Association News
USS Kearsarge Association
What kind of ship did you serve on? We are the USS. Kearsarge Association. There have been a number of Kearsarges to date. The first was a Sloop of War in 1861; the second was a Battleship, BB-5 in 898, the third was a Craneship, AB-1 in 1920, the fourth CV, CVA, CVS-33 in 1943, an Antisubmarine Warfare Aircraft Carrier, fifth was LHD-3 in 1992, an Amphibious Assault Ship. If you served on any of the Kearsarges and would like to make contact with any of your former shipmates, join the Association. We have members who served on most of the Kearsarges who would love to reacquaint themselves with you and swap Sea Stories. You can visit our website at www.kearsargeassociation.com and see what we have to offer. You will find a large number of Kearsaga issues and an application for membership and many other items of interest. Due to the Pandemic, we had to cancel our 2020 reunion, which was scheduled for May in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We are hoping that by next year the pandemic will be resolved, and we will, once again, try for Milwaukee. Check us out.
LIC. Jack De Merit, Kearsaga Editor
272nd Military Police Company-Vietnam
272nd MP Co. Viet Nam 65-72. Known as "The Fighting Deuce" Protected 1FFV Hqrs at the Grand Hotel in Nha Trang. Other platoons were scattered throughout Viet Nam usually attached to the 1st Air Cav. or the 101st Airborne. The "Fighting Deuce" had seen considerable combat earning (2) Meritorious Unit Commendations and (1) Valorous Unit Award along with numerous individual Valor Medals. From Phan Thiet in the south up to Bong Son in the northern part just below ICORPS, with numerous locations in between (Tuy Hoa, Phu Cat, Phy My, Ban Me Thout, Tuy An). Serving as mine sweeps, Huey door gunners, POW village sweeps, POW camps, convoy gun jeeps opening new LZs and protecting equipment, soldiers, JP4 fuel, and supplies to the numerous landing zones.
We are looking for "Lost Brothers" of the 272nd MP Co. Our web page is Vietnam272nd.com and the 2021 Fighting Deuce Reunion will be held in Orlando, Fl. August 26-28th.
Contact: Ron Raccioppi 828-508-2724
The Prop Wash Gang
The Prop Wash Gang is a group of hundreds of former USAFSS, ESC, AFIC, AIA, AFIRSA, 25th AF, and current 16th AF Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) reconnaissance flyers. The group was founded by Larry Tart in conjunction with the establishment of Vigilance Park at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, where a memorial was erected in memory of the lost crew of C-130A tail number 60528, shot down by Russian fighter aircraft over Soviet Armenia in 1958.
Many Prop Wash Gang members participate in an active Groups.io Forum where they tell war stories, discuss current events, plan philanthropic activities such as their "Christmas for Troops in the Sandbox" supporting deployed active-duty flyers, past reunions, and regional get-togethers and the intention to resume annual reunions when those become safe again. If you are a current or former SIGINT flyer and would like to join the Prop Wash Gang, send an email to Larry Lane with a brief list of your duty assignment(s). If you have been out of the service for a while, please include your post-service activities. We are also proud to have as Prop Wash Gang members two U.S. Navy SIGINT flyers who participated in our missions while assigned and serving in USAF billets.
There are no membership dues or fees.
Note: Above is the "official" description of the Prop Wash Gang. In a recent post on their Forum, one of their members put it this way:
We are a group of rapidly aging and steadily disappearing veterans, of a war that was fought with skills and talents not normally associated with the military, nor understood by the general public. Our pride is in accomplishments that are often secret, and memories are about things that happened but will be officially denied.
-- Bill Mahan, 15 June 2008
Please join us at http://www.propwashgang.org/