ARIA November 2009 Newsletter

796

History of Veterans Day
World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” - officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”

In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…"

The original concept for the celebration was for a day observed with parades and public meetings and a brief suspension of business beginning at 11:00 a.m.

The United States Congress officially recognized the end of World War I when it passed a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926, with these words:

Whereas the 11th of November 1918, marked the cessation of the most destructive, sanguinary, and far reaching war in human annals and the resumption by the people of the United States of peaceful relations with other nations, which we hope may never again be severed, and

Whereas it is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations; and

Whereas the legislatures of twenty-seven of our States have already declared November 11 to be a legal holiday: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), that the President of the United States is requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on November 11 and inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples.

An Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday—a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as "Armistice Day." Armistice Day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I, but in 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the Nation’s history; after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting in its place the word "Veterans." With the approval of this legislation (Public Law 380) on June 1, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.

Later that same year, on October 8th, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued the first "Veterans Day Proclamation" which stated: "In order to insure proper and widespread observance of this anniversary, all veterans, all veterans' organizations, and the entire citizenry will wish to join hands in the common purpose. Toward this end, I am designating the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs as Chairman of a Veterans Day National Committee, which shall include such other persons as the Chairman may select, and which will coordinate at the national level necessary planning for the observance. I am also requesting the heads of all departments and agencies of the Executive branch of the Government to assist the National Committee in every way possible."

On that same day, the President Eisenhower sent a letter to the Honorable Harvey V. Higley, Administrator of Veterans' Affairs (VA), designating him as Chairman of the Veterans Day National Committee.

In 1958, the White House advised VA's General Counsel that the 1954 designation of the VA Administrator as Chairman of the Veterans Day National Committee applied to all subsequent VA Administrators. Since March 1989 when VA was elevated to a cabinet level department, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs has served as the committee's chairman.

The Uniform Holiday Bill (Public Law 90-363 (82 Stat. 250)) was signed on June 28, 1968, and was intended to ensure three-day weekends for Federal employees by celebrating four national holidays on Mondays: Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Columbus Day. It was thought that these extended weekends would encourage travel, recreational and cultural activities and stimulate greater industrial and commercial production. Many states did not agree with this decision and continued to celebrate the holidays on their original dates.

The first Veterans Day under the new law was observed with much confusion on October 25, 1971. It was quite apparent that the commemoration of this day was a matter of historic and patriotic significance to a great number of our citizens, and so on September 20th, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed Public Law 94-97 (89 Stat. 479), which returned the annual observance of Veterans Day to its original date of November 11, beginning in 1978. This action supported the desires of the overwhelming majority of state legislatures, all major veterans service organizations and the American people.

Veterans Day continues to be observed on November 11, regardless of what day of the week on which it falls. The restoration of the observance of Veterans Day to November 11 not only preserves the historical significance of the date, but helps focus attention on the important purpose of Veterans Day: A celebration to honor America's veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.

Source: http://www1.va.gov/opa/vetsday/vetdayhistory.asp

Special Donation Items
You have the opportunity to support the construction of the ARIA 328 Memorial in Walkersville, Maryland, and receive some very special items.

I have acquired an additional 24 AMtech ARIA/A-LOT model kits . AMtech produced 5000 of these kits in 2002 and has since gone out of business. The kits were received in a bulk pack the way AMtech would have received them from the manufacturer. When AMtech received these bulk kits they would then repackage the kits in a retail box.

A number of you have requested pictures of ARIA 61-0328 as it was prior to the crash in 1981 to produce accurate models. Images http://www.flyaria.com/Images/Aircraft/61-0328/Model/ARIA328KSC.jpg and http://www.flyaria.com/Images/Aircraft/61-0328/Model/ARIA328INFLIGHT.jpg show the configuration of ARIA 328 prior to the 1981 crash.

These kits are now available online from the ARIA 328 Memorial web site at https://www.ariamemorial.com/Donate/Special-Offerings/. The kits are repackaged in a plain box and have the additional resin parts and decals to build one of four versions of the ARIA aircraft. These are complete kits except for the printed instructions. The instructions can be downloaded at http://www.flyaria.com/ariamodels-0.html. You are invited to submit pictures of your model to be placed on the flyARIA.com web site. If you haven't visited the flyARIA.com web site lately you may want to take a look at the ARIA models that are currently displayed on the site. You can access the pictures from the main menu under ARIA Art.

