Off we go into the wild sky yonder,

Keep the wings level and true

If you'd live to be a grey-haired wonder

Keep the nose out of the blue!

 

Nothing'll stop the U.S. Air Force!

 

nU.S. Air Force song

 

Former WKNT news director Bob Carpenter and his U.S. Air Force buddy Dennis Maki from their Vietnam days, a pair of gray-haired wonders, had their hearts soaring into the wild blue yonder Thursday at the Fort Myers, Florida airport.

 

Atten-hut, everyone: It was their first get-together in 50 years. Dennis found Bob on Facebook, that social media wonder, several weeks ago.

The reunion was a natural flight to friendship.

Writes Kent State graduate Bob:

“WHAT A GREAT REUNION YESTERDAY....AFTER NOT HEARING OR SEEING MY USAFSS BUDDY DENNIS MAKI FOR 50 YEARS....WE FINALLY MET AT THE FORT MYERS AIRPORT THURSDAY. IT WAS A FANTASTIC GET TOGETHER. WE SPENT THE REST OF THE DAY AND EVENING REMINISCING ABOUT OUR USAF TIMES WHEN WE WERE STATIONED TOGETHER AT DaNANG, VIETNAM; CRETE, GREECE, SAN ANTONIO USAFSS HQ, AND GOODFELLOW AIR BASE IN SAN ANGELO AS INTELLIGENCE ANALYSTS.”

To see an earlier BJ Alums blog article on the discovery of the half-century, scroll down two stories on this blog.