dregenthal

I started jumping at Fort Bragg with the XVIII Abn Corps PC before coming to Fort Hood--made 300 FF's the first 12 months. We jumped Holland DZ a lot when there was available aircraft (mostly a Beaver), made a lot of jumps out at Gene Paul Thacker's place in Raeford, NC., so some names run together but here's a few from back in the FHSPC days that I thought of while reading this thread: Warren Seitzinger, Paul Lemieux, Tony Fonseca, Graham Gardner, Frank & Connie Welter, Homer Hudson, Greg "Smitty" Smith, Terry Litts. I'm going to have to see if I can find that picture Tony Fonseca took of the 5 of us jumping with masks and a pumpkin on Halloween. Also think I have one a dozen of us lined up in the pea gravel mooning Ed Avery...pic he took of us flying over low in a jet ranger (Seitzinger flying, of course) while we were waiting for the ceiling to lift. Excellent to hear from you-stay safe...be well.

Hey There BiggieRat! Talk about a "blast from the past?" I stumbled upon this a while back and the memories put me into the zone. I actually spoke with Jim Hanke about a year ago...He and Margo are retired in Arizona. Bill Pelitier (passed away some years back) and I started American Parachute Center at Gatesville because he was about to be RIF'd and I was getting out (no more wars) too, we wanted to make sure we had somewhere to jump. Ended up moving the DZ up to Hearne, TX...10,000' runway. Stayed in operation til early 80's. I haven't jumped since but miss those times and all you folks. Bruce Funk flew me up to Minnesota (this was centuries ago) to be in his wedding party when he married Alice...I'd sure like to find or make contact with Bruce, he trained and put my brother out on his first jumps in Gatesville. I'll have to look, I might have a picture or two from the FHSPC days. Dave dregenthal@comcast.net D-3118