We have a very limited supply of the 1982 Ascension Island 40th Anniversary Wideawake Field stamp sets. The stamps in the set are of the Fairey Swordfish, North American B-25C Mitchell, Lockheed Hercules, and our own ARIA Aircraft 61-0330. You can view higher resolution images of the ARIA stamp at http://www.flyaria.com/ascensionisland-2.html.

ARIA Film Donation
I was contacted by Lyle Fuller just over a week ago about a film that was produced by the Air Force Eastern Test Range Photographic Laboratory operated by RCA. It is a 16mm color release print of ARIA clips for the DoD. He has donated the film to the ARIA Archive to share with the alumni. I will be sending the film to a local lab to be digitally converted. The film is just as pristine as the day it was produced circa 1970. I am expecting an excellent quality digital product when it is processed and it could be quite possibly the best quality historic ARIA film available anywhere.

I can't thank Lyle enough to have donated such a piece of ARIA history. Because of the thoughtfulness of Lyle and all of the alumni that have made contributions of video, images, and stories, we our on our way in filling in the missing pieces of the ARIA history.

ARIA Image Donation
I have received pictures from Douglas Williams this week and I have to admit I get excited when I receive these pieces of ARIA history. Look for them to be online later this month.

You may think that you don't have anything to contribute. Names, dates, missions, it is all part of the ARIA history. You may be the only witness holding that piece of the ARIA history. Please consider donating the information you have to the ARIA archive.

Your Stories - Disneyland USA
I only heard about this. I didn’t really have anything to do with it. I wasn’t there. I didn’t do any of the things this story tells about. Any reference to any person living or not, who may resemble someone you know is purely coincidental, really.

On one of our many trips to that one base in a large western state to test that one thing that cost about a million dollars a copy, someone suggested we finagle a blue car from the car pool and make our way to that one city where all the movie stars live. Someone said, “Cool. Let’s go.”

First things first – who’s going. It seems there were about six young men who believed this would be a good thing to do.

Next, transportation. Someone in the group had to have enough foolishness remaining in him to severely embellish the truth about who he was and the purpose for which a “For Official Use Only” transport was needed. Papers were signed, commitments were made, keys were handed over and a carload of GI’s headed out of the desert into the big city of angels.

As soon as that American Motors station wagon had the base gate in the rearview mirror, all occupants were subject to serious UCMJ action, but what the heck, it was for a good cause. Someone was almost 32 years old and had looked forward to visiting the land of Disney since he first fell in love with that one dark eyed, dark haired, girl Mouseketeer. This was a birthday present extraordinaire, and all that was done was rationalized to the extreme.

As the crew of highly trained and educated young men made their way into the city, a wonderful thing happened – the ordinary looking two lane highway suddenly became six lanes of crazy people rushing headlong at great speed into the unseen abyss that lay ahead, traffic signs only a blur along the way. And believe it or not, the old station wagon got in on the fun too and began to misfire and sputter dangerously toward stalling as the speedometer was reading 70 plus MPH. The car jerked and heaved in the middle lane like a pogo stick. Someone began praying out loud it seems. Must have been some bad gas or something. After a few moments of lamenting the fact the vehicle was essentially stolen and the occupants were criminals, the motor resumed normal operation and there was a collective sigh of relief as the transport moved back into the traffic flow. Close, so very close, to defeat and sorrow.

That made the sight of the entry to Disneyland all the more sweet, even if it was three in the afternoon. Midweek parking was a breeze as was getting into the park itself. The birthday boy was all aglow for realizing a boyhood dream coming true.

There were rides, a hologram, President Lincoln making a speech in the round, bands, singers, dancing, more rides, high priced food, and finally a light show parade complete with fireworks and music galore. What a day to share with friends, good friends, friends willing to suffer severe consequences to spend the day with a buddy celebrating his birthday. Cool, way cool.

The ride home, like they say, was uneventful, except for the chatter of excitement in rehearsing recent fun and joyful experiences. Each ride was talked about, each event gone over and over again as the faithful American made ride took the ARIA “Crew for the day” back to that one place in the Mojave desert.

The car was turned back in, not too much worse for wear, papers were signed, keys turned back in, and it was back to the ARIA hotel by the golf course for a good night’s sleep.

My wife still has the hand painted plaster of paris Mickey Mouse on the shelf along with all her other mouse ornaments, not that I gave it to her, not that I was the birthday boy, or even on the trip you understand.

Really, honest.

