The 20th Fighter Wing Association celebrated the 80th anniversary of the 20th Fighter Wing and its predecessors at our 2007 reunion in Denver on September 19-23 at the Renaissance Denver Hotel. Attendance was nearly 200.
20th service dates spanned more than 60 years. Col Mike Horgan had the earliest assignment, 1946-48, and again in 1959-63 as 20th DCO. The most recent 20th members were four current commanders, Col Jim Post (20th FW CC), L/C Miles DeMayo (55th FS CC), L/C Craig Leavitt (77th FS CC) and L/C Donald Butler (79th FS CC).
Two Aerial Achievement Award winners and their wives also attended, 2005 winner Capt Chris Bacon (77th FS) and 2006 winner Capt Bryan Dalton (55th FS).
The senior member was Lt/Gen Dale W. Thompson, who served four tours with the 20th FW: 1971-73 as pilot and exec, 1979-81 as DCO, 1981-84 as vice commander and 1984-86 as wing commander. The longest serving member was M/SGT Ken Taggart of the 20AMS, with 16 years - 1967-71 and 1976-88.
Of the 110 attending members, 80 were from the F-100/Wethersfield-Woodbridge era, 24 from the F-111/Upper Heyford era and six from the F-16/Shaw era.
The Denver reunion followed our traditional format - five days and four nights, arriving on a Wednesday and departing on Sunday. Day tours were offered for each full day, golf on Thursday, a buffet on Thursday evening, squadron dinners on Friday evening, the general business meeting on Saturday afternoon, and the banquet on Saturday night. The hospitality suite opened Wednesday afternoon and closed late Saturday.
The Thursday tour visited Denver's three most popular attractions - Red Rocks, a spectacular amphitheater in the foothills west of Denver, the Coors Brewery and LoDo (lower downtown district), a mile-long pedestrian mall in downtown Denver.
On Friday we toured the Rocky Mountains west of Denver during Colorado's peak week for fall colors, with a stop for lunch at Georgetown, an historic mining town and home of the Georgetown Loop Railroad.
Nearly the entire reunion turned out for the Saturday tour of Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum and a wonderfully catered luncheon at the museum. The Wings museum is located in the old (1937) Hangar #2 at the former Lowery AFB.
President John Peebles opened the banquet with colors presented by the Buckley AFB "Mile High Honor Guard." Our guest speaker, Lt/Gen Dale Thompson, gave an impressive account of the key roles the 20th Fighter Wing played in helping win the Cold War. John Piowaty recited a tear-jerking poem he wrote about pride and patriotism in an elderly, retired colonel. A local dance band provided the music.
The highlight of the reunion was the presence of four active-duty commanders of the 20th FW. They arrived at Buckley AFB in a flight of four F-16s from Shaw AFB on Friday, attended squadron dinners Friday night, the Wings museum on Saturday, the banquet on Saturday night, and returned home on Sunday morning. Col Post and his three commanders have been flying the F-16 their entire careers. It's a different Air Force!
Many thanks to the volunteers who helped make the reunion a great success. PK Kimminau and Ben Boshoven managed the hospitality suite. Jerry and Pat Farrell designed and provided the artwork. Ray and Sue Rider manned the registration desk. Dave Skilling handled outside notices. And Bill May arranged the golf tournament.
Thanks also to the coordinators of Friday night squadron dinners - Ben Boshoven (55th), Ray and Sue Rider (77th), Jerry and Pat Farrell (79th) and Ken Taggart (20th Support units). Post-reunion surveys proclaimed the 55th squadron dinner at Ling and Louis' the best by far, confirming the published professional opinions of Denver's best known food critics.
Special thanks to President John Peebles for guiding the board to new policies that should insure the association's future, to secretary Denny Schaan for keeping the database on which the association depends, to historian Art Sevigny for updating and republishing the 20th FW history book, "Looking to the Future," to Lew Martin for honchoing our first website, to 2005 reunion chairman Mick Doty for his invaluable advice on reunion planning, and to my wife Marge Walters for her incredible memory and unlimited patience.
Finally, thanks to everyone who came to the reunion. The whole purpose of a reunion is to visit old buddies with whom we shared some peak life experiences.
See you all in DC in '09.
John R. Walters, 2007 Reunion Chairman
20th Fighter Wing
Association
Denver, Colorado
December, 2007