2002 REUNION

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The third reunion of the Flying Circus  was held in October, 2002, under the sunny skies and laid back atmosphere of Key West, Florida. Clay Greager had a large supply of "two for one" slips ready, and the frozen margaritas and such helped those coming from colder climates get used to the warmer weather. Clay's store, THE LAST FLIGHT OUT, became a central point for people to re-group and plan their next adventure. His very able assistant, Fabiola, must have wondered what had descended upon their peaceful place of business.

This event drew the largest attendance so far, with 20 members and 13 spouses rolling up. This reunion saw a first in that several friends and relatives of the members also came along. This swelled the number attending by an additional 11 people.

The atmosphere of quiet friendship that these reunions have  become known for was even more obvious this time. It was pleasing to hear those who had been apprehensive about attending one of these events express their pleasant surprise at the way their concerns  were washed away by the greeting they received. An even greater testimonial to the way this group of such diverse people has come together on these occasions was to hear the comments from the wives that came along. They all felt that they were among old friends rather than meeting strangers for the first time. Many said that they were already looking forward to the next reunion.

by Frank Vanatta

THE MORNING AFTER THE FLYING CIRCUS REUNION

Last night 30 men and 16 women had a reunion in Key West. The men were all part of a helicopter scout platoon in Vietnam almost 35 years ago. They were part of the 1st Air Cavalry Division (The Horse Soldiers). Now they were all over 50 years of age. Old men by any standard except theirs. The highest ranking officer ever to command that unit was there. He was a Major.

They arrived in Key West in ones and two’s from all over the globe. One couple came from Australia, another guy came from St Croix and then there were places like Nebraska, Wyoming, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. Their backgrounds were very diversified and interesting. For example there was a Cowboy, a UPS Pilot, a Federal Indian Agent, an Antique Auto Collector/Restorer, a Vice-President with Paine-Webber, several business owners including an airplane charter service and a Director of Special Olympics. However, there was hardly any conversation at all about what anyone was doing in their boring civilian occupations. There were others but those above give a good cross reference of where most of us ended up. Educational backgrounds ran from high school GED to Masters Degrees. Some were career soldiers, most were not. Many were married at least twice only a very few were still married to their original wives. Quite a few were collecting on their service connected disabilities from the VA, some were seriously wounded and still carried the pain and scars. Others were unscratched. Some of them arrived a day early and some of them only flew in for the one night. My store seemed to be the jumping off place. The first guy to show up a day early, then the trickle became a flood and by Friday night they were all here with the exception of one guy coming in only for Saturday night.

Four days later they would be all gone, but they will have left with an awakening. This just wasn’t one of those reunions at a VHPA, AAAA, VVA. This was a renewal of those bonds that existed between a very small group of people thirty years ago. They became so interwoven it was like one of those Chinese finger games. The harder anyone tried to pull away the tighter the bonding got. Initial apprehension turned into "I’m back where I belong!" These are my brothers! A thousand handshakes, hundreds of hugs, smiles, laughter and tears were the order of the day. You can sense what was happening when most didn’t want to leave. It was like having a successful party, no one leaves and pretty soon breakfast is being served and the comments heard are, "My God, we stayed up all night." Only this reunion was several nights.. It began like a darkened theater and slowly the house lights started coming and when the stage lights covered the stage there we all were, smiling and waving and singing to the world, "We Are One."

an excerpt from an article by Clay Greager  --  see REFLECTIONS / LZ KEY WEST 2002 for the full article

The following members attended the reunion :

The following friends and relatives of members attended the reunion :

names left to right or around tables clockwise :

C. Greager & Fabiola - hard at work at THE LAST FLIGHT OUT by Vanatta

B. Potvin, S. Estes, P. Riley, T. Kuypers, P. Kuypers by Estes

M. Foster, Jeff Burke, Jon Burke, C. Greager by Zuhlke

D. Grant, C. Grant, S. Estes, M. Estes by Estes

S. Estes, C. Grant, P. Riley by Estes

P. Kuypers, B. Potvin, T. Kuypers, F. Vanatta by Vanatta

L. Conway, L. McCann, M. McCann, B. Conway, J. Howard by Estes

D. Anderson, P. Anderson, L. Conway, B. Conway, S. Rossiter, D. Zuhlke, K. Zuhlke, T. Kuypers, P. Kuypers by Vanatta

S. Estes, C. Grant, D. Grant, M. Estes, C. Greager, J. Oberg, L. McCann, M. McCann, H. Oberg, J. Howard by Vanatta

D. McKinney, M. Foster, K. Potvin, J. Vanatta, B. Potvin, J. Harris, K. Gardiner by Vanatta

C. Villegas, J. Burke, S. Burke, J. Burke, M. Foster, K. Potvin, J. Vanatta, A. Potvin, B. Potvin, J. Harris by Vanatta

M. Greager, S. Greager, L. Greager, W. Gonzales, F. Smith, P. Riley, S. Greager, T. Greager, A. Greager, H. Greager by Vanatta

S. Greager, L. Greager, H. Greager, N. Gonzales, W. Gonzales, F. Smith, P. Riley by Vanatta

S. Rossiter, D. Zuhlke, K. Zuhlke, T. Kuypers, P. Kuypers, D. Anderson, P. Anderson, L. Conway, B. Conway by Vanatta

L. McCann, M. McCann, H. Oberg, J. Howard, S. Estes, C. Grant, D. Grant, M. Estes by Vanatta

A. Potvin, B. Potvin, J. Harris, K. Gardiner, D. McKinney, S. Gardiner, C. Villegas, B. Villegas by Vanatta

S. Gardiner, C. Villegas, B. Villegas, S. Burke, M. Foster, K. Potvin, J. Vanatta, F. Vanatta, A. Potvin, B. Potvin by Vanatta

A. Potvin, T. Smith, K. Gardiner, M. Foster, D. Anderson, D. McKinney, S. Gardiner by Vanatta

back : D. McKinney, C. Grant, B. Conway, S. Rossiter, F. Vanatta, C. Greager front: M. Foster, K. Zuhlke, S. Estes, P. Riley, T. Kuypers, H. Oberg by Zuhlke