MCENTIRE JOINT NATIONAL GUARD BASE, S.C. -- Our December Luncheon brought out about 65 folks. Many we haven’t seen in a while. Perhaps the Wing Commander’s presence had something to do with it? Colonel Gandhi made his sixth appearance to drop by and visit with us Retirees, and as usual he did a wonderful job telling us all about the future of McEntire JNGB and what appears to be on the horizon for the planes and base. Every other month we identify our oldest and youngest retirees. HarOLD Kline was our oldest, one month from being 91, and J. Bryan Wright was our youngest at 49. It was also his first time as a retiree, although he came and talked to us some time ago as a commander. He also had his service dog with him. We had James Edge as a first timer. He was one of our former firefighters. It was good to see him. He was with the 240th Combat Communications Squadron prior to going to the Base Fire Department. Also, saw some weapon loaders we haven’t seen in a while, and the Marshall Team, “Bones” and Debbie.
McEntire History: We are still ensconced with the Berlin Crisis Call-Up folks and honoring their service to state and country. We are still with the 169th Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, which again, was the largest unit of the Berlin Call-Up. We are checking out the lower ranking Airmen in the 169CAMS. We looked at 54 of them this upcoming month, and found only five known members who became retirees. We will do another 54 members in February, which will complete the 169CAMS. So the running total of call-ups now become 334, of which 122 of these folks became full-time members, or 36%, and subsequent retirees later. During the February Retiree’s Corner, I will sum up the ranks of the retirees from 169th Headquarters and the 169CAMS. The March retirees squadron should be even more interesting, since we will review the 157th Fighter Squadron, a lot of rank and future retirees out of this group. Of the additional five members noted this month, we had one chief master sergeant, one senior master sergeant and three master sergeants.
The 54 members reviewed this month are as follows:
- A2/C Walter A. Drafts, he retired in 1995 as an E-7. He passed away on June 24, 2017. His name is on the SCANG monument.
- A2/C William R. Drake, Jr., I have no information on him.
- A2/C Luther B. Dukes, Jr., I have no information on him.
- A2/C Neal O. Eargle, I have no information on him.
- A2/C Kenneth M. Easler, I have no information on him.
- A2/C Samuel H. Ezzell, he retired in 1998 as an E-9 and recently passed away December 15, 2019.
- A2/C Don E. Fagg, I have no information on him.
- A2/C William W. Finch, I have no information on him.
- A2/C James D. Fort, he retired in 1968 as an E-7 and passed away December 15, 1994. His name has recently been added to the SCANG monument.
- A2/C Bobby D. Fralick, I have no information on him.
- A2/C David W. Glenn, I have no information on him.
- A2/C Hubert P. Haas, I have no information on him.
- A2/C Jack D. Hall, Jr., I have no information on him.
- A2/C Richard V. Hallman, I have no information on him.
- A2/C John B. Hancock, I have no information on him.
- A2/C Samuel D. Harmon, I have no information on him.
- A2/C William B. Hendrix , I have no information on him.
- A2/C Lloyd W. Higbe, I have no information on him.
- A2/C John F. Hildebrand, I have no information on him.
- A2/C Jimmy F. Hill, I have no information on him.
- A2/C James E. Hutchinson, Jr., I have no information on him.
- A2/C Alburn E. Jarrett, I have no information on him.
- A2/C Charles W. Johnson, I have no information on him.
- A2/C Lawrence D. Johnson, I have no information on him.
- A2/C Grady L. Jones, I have no information on him.
- A2/C John W. Kemp, Jr., I have no information on him.
- A2/C Calhoun L. Kennedy, I have no information on him.
- A2/C George T. King, Jr., I have no information on him.
- A2/C Cyril F. Kneece, I have no information on him.
- A2/C Larry E. Lackey, I have no information on him.
- A2/C Roland L. Lackey, I have no information on him.
- A2/C Carl P. Lindler, I have no information on him.
- A2/C Emory F. Markwood, III, I have no information on him.
- A2/C David H. Marshall, I have no information on him.
- A2/C Milton D. Marshe, Jr., I have no information on him.
- A2/C Dalton L. Mattox, I have no information on him.
- A2/C George K. Maxwell, I have no information on him.
- A2/C James L. McMullan, I have no information on him.
- A2/C Tommy L. Metts, Jr., I have no information on him.
- A2/C James L. Miller, I have no information on him.
- A2/C Roger “Pat” Miller, he retired in 2001 as an E-8. He is still living.
- A2/C Arthur A. Montgomery, I have no information on him.
- A2/C Francis B. Mooneyham, Jr., he retired in 1991 as an E-7 and passed away November 28, 2013. His name is on the SCANG monument.
- A2/C Lonnie R. Moore, I have no information on him.
- A2/C John E. Neal, Jr., I have no information on him.
- A2/C Gene W. Nix, I have no information on him.
- A2/C James E. Nix, Jr., I have no information on him.
- A2/C Paul D. O’Cain, I have no information on him.
- A2/C Robert H. Pagett, I have no information on him.
- A2/C Bennie A. Platt, I have no information on him.
- A2/C John G. Pollard, I have no information on him.
- A2/C Richard A. Postell, Jr., I have no information on him.
- A2/C Thomas E. Rabon, I have no information on him.
- A2/C Jimmy D. Rauch, I have no information on him.
With 54 names. it could be very easy for me to overlook or miss a fellow retiree out of this group. If anyone notices this, please let me know who it is and I’ll make a correction.
Well we start a new year coming up, we will have our January Luncheon on the 7th of January at our usual meeting place, the Fort Jackson NCO Club, beginning at 1200. The January Luncheon will consist of honoring all those known Retirees and Non-Retirees who passed away in 2019 with a short memorial service. In addition, we will set up the Missing Man Table, because invariably we have missed some of our Retirees, especially those who move away and lose contact.
I hope to see many of you at the January meeting, Happy New Year to everyone.