Neil A. Hendricks

We have L.O.S
I have provided a page on the flyARIA.com web site to place the names of those that we have lost contact with over the years. If there is an alumni that you have lost contact with you can email me the name and I will place on the L.O.S. page. The search engines are good to flyARIA and you never know who will stop by.

4952nd Test Wing Picture
I want to thank everyone that has contributed to providing full names to the 4952nd Test Wing Picture at http://flyaria.com/Images/4952nd/4952ND-TEST-WING-ARIA-SQUADRON-E..jpg; the web page is at http://flyaria.com/4952nd.html. Please review the following information for accuracy.

Back Row:

Staff Sergeant Meyer - Flight Engineer
Colonel Richards Claxton - Pilot, Director of Operations
Major Dave Brown - Navigator
Lieutenant Colonel John Mitchel - Navigator
Lieutenant Colonel Henry Bondurak - Navigator
Staff Sergeant Brian Wentworth - Flight Engineer
Technical Sergeant Jeff Helsel - Flight Engineer
Sergeant Marvin Katke - Squandron Administration
Charlotte Gamble - Squadron Secretary
Major Tom Schuppe - Pilot, Operations Officer
Captain Tom Straiton - Pilot
Technical Sergeant Chris Beall - Flight Engineer
Captain Marty Clement - Navigator
Captain Steve Pearson - Navigator
Staff Sergeant Kevin Short - Flight Engineer
Dalrymple - Pilot

Middle Row:

Technical Sergeant John Morris - Flight Engineer
Captain Roger Liska - Navigator
Captain Mauro Farinelli - Navigator
Master Sergeant Johnny Beavers - Boom Operator
Captain Dave Brown - Pilot
Captain Hanson - Pilot
Captain Wesley Kauder - Pilot
Hoblit
Captain Jim Stevens - Pilot
Major Pete Larkin - Pilot
Major Richard (Dick) Kobussen - Pilot
Lieutenant Colonel Dean Davisson - Navigator
Major Gary Bean - Pilot
Captain Toby Rufty - Pilot

Front Row:

Staff Sergeant Bob? Earnie? Morgan - Flight Engineer
Master Sergeant Dave Helper - Flight Engineer
Master Sergeant Orville Carper - Flight Engineer
Captain Fred Koch - Navigator
Lieutenant Colonel Chris Hopkins - Pilot, Squadron Commander
Davis
Captain Ted Williams - Navigator
Captain Danner Martin - Pilot
Captain Bob Yunag - Pilot
Captain Jim Marks (local) - Navigator
Captain Scott Parks - Pilot
Captain Tony Novellino - Navigator
Captain Ken Thompson - Navigator

Information Contributors:
Joyce Augustyn
Bob Beach
David E. Brown
John Dyson
Danner Martin
Ray Upright
Nunzio Virgilio

The ranks of the individuals are at the time that the picture was taken. If you have any corrections please contact me.

Information Donations
While visiting the National Museum of the Air Force my wife Melody inquired about ARIA and the 4950th Test Wing at the gift shop looking for some type of memento to come away with. For those of you that may be unfamiliar with the museum it is located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio. It didn't necessary surprise her that they didn't have anything available to purchase but what did surprise her was that no one knew anything about ARIA or the 4950th Test Wing. Unfortunately, this is the rule and not an exception even when an outfit and program was an integral part of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base for many years. Most history books fail to mention specific programs and organizations.

I would bet that you have a piece of the puzzle on the history of ARIA and the associated outfits. You may be the only one with this information. Please consider donating to flyARIA.com with information donations. You may not necessarily think that what you have to offer is important, odds are it is.

If we just look at 2009, we know that the flyARIA.com presence has spread the history of ARIA around the world. flyARIA has been an easy source to locate via the web for those who desire information for different projects.

Most importantly, flyARIA has been a beacon for ARIA alumni to return to the fold and become informed on current news and projects. flyARIA has reunited old friends separated by decades of time.

flyARIA.com would not have happened without the generous information donations from you. You are keeping the memory alive.

Correction Submissions
No corrections this month.

Did I Forget Something?
Please let me know if I have not included your submitted information in the newsletter. Have something you want to include in the newsletter? It is easy to do, just send me an email.

Mailing List Instructions
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Contact Information
I can be contacted through the ARIA Memorial web site or by Randy.Losey@ARIAMemorial.com. You can also use this email address to submit information to be included into the ARIA Newsletter.