Kilanowski, Edward, AT1

Best Moment
....no assignment has given me a better opportunity for travel. This squadron, out of NAS Imperial Beach Ca. (formerly Ream Field) supplied the Helo/'angels' for most of the aircraft carriers in Westpac, and any deployed carrier had a 'three helo' detachment on board. Our flight crews and maint./admin staffs were constantly shuttling-transfering between carriers to cover guys on leave, tour rotations, sickness etc. It was the best duty i had in my navy experience....and its all thought of often even today. With the various cruises, port calls, assignments etc. it was never boring.....though it helped to be flying as an aircrewman. I've helped carry the mail between ships and other places, have delivered pizza's to marine units in vietnam and brought their wounded back out again. We've flown Sammy Davis, Ms. America and other USO entertainers to various ship/shore locations, as well as an assortment of harbor pilots, US Senators and other dignitaries on "fact finding" vacations..... Being attached to this squadron/carrier duty for a three year period meant travel...... Vietnam of course. But it also meant visits to the Phillipines, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia....with side trips to Bangkok, Macao, New Zealand, Adak Alaska, and Honolulu Hawaii. Many times, with extended stays in each location. I was involved in the splashdown of Apollo 15, and flew in one of the three retreival helicopters assigned..... very exciting stuff for a young 21 year old aircrewman. As mentioned, it was a terrific tour experience..... and probably much better than many sailor's navy experience. Some very bad moments in Vietnam do nothing to alter my view of this portion of my service.