As many of you may know, your editor is hospital-bound at RoseCrest, unable to carry on many of the tasks to which she had formerly devoted time and energy and had enjoyed doing them. As many of us have told the tale of the nomads, “It is time to fold the tent and steal away.” Before this gets done, here is one last letter. 

Larry Thompson, for the benefit of those of you who know him as some other call sign is now W4USC. That’s the call, W4USC, a regal call and one of which he should be proud. Others who have modified their call signs are KF4UUL to K4SPA, Wayne Davis, KF4MSS to K4MSS, Jesse Smith and KI4TKH to W4LSO, Les MacBay.  There may be others to which we have not been privy, but if so, please turn these in to Ann Thompson, KI4MEE, or Bret Phillips, N9LPT. 

The annual March of Dimes walk was held April 26, 2008. It was an unusually beautiful day for the walk, with mild temps and partly cloudy skies. We could even hear the birds chirping in the trees.  All went without a hitch and the club had an excellent turnout of club members (13) with all water stops and sag vans being covered. This year we even had two members who rode the event on bicycle which proved to be an added asset. They could maneuver the course much better to keep an added eye on things and radio back to the net control or “poop” vans for assistance.  Once again all volunteers were invited to come back to Barnett Park for food and refreshments and to talk about how things went. Thanks to all who gave their time to make this year’s event a success.

Those who participated were:  Les MacBay- W4LSO, Mike Thompson- KE4KMA, Mike Bonner-KI4AWC, Wayne Davis- K4SPA, Jesse Smith- K4MSS, Fritz Nitch-W4NTO, Larry Thompson- W4USC, Ted Buttons- W4ERD, and Jim Campbell-W4BQP, Art Patterson-KE4EAN, Karen Marmet- KF4BLF, Randy Clair- KI4CQO and Steve Wilzbacher- K4SAW.  Special thanks to Steve for providing details of the walk.  

Just in case you hadn’t heard, the Queen of Field Day 2007 did such a fantastic job last year that we promoted her to Empress of Field Day 2008. Ann Thomson- KI4MEE, has once again agreed to chair Field Day, which will be held at the facilities of Dell, WD4BLD who has generously permitted the club to commandeer the premises.

For anyone wanting to schedule personal time to use one of the club’s stations for overnight use, there will be four stations available. According to Ann, “Y’all come!” and she will guarantee a position for your operating pleasure. To further induce your will to operate in the overnight positions, the Queen of Desserts, Arlene Cockman, will be providing incentives of the most delicious kind.

On June 5^th there will be a Statewide R.A.C.E.S. Hurricane Drill. Included within that will be a test of the H.E.A.R.T. program. (South Carolina Hospital Amateur Radio Team)  

Also, we have been requested to assist the Gaffney club in preparations for the Peach Festival, June 21^st at 7:30 am. For further directions and information, please listen to the Gaffney Repeater.
 

And now for a story in honor of Memorial Day from our own Fritz Nitch.

“Where to start? Prodding my memory back to 1945 and the G.I. landing in France; the name of the ship crossing the channel from England to France has long been forgotten. I do remember climbing over the railing and down the side via a rope blanket about twenty feet wide and about thirty feet high to the water’s surface. We waded in a few inches of water covering a metal mesh the Air Force had used for temporary landing strips.  Since this was well after “D” Day, there were no sounds of battle. We were urged to make haste up a large hill away from the beach, however. It seems that German bombers plagued the beach at night. Barrage balloons tethered with steel cables forced the bombers to drop their calling cards from a high altitude. I also remember the steel crosses pulled up on the beach that were intended to impale any small landing craft.

            After marching up the cliff, our