committee Chairman and Flight Leader Northeast, led a “TEAM” effort to provide a wonderful and memorable reunion. NE flight had two mementos to commemorate our 50th. The tumblers with the gold embossed wings and 50th Anniversary are very nice and they also had 50th Anniversary cocktail napkins.
The Reunion Team was made up from the 56 Golden Eagles of the Northeast Flight and their spouses. RAdm Rupe Owens and VAdm Yank Dorsey operated the Ready Room which seemed to open early and stay open late and always full of Golden Eagles and their spouses and friends with plenty of “refreshments”. VAdm Bob Dunn kept a tight reign on the Receptions, the Banquet and their menus. Capt Jack Kenyon and Jerry Zacharias orchestrated the Memorial Service. RAdm Don Boecker was the golf professional in charge of the Golden Eagle Golf Tournament at the Penderbrook Country Club. Capt Zeb and Rita Knott were the tour mobile guides. VAdm Mike Bowman coordinated the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy visit hosted by Gen Jack Daley. Elizabeth Shawcross provided lovely stationery as a favor for the ladies. RAdm Fred Lewis and Barbara McDaniel handled all the administrative and computer support of the registrations, programs, seatings, mailouts, e-mail communications, golf pairings and all the other staff functions. Pam Arnold sang a magnificent and inspirational rendition the National Anthem of the United States of America, the Star Spangle Banner, after the posting of the colors by Color Guards from the Washington Navy Yard and 8th and I Marine Barracks.
Thursday 27 April. Check in. Ready Room opened at 3:00 PM.
Friday 28 April. The morning commenced with the Membership Selection Committee followed in the afternoon with the Board of Governors meeting and concluded with a most memorable and enjoyable Welcome Aboard Reception. There was an excellent turnout for the reception but the Sheraton food prices curtailed the selections available.
Annual Board of Governors Meeting
The open Session included Flight Leaders RADM James Seely and MajGen Michael P. Sullivan. RAdm Bill Harris, Chairman of MSC, and LtGen Bill Fitch, Chairman of the Nominating Committee also attended.
NAVIGATOR HARRY BLOT RADIO OFFICER ROGER CARLQUIST
Board of Governors present: MajGen Frank Lang, VAdm Robert Dunn, RAdm J.L. Abbot Jr, LtGen John Hudson, Capt Richard Hanecak, VAdm William Ramsey, RAdm Don Shelton and RAdm Don Boecker. Members of Flight Deck attending: Capt Jerry Zacharias, Capt Wilbert Knutson, LtGen Harold Blot, Capt Roger Carlquist, MajGen Ken Weir and RAdm E. L. 'Whitey' Feightner.
Following Pilot Zacharias's opening remarks, the 2006 Navigator’s report was presented by LtGen Harold Blot as follows:
Membership in the Early and Pioneer Naval Aviators Association is currently as follows:
Regular Members….200
Emeritus Members…..62
Honorary Members….12
Grand Total…. 274
Members who have been accepted into the Golden Eagles, in order of acceptance, since Navigator’s report of April 2005:
1. Capt. Robert E. Spruit, USN 15. Col. Robert C. Johnson, USMC
2. Capt. John V. Manning, USN 16. RAdm. Thomas C. Watson, USN
3. Col. Donald Beaufait, USMC 17. RAdm. Jerry C. Breast, USN
4. Capt. W. Scott Gray, USN 18. Col. David V. Denton, USMC
5. Capt. William Westerman, USN 19. RAdm. John Batzler, USN
6. MGen. Mike Ryan, USMC 20. VAdm. John Lockard, USN
7. Capt. John J. Lahr, USN
8. Adm. Charles S. Abbot, USN
9. Col. Murray Staples, USMC
10. Capt. Robert B. Wood, USN
11. Capt. Robert C. Coats, USN
12. Col. Raymond E. Bright, USMC
13. Cdr. Theodore R. Swartz, USN
14. Capt. Roger C. Bos, USN
The following members have been transferred to Emeritus status:
Golden Eagles that made their final take-off since the Navigator’s report of April, 2005. They will be missed.
Membership composition as of 28 April 2006.
|
|
Active |
Emeritus |
|
Navy |
154 |
43 |
|
Coast Guard |
1 |
1 |
|
Marine |
45 |
18 |
|
|
||
|
Total |
200 |
62 |
The Radio Officer's report was given.
