Do you have an inspirational or unique photo to share about a great deed during your deployment?

These pictures were taken at our reunion after 40 years. His name is Connie Pearson. He was shot 9 times and was the last one, out of 8, to be loaded on our helicopter one night. In April, 1967, his team was ambushed and pinned down in An Loa Valley up in the highlands. We were able to get down, and myself and the CE helped the uninjured bring them to our ship. Connie told me he had been passed over twice and if I didn't get him out, he would die. A medivac flew over, but it was too hot, so they couldn't get in. The other slick was shot down. I always wondered how those wounded guys faired after we got them to a hospital in Pleiku. All I remembered was the unit. It was the 5/7th Cavalry. I checked on the Internet to see if they had a website and they did. I sent an email telling them who I was and what I wanted. I told them I wanted to know if all those wounded had lived, and especially one who had been shot 9 times. They replied but wanted more information. I replied and told them one of the wounded was their Btn.Commander, and his right leg had been blown off right below the knee. They contacted Connie and a week later I received an email from him. He said he had been thinking about me all these years. We talked some more and I told him I would stay in touch. About two weeks later I was contacted by Arrow Enterprises in Austin, Texas. They wanted to know if I would be interested in being in a video about the Huey helicopter. I told them I would have to think about it. I got a brainstorm that if Connie and me could be reunited, I wanted to do it. So, they got Connie and his wife Sue, to come down. They lived in Illinois. Connie had to have a handicapped room, which Arrow got for him. The first picture is right after they landed and I was holding Connie's face and we were just staring at each other. The other picture was taken while I was pushing him to meet my family. We stayed in touch by email and phone for the next 13 years. Connie's old body finally gave out on him and he passed away in November of 2012. I'm welling up as I write this. If it had not been for computers, Connie and I would have never met, and I would have always wondered if he lived.

In 2005, I worked for TEEX, also known as Texas Engineering Extension, part of Texas A&M. Someone had written me and asked if there was anything I needed. I said I didn't need anything , but it would be great if we got some school supplies for the local schools. It began a camping that brought over some 10,000 school supplies. One woman who donated her time to make 5 handmade book bags. It flooded our poor little mailroom. The first picture is the Mail guy with some of the packages, second is the school itself, and the last is the kids meeting us when we showed up. All in all we delivered a tons of stuff to the local schools. Most of the kids in these schools were Kurds, who were very kind to US troops in the area.

This photo was titled "Ready for Work." It may not signify one great deed, but it was the sight every pilot and crewmember in my unit saw everyday for a year when walking the flight line preparing for a mission.