VA-45Squadron Off-Duty Album"I was in VA-34 as X.O and they decommissioned out from under me till they could start up as an A-6 squadron. So they sent me over to VA-45 as C.O. from June of 1969 till June of 1970. I had Alfred Hector "Speedy" Gonzalez as my X.O. He was so mean that even I was afraid of him. Cliff Ruthrauff was the admin. boss and did all the work. A former C.O., one Radm. L. Heyworth was "ComFairJax"; so we painted up one of our birds as triple zeros to get him around in style. We shared the "E" with somebody else that year, but they didn't have nearly as much fun as we did. We just had a reunion in Pensacola last year (2001), the C.O. twice removed from me (Pagonelli), did a great job putting it together. One of my Ensigns, Katy Dugan, was there and she still looked 25. The rest of us old farts, well looked like old farts. Year 2001 was a great year." |