Beginning Cash in Navy Federal Credit Union $10962
Receipts
Chronolog Sales $504
Contributions 41
Dues from Members 4,250
Golden Eagle Wing Sales 575
Interest 169
San Diego Reunion 7,394
Washington Reunion 25,000
$37,933
Disbursements
Administrative/Secretarial/Supplies $2,207
Advance for Washington Reunion 5,850
Naval Aviation Museum Foundation 1,500
NTWL Tommy Tomlinson Award 209
Photocopying/Printing 1,748
Postage 799
Purchase of 50 G.E. Wings 1,300
- $13,613
Assets
Cash in NFCU and Insured Brokerage Account $35,282
Advance for Washington Reunion $5,850
Items for Use or Resale, Cost or Depreciated Value
GE. Wings 1,300
$7,150
Debit
Reunion Funds Deposited in Insured Brokerage Account -$25,000
Net Worth $17,432
Capt Roger Carlquist stated that he had established a money market account within a guaranteed brokerage account to increase the interest on the association’s cash. The report was approved unanimously.
The Engineer Officer/Historian Report given by MajGen Ken Weir stated that there were 5 members notified that their attendance was mandatory this year to remain a regular member in good standing. All were in attendance. Ken noted that the Golden Eagle history up to 2004 has been placed on a CD. He is still missing 16 biographies for the Chronolog and that the 2006 version is on sale in the Ready Room for $5.
Site Selection Committee Report was given by Chairman RAdm James Seely. It was reported that the 2007 reunion will be held in the Pensacola area, hopefully at the Grand Hotel which is currently under repair but predicted to be ready. Reunion 2008 will be hosted by the Southeast Flight Zone at the New Bern NC Sheraton Grand. The date will be 24-27 April 2008 with a room rate not to exceed $119 per night. 2009 will be on the West coast and 2010 will return to the Northeast.
Closed session:
The Pilot presented information on the following items:
Trademark
The Golden Eagle Trademark was registered on 4/9/02. Mark is good for a 10 year period and can be renewed for 10 year periods.
Between 5th and 6th year of use, holder must file a Certificate of Use, certifying use in commerce. . Failure to file this certificate will result in the Trademark being cancelled. The 5th year of use commenced Apr 10, 2006. The cost of filing is $100. The Golden Eagles use the Trademark in commerce.
• Use it on Chron book, Chron CD, Bylaw & List of Members book, stationery
• Have revenue of over $13,839 to date & will exceed $14K at this reunion.
• Because the Golden Eagles have used it continuously for 5 yrs, it could be declared that
the Mark is now incontestable and file a Joint Certificate of Use and Incontestability for $300. It was not recommended to file Joint certificates. The Patent Office don’t acknowledge acceptance of incontestability claims, they don’t even acknowledge receipt of it. They do acknowledge receipt and acceptance of the Certificate of Use.
• It was recommended that the golden Eagles spend $100 and File the Certificate of Use only.
On a motion made and seconded, the Board the Board approved spending the $100 for filing the Certificate of Use. Jerry Zacharias will ensure that filing is done in the next month or so.
Golden Eagle Naval Aviation Museum Display
An update was received from CAPT Bob Rasmussen on the new Golden Eagle display at the Museum that will consist of most of the elements of the current display (plaque that has the words the “Early and Pioneer Naval Aviators Assoc.”, “The Golden Eagles” and a set of Navy wings) plus a new large flat screen television monitor that will be controlled by a touch screen computer monitor built into the display. The TV monitor will display all of the names on the current display ( i.e. Regular, Emeritus, Honorary & and Deceased Golden Eagles).
The touch screen monitor will enable visitors to call up a short biography (condensed from the Chronolog bios) on any one member. So if a GE has a bio in the Chronolog, he will be in the display. Eventually, it will include some video out-takes that will be a compilation of representative actions from the Naval Aviators who make up the membership. This should make the display visually more stimulating to attract the attention of visitors.
The new display will give us the flexibility to instantaneously update the display, a luxury we do not now enjoy. As you know, with the fixed graphic we currently use, we are out of date almost the minute we put it up, which is only once a year. It will also be a far more informative and visually attractive display. I am confident that the membership will find it a positive move.
Any help that the Golden Eagles can provide in the way of financing would be greatly appreciated. It is expected that the entire bill will be on the order of $6 or 7K, about a third of which has already been invested.
