Remembering Vietnam

    Hutchinson native and veteran Dave Skoog attended the 40th reunion of the Army’s 92nd Assault Helicopter Company

    There might be a few more lines on the faces and a little less hair to comb, but members of the 92nd Assault Helicopter Company didn’t think about that when they gathered in Atlanta, Ga., for the Army company’s 40th anniversary.
    About 100 men including Hutchinson native Dave Skoog, and his significant other, Pat Lange, attended the four-day festivities Oct. 11-14. Atlanta native, Army Lieutenant Colonel and NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough was the guest speaker.
    “I’m not sure how fun it is for the wives, but the guys sit around and talk,” Skoog said.
    Much of what happens is talking with each other about the experiences they had in Vietnam.
    For instance, Skoog met the pilot of a helicopter that had been involved in a mid-air collision. Skoog was on the ground watching as the accident happened overhead.
    “It was a bad accident with rotors, parts and pieces flying,” he said. “The pilot spent six months recovering at Walter Reed Hospital. I didn’t know that.”
    Skoog described his military service as “the worst and best times of your life.”
     “If you come out alive or without major injury, military service offers the best life-learning lessons,” he said. “You learn to appreciate fresh food and clean streets.”

    To read the complete story, see the Thursday, Nov. 8 print edition of the Hutchinson Leader.

 (Kay Johnson is a staff writer at the Hutchinson Leader. She can be reached at johnson@hutchinsonleader.com).