May Luncheon Speakers
May 6, 2022. Ellen Williams, Executive Director of Angel Flight East, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, based at Wings Field in Blue Bell, PA. Their mission is to provide free air transportation to qualified patients and their families by arranging flights to distant medical facilities (distances in the Northeast of between 100 to 1,000 miles), delivering supplies to disaster areas (e.g., Haitian earthquake), and reuniting families during desperate times (e.g., family that can’t afford to attend funeral). Pilots (400 of them) volunteer, and donate their planes, fuel, and time to the mission. Individuals needing their service submit a request. Besides having an appropriate need, passengers are only required to be medically stable and sufficiently ambulatory to board an aircraft. There is no limit to the number of flights an individual may take, and there is no means test. The organization averages about 1,000 flights per year, representing about 216,000 miles flown and 1,500 hours of flight time. The organization was formed in 1992 by Harry Morales, a pilot, to support relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Andrew. They have a five member staff and an annual operating budget of around $600,000. Funds come from special fundraising events, foundations, individuals, and fundraising through Facebook. There were 27 participants.
May 20, 2022, Don Eicher, a retired senior marketing executive at Proctor & Gamble and Vietnam combat veteran, spoke to 26 members and one guest on May 20th at the Philadelphia Club. In a modest and unassuming way, Don presented a very compelling personal story regarding the combat loss of an F-4C Phantom in South Vietnam in 1967, with the two-person crew ejecting from the crippled plane attempting to return to the Cam Ranh Bay air base. His flight squadron colleagues, USAF pilot Lt. Robert “Woody” Bennett was listed as Missing (MIA) and later declared Killed in Action (KIA) and Aircraft Commander, Captain Willie Sakahara was immediately rescued. It appears Lt. Bennett sustained ground fire wounds while parachuting to the river which made his rescue impossible. Almost 40 years later, in 2012, human remains were inadvertently discovered by Vietnamese civil authorities during dredging of the Co Chien River near the Cam Rahn Bay air base. After two years of investigation, the remains were identified as those of Lt. Bennett and he was laid to rest in Montrose, Colorado, in 2012. The recovery and identification process was a job well done by the U.S. Defense Department POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA, formerly JPAC). Don explained that the DPAA goes beyond recovery and identification by maintaining an important website to enable families and friends to gain current and historic data on all war casualties. For information on POW/MIA’s from all branches from WWII to the present, visit this site: www.DPAA.mil For more information on all Vietnam conflict casualties, including MIA’s, please visit: www.virtualwall.org I would be happy to make this presentation to other groups, at no charge, as long as it does not involve excessive travel expenses.