So the GEs are earmarking our $1,500 donation to the museum this year “for updating the Golden Eagle Display.” That money is fenced for that purpose. Capt Roger Carlquist recommended and the Board of Governors approved the one time contribution of $3,000, to be used for updating the Golden Eagle display at the museum.
Armed Forces Reunion Inc.
This brief the Board on the services of Armed Forces Reunion, Inc by LtGen Bill Fitch involved his first hand knowledge of their performance in setting up reunions for organizations such as ours, and in particular, the recent MCAA convention in Reno.
Making hotel arrangements with the Sheraton at Tyson’s Corner was a struggle to say the least. The AFR organization has the know how to make all of the arrangements for a fee and it would allow us to have reunions at locations where there are very few or no Golden Eagles. A handout of AFR’s services and fees is included in your documents. The Pilot read comments from Gen Jack Dailey concerning MCAA’s use of AFR services. The comments were highly favourable. Use of AFR services for about $12.00 per head, would lighten the load on the Flight Leader and allow us to hold reunions in 80 different locations, even at those cities where we don’t have any Eagles located.
The Board of Governors approved that the services of AFR be made available to those Flight Leaders that might be inclined to use them. Bill Knutson will appoint a contact for the AFR Service and then pass the negotiated procedures to the flight leaders.
LtGen Fitch, Chairman of the Nominating Committee reported the Slate of Officers:
Flight Deck 2006:
Chief Pilot: RADM E.L. 'Whitey' Feightner
Pilot: Capt Wilbert D. Knutson
Co-Pilot: LtGen Harold W. Blot
Navigator: RADM Bill Gureck
Radio Officer: RADM Rupe Owens
Engineer Officer/Historian: MajGen Kenneth W. Weir
Board of Governors:
VADM Robert F. Dunn
VADM William E. Ramsey
LtGen John I. Hudson
MajGen Mike Sullivan
RADM Roger Carlquist
RADM Doniphan Shelton
RADM Donald V. Boecker
CAPT Richard G. Hanecak
Flight Leaders:
Northeast: CAPT Jack Kenyon
Southeast: MajGen Paul Fratarangelo
Central: CAPT Kenneth Wallace
West: RADM Roger Box
RADM Bill Harris, Chairman of the Membership Selection Committee submitted the list of recommended new members which included 12 Navy and 6 Marines. There was a discussion concerning the flexibility of the number of honorary members that are allowed in the Golden Eagles. An argument was presented that the board should determine how many and when to add new honorary members. A counter argument was put forth stating that the reason for the existence of the Golden Eagles was to populate it with aviators who would inspire young people to become naval aviators and did not include others regardless of their contribution. The pilot will continue to research the issue.
RADM Don Boecker reported to the Pilot that he presented the Golden Eagle engraved gold wrist watch and a copy of Captain D. W. Tomlinson's autobiography "The Sky's the Limit" to Major Scott Bennett Trail USMC. Major Trail is the Outstanding Test Pilot of the Year 2005.
New Business: The Engineer/Historian brought up the subject of the Golden Eagles having a Web page or site where we could post schedules of events, pictures and correspondence. Establishing the Web site was approved by the BOG. Ken further expressed the desire to shift all or most of our communications to an electronic media allowing us to substantially reduce our mailing costs. This would require the establishment of a buddy system to get information to those Golden Eagles who do not have a computer or email. The pilot took both items for action.
Saturday 28 April Saturdays activities consisted of Golf Tournament at Penderbrook Country Club, Tourmobile, visit to the National Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Dulles Airport facility.
The annual reunion Memorial Service was held in the afternoon at the Vienna Presbyterian Church. Everyone felt the Memorial Service was special and the best they had ever attended. Pilot Zacharias had a power point slide presentation of all the 17 Golden Eagles who had made their final take offs. That provided a visual image of each Golden Eagle for everyone to correlate to his Eulogy. Very nicely done. Our own incomparable Pam Arnold sang “America the Beautiful” and “Eternal Father”.
Bob Lurie presented the Eulogy for Col. Jack Conger who passed away the week before the reunion.
The evening was free time for all.
Sunday 30 April. The final day of the reunion commenced with the General Membership meeting:
Pilot, Captain Zacharias called the meeting to order at 1300. He expressed a sincere thank you to the Northeast Flight for their great work in arranging for such a superb reunion. He also congratulated the Host, RADM Jim Seely, for a job well done.
