The Global Hawk





This is a photo of the Global Hawk UAV that recently returned from the war zone under its own power. ( Iraq to Edward's AFB in CA) - Not transported via C5 or C17.


Note the mission paintings on the fuselage, it's actually over 250 missions.  (And I would suppose 25 air medals.)

That's a long way for a remotely piloted aircraft. Think of the technology as well as the required quality of the data link to fly it remotely from a source thousands of miles away. Not only that, but the pilot controls it from a nice warm control panel at Edwards AFB, CA. It can stay up for almost 2 days at altitudes above 60k. The Global Hawk is controlled via satellite.  It flew missions that went from Edwards AFB, CA. and back nonstop.

Basically, they come into the fight at a high mach # using military thrust power, fire their AMRAAMS, and no one ever sees them or paints with radar.  There is practically no radio chatter because all the guys in the flight are tied together electronically and can see who is targeting who, and they have AWACS (Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems) direct input, as well as 360 situational awareness from that and other sensors.

The enemy had a definite morale problem before it was all over. It is to air superiority what the jet engine was to aviation. It can taxi out, take off, fly a mission, return, land and taxi back on its own. There are no blackouts, pilot fatigue, relief tubes, ejection seats, and best of all, no dead pilots, and no POWs.

Hicksville Vietnam War Era Memorial

Nine new names were added in October for a new total of 1,685.  However, if you notice, we continue to diminish the red question marks on the list which denote missing data.  At this stage of the Project, filling in these blanks is second in importance only to making sure we don't leave anyone behind who should be on the List of Names.  Extended time away from home for me in October and other business taking time away from our alumni volunteer working in our behalf at the Hicksville Public Library, are the main reasons for the short list of additional names this month. 

As in the past, you can continue to help this effort by scanning the list of names, using your class year or years you may be familiar with as a reference, to see if you have a new name or some missing data to email to us.  Class years, where known, are specifically shown to make this effort easier for all our readers.

Memorial Qualifications:  A person must have been on active duty in one of our Armed Forces during the Vietnam Era.  The person did not necessarily have to serve in Vietnam , because by being in service at that time he or she faced the possibility of being sent to Vietnam and was an integral part of strengthening our Armed Forces during a time of war. 

Overall qualifications include:

  • must have been a resident of Hicksville at some time before entering our Armed Forces
  • must have attended a public, private or parochial high school while living in Hicksville (attendance at HHS not required)
  • must have served on active duty anywhere in the world during America 's Vietnam Era (February,1961 through April,1975)
  • Both men and women qualify (We're stating this since, while continuing to add a number of women, we still have relatively few on the current list overall)

While we have now accumulated 1,685 names, there are still more people out there who served and meet the above qualifications, but have yet to be identified.  Rough estimates made at the beginning of this project indicate we should be able to collect between 2 and 3 thousand names, so we are getting closer to that goal.  We have access to official records in Washington , D.C. , but have found that many people left Hicksville before entering the service and show a different town or city as their home at the time of entry.  So, we need to continue this grass roots effort and will also continue to use official records as a means of confirmation of all personnel on the list. 

Our Project Team consists of the following members:

·        Ken Strafer, Founder (HHS '62)

·        Joe Carfora, Master List (HHS '62)

·        Carl Probst, Input Data, Class of '59 & Others (HHS '59)

·        Tony Plonski, Input Data, Class of '64 & Others (HHS '64)

·        Tommy Sullivan, Press Release Editing (HHS '63)

·        Walter Schmidt, Hicksville Local Coordinator & Town of Oyster Bay Veterans Services Officer (HHS '65)

·        Joe Ingino, Veterans Advocate, Hicksville & Long Island (HHS '67)

·        Jay Tranchina, Input Data, Class of '64 & Others, plus local press contact (HHS 1964)

·        Bill Walden, Cmdr of Hicksville VFW Post, Site Selection/Approval & Fundraising Leader (HHS '65)                                                   

Here's what we continue to need from each person reading this to do:

Please click on the following link to review the current list of names:  Click Here.

If you know of someone who is not listed, or if you have information we are still missing, please send what you have to Joe Carfora at jcarfora1@nc.rr.com.  Please use the information contained on the current list as a guide for the data we need.

Thank you!

The Vietnam War Era Memorial Project Team

Footnote extracted from www.vietnamwar.com:  During 15 years of military involvement, over 2 million Americans served in Vietnam with 500,000 seeing actual combat. 47,244 were killed in action, including 8000 airmen. There were 10,446 non-combat deaths. 153,329 were seriously wounded, including 10,000 amputees. Over 2400 American POWs/MIAs were unaccounted for as of 1973.

To access a huge list of veteran related websites that offer assistance, visit http://buffalobobcasale.com