31 January 1968 – On the first full day of the Tet Offensive, Major Joe Bulger (Flight Lead) and 1Lt “Fearless” Fred Abrams were asked to bomb their own base. In the early hours of the day, Vietcong forces had launched an attack on Bien Hoa AB. “The whole east end was hot,” Abrams said.
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Before Gary joined the USAF, he was in Civil Air Patrol for three Summer camps, and was a Foreign Exchange Cadet to Italy in 1955. He had his Jet Orientation Course at Perrin AFB, TX in 1956, then ROTC summer camp at Luke in 1959 where he remembers “my first F-100 ride”.
After serving in the USAF – Gary had the privilege of teaching active duty AF pilots in the C-21A Instructor Pilot Upgrade program at SimuFlite, DFW Airport from 1998 to 2014. For 16 years with 869 student pilots (“lieutenants”) in 224, five-day classes, we enjoyed the passion of “Flying the Jet” in academics and simulator in what was called “G. Heart Country” – and I didn’t miss a class.
Gary says his best flying story is “My last 20 seconds would be in the HUN – shooting the four forward firing Pontiac M-39 20mm guns…King’s Sport!”