Chief Pilot Whitey Feightner reviewed the purpose and reasons the Golden Eagles were founded by CNO. Specifically, the Golden Eagles were to be role models for younger Naval Aviators. Qualifications to become a Golden Eagle would emphasize a pilot’s cockpit performance (stick and throttle) and leadership in the air. It was a well received message we all need to remember.
The Navigator, LtGen. Blot reported that we are currently at 200 regular, 12 honorary and 62 emeritus members. We have joined all twenty of the selectees. Seventeen of our members made their last takeoff, thirteen of which were emeritus. Sixteen members were transferred from regular to emeritus status.
The Radio Officer, Capt. Carlquist, provided each member attending with a copy of the Financial Report, l April 2005 through 31 March 2006 indicating the Golden Eagles Net Worth of $17,432
Engineering Officer/Historian, MajGen Weir, advised the members that Change #12 to the Chronolog is available in the Ready Room. There are still 16 members who have not submitted a biography for inclusion in this year’s version. The CDs have the updated Chronolog and pictures of last year's reunion, and are available for $5.00.
Rear Admiral James Seely, Chairman of the Site Selection Committee, gave the location for the ensuing years as follows: May 1, 2007 at Pensacola, at the Grand Hotel pending successful completion of the hurricane repairs; 24-27 April 2008 at the Sheraton Grand in New Bern NC. 2009 on the West coast and 2010 back to the Northeast.
Rear Admiral Bill Harris, Chairman of the Membership Selection Committee, reported there were 58 nominations to consider of which 12 Navy and 6 Marines were selected.
LtGen. Bill Fitch, Chairman of the Nominating Committee, reported that the Nominating Committee had presented their slate for the coming year as presented above.
New Business: The Pilot informed the members that it had been voted at the Board of Governors meeting to support the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation with a one time $3000 contribution ear marked for the electronic upgrade to the Golden Eagle display. We will also continue to support the Tommy Tomlinson Award to the Outstanding Test Pilot of the year at Patuxent River. This year the Outstanding Test Pilot was Major Scott Bennett Trail, USMC for his work on testing the V-22.
Zack also discussed the decision to make the services of Armed Forces Reunion Inc. available to the flight leaders thus reducing their work load in preparing for our reunions and opening the list of potential sites for future gatherings.
The BOG agreed to the establishment of a Golden Eagles Web site where we could post schedules of events, pictures and correspondence. In order to eliminate regular mail as much as possible, the pilot will investigate the use of a buddy system to allow us to get information to those without a computer or email address.
The pilot then notified the members that immediately following this meeting the group pictures would be taken. All were to meet in front of the room and be seated by flight.
NORTH EAST FLIGHT CENTRAL FLIGHT
SOUTHEAST FLIGHT JERRY ZACHARIAS
Reception and Banquet
First, Pilot Zacharias introduced 16 new members and their wives. Four other new members were not present and will in introduced next year.
Second, Pilot Zacharias Passed the Pilot’s control stick to the new Pilot, his Naval Academy 1952 classmate Capt Wilbert D. Knutson USN (Ret), ending Jerry’s tour as Pilot. Spontaneously, every one gave Jerry a standing ovation for the superb job he did as Pilot and for all his many services to the Golden Eagles. Bill Knutson then recognized Jerry’s many contributions including developing the Chronolog documentary in book form and subsequently on CD and obtaining the Trademark to the title “The Golden Eagles.” Bill acknowledged that CAPT Zacharias had been an exceptional leader and left the incoming Pilot with “Tough Shoes to Fill ” the motto of the Naval Academy Class of 1952.
GE Executive Assistant Old Pilot New Pilot
ANNETTE BENNETT JERRY ZACHARIAS BILL KNUTSON
Third, we honored Annette Bennett, the Executive Assistant to the Pilot, who will retire May 15, 2006 after 15 years of dedicated service to the Golden Eagles. Annette was the grease that kept the organization running smoothly. She was given a crystal eagle on a lighted base sitting on a plague that read; “Annette Bennett”; “The Wind Under Our Wings”; “With Sincere Appreciation and Gratitude for 15 years of Outstanding Service.” Also, she was given the Golden Eagle computer she has been using and a bouquet of red roses.
Following a Monday morning brunch, Eagles departed Vienna Virginia for all corners of the
U.S., to gather again in Pensacola Fla, in April, 2007.
PHOTOS BY RADM SMOKE WILSON
