General Aderholt & Pappy Pettigrew Can't you imagine the thoughts going through the minds of these two old warriors as they were reminiscing about old flying experiences and battles they had fought?

Col. "Pappy" Pettigrew Reunion

Another one of our old and often forgotten leaders to be recognized recently was Col. "Pappy" Pettigrew. Pappy is currently in a home and can’t get around without being assisted.

Jim Blakeslee, Jimmy Ifland, Bill Keeler, General Secord, and General Aderholt, gathered-up this fine ol’ gentlemen and took him to the Air Commando Building which Pappy had never seen.

Hap Lutz recollecting with Pappy

A small ceremony was held and a letter recognizing Pappy’s many years of dedicated support for Special Operations was read in front of the group who knew Pappy so well.

General Aderholt, Bill Keeler, Mr. "T", and Pappy

Hap Lutz, with his voice breaking-up , read the letter and recalled for a moment that Pappy had flown unannounced into a raging battle in a CIA helicopter where Colonel Nheuphet of the Royal Lao Army was defending Donghene from the Pathet Lao in southern Laos. Hap "Ben Casey" Lutz and Roy "Capt. Loy" Dalton were on scene busy calling in air strikes and caring for the wounded. Hap reminded Pappy, that they had almost shot his CIA helicopter "out from under him" because they didn’t realize initially that it was a "friendly". The crux of this story is that it was Christmas day and Ann, Pappy’s wife, had graciously prepared a turkey for Hap and Roy. Pappy had flown all the way from Vientiane early that morning, just to deliver the turkey along with a bottle of Crown Royal and a bottle of Johnny Walker Black to these two daring young warriors who were in the heat of a battle at Nongbulao. Who says that our leaders did not care and look after us…!