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June Retiree Corner

  • Published
  • By Bob Barkalow
  • Master Sgt. (Retired)
Our May Breakfast had roughly 55 folks present along with our lone first timer, Jim Spano, who came all the way from the Atlanta area. Jim is now retired from the U.S. Federal Wildlife and his main duty while at McEntire, was Disaster Preparedness including a stint with the 240th. Our speaker was Lt. Col. Terrance Hedley, the 169th Operations Support Flight commander, who provided us with more insight into the upcoming Readiness Inspection the Alert mission. Lt. Col. Hedley was very informative. A few others and I did our best to inform him about our rich history.

McEntire History: We are celebrating the final group of 2004 Retirees. Again, if you are a 2004 Retiree and you haven't seen your name the past three months let me know. This group consists of Lt. Col. Walter Hunter and Majors David Dickson and Cyrus Hart. Chief Master Sgts. Billy Taylor Jr., Warren C. Conner, Curtis Mack, Curtis Coleman, and Phillip Fleming. Senior Master Sgts. Joseph Evans, William Allen, and Robert E. Sowers. Master Sgts. James Walzer, Gregg Lewis, Robert Davis, Robert Faulk, and Richard Starks. Tech. Sgts. Richard Parker, Sandra Spears, and John Nelson Jr.

After several calls I want to give further clarification about the newest squadron logo and patch, the blue fox head. The following is the statement that is at the S.C. National Guard Museum, and is the final statement about the origination of the newest logo:

"Swamp Fox" Patch History - 157th Tactical Fighter Squadron:
The 157th Tactical Fighter Squadron was designated the "Swamp Fox" Squadron by its members in 1977. The squadron took its name from the South Carolina American Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion, whose nickname was "The Swamp Fox".
The round, blue and white patch with a "Swamp Fox" head was selected from several designs submitted for comparison. This patch design was presented to the squadron at a 1977 Unit Training Session Assembly and was approved by its members as the official 157th Tactical Fighter Squadron patch. The patch was first produced as a decal in England, while the cloth patch was being produced in the United States.
In 1977, the following individuals were involved with the designing, drawing, selection, and production of the "Swamp Fox" patch: Ralph E. Bradford Jr., Scott "Wizard" Cain, Chuck "Waldo" deVlaming, Yeadon "Grumpy" Dorn, George "Jaws" Inabinet Jr., George "Tiger" Inabinet III, Dothan Jeffers Jr., George "Jet" Jernigan III, and Ed "Menghiz" Menees.

Our next Breakfast will be June 4th at the Fort Jackson Officers Club, yes, we are still there. As always, we begin at 8:30 a.m. and try to have you out of there around 9:30-10:00 a.m. Many people stay and "chew the fat" afterwards. If you need to talk to me, my home phone number is 803-936-0680 and my email address is rbarkalow@sc.rr.com. We now have around 260 folks on our SCANG Retirees Address Book, if you would like to get periodic updates on people and events, send me your email address. I haven't really gone with Facebook or texting yet, I just try to keep it simple.