This was a trip to the east coast and Norfolk for a VP-44 reunion. I was in VP-44, a patrol squadron, from 1960 to 1963, and we flew P5M seaplanes, the P2V and finally the new P-3A Orion. We left home on Thursday September 2nd and drove to St. Clairsville, W. VA for the night. Then on Friday to Gettysburg for two nights to visit Thig and kids. On Sunday we left and drove to Lehighton PA to the cemetery and then down to Dowingtown PA to see Peewee for two days. We stayed at the Duling-Kurtz House bed & breakfast in Exton. On Tuesday 7th we drove down to Perryville, MD to visit our WWII friend John Palmer in his new apartment. Then on to Washington DC to our motel in Fairfax and dinner with Terry Ware & friend, he and I were stationed at NAF Lajes in the Azores and we last saw him in 1970. On Wednesday 8th we drove down to Smithfield, VA and stayed at the Smithfield Inn bed and breakfast. The Inn goes back to 1752. We visited the local St. Lukes Church and saw their working organ that dates to 1639. We visited a friend in Franklin, VA. On Thursday we drove to Norfolk and on to Elizabeth City NC and saw the old blimp hangar at the WWII NAS Weeksville, then on to Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills to see the Wright Brothers stuff, then back to our motel in Norfolk for the reunion. We had bus tours on Friday 10th to see the lighthouses at Fort Story, Virginia Beach strip, NAS Oceana and a local aviation museum. On Saturday we had a bus tour of Norfolk, and the Navy base, and saw the area where our squadron was located in 1960 and 1961 before we moved to NAS Pax River. On Sunday we left Norfolk and drove to Lexington, KY and visited a friend. On Monday we saw a few things in Lex and drove by our old house in Versailles and drove to Leavenworth, IN for lunch at the Overlook Restaurant and saw barge traffic on the Ohio River. Then on home. Here are some pictures of the trip.
DULING-KURTZ HOUSE (BED & BREAKFAST - EXTON PA)
LEAH - PAT - PEEWEE IN THEIR BACKYARD
JOHN PALMER - PERRYVILLE MD - A REAL WWII HERO - SERVED ON LST-451 & LST-916
AND HIS SHIPS WERE IN MAJOR PACIFIC ISLAND INVASIONS IN 1944 & 1945 INCLUDING
SAIPAN, TINIAN, LEYTE, LINGAYEN GULF & OKINAWA GUNTO
MY FRIEND JOHN PALMER