Fellow Rotarians, 

Last Friday, Rotarian Rick Rees from RC Royal Hua Hin took us back in time with his one year as a US helicopter pilot in Tay Ninh, Vietnam. His experience had helped him grow tremendously as an individual as he was assigned to take on the vast responsibilities at such young age. The footage that Rtn. Rick shared also gave the perspective of how stressful the situation was.
 
With a blink of an eye, we are now entering October. In normal times, I would generally associate October as the beginning of the festive season with many celebration times ahead. However, this Covid havoc year of 2020 has been nothing, but extremely challenging times in so many dimensions and I believe majority would share the same sentiment. We are going through unprecedented hardships with testaments both economically and mentally. The fight with Covid is not over, but I hope we have built strong resilience to get through this. I certainly hope we have a lot more positive news to get us through 2020.
 
As for this Friday, let us have a relaxing meeting with great fellowship as we gather for the Traditional October Lunch. I hope to see as many Rotarians at Roadhouse BBQ.
 
Have a great weekend.

President Yod Tantianunanont

Fellow Rotarian Richard L. Rees, Jr. (Rick) from our sister club, RC Royal Hua Hin was born in San Francisco, California on September 12, 1944. He traveled extensively as a youngster due to his father’s shipping business interests that allowed him to take up summer jobs working on various ships voyaging to many locations around the world at a young age. From 1962 onwards he studied at Various Colleges & Universities focusing on Business Administration in the United States and Japan. 

Rick entered the U.S. Army in 1966, commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1967 and graduated flight school in early 1969 and was dispatched to combat duty in Vietnam. Posted in Tay Ninh with The Crusaders he was assigned the position of a helicopter co-pilot handing medical evacuations and the like. He was soon made Air Mission Commander with 9 helicopters that involved a great deal of action with very brave men under his command. “It was a stressful but rewarding situation and it was a life changing experience.”

After his combat tour in Vietnam he returned to the US as an instructor pilot before mustering out as a Captain in 1972. His first airline job was with the national airline of the Republic of Nauru, where he flew the F-28 and various Boeings for a number of years before moving back to the U.S. where he flew for a variety of U.S. Airlines. He finally ended up at JAL Airlines where he retired after 15 years as a Captain on the DC-10. 

His talk was an eclectic mix of military action, commercial piloting experience and his final retirement with his wife June in Hua Hin. Rick received the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross from President Richard Nixon for heroism while participating in an aerial flight evidenced by voluntary actions “above and beyond the call of duty”. Some of the more famous recipients of this award include Senator John McCain, President George H.W. Bush, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, John Glenn and the Wright Brothers.


By Mark Butters

HEARING AID DONATION
 

Rotary - September 2020

 a new design format for Rotary magazine.

https://magazine.rotary.org/rotary/september_2020/MobilePagedReplica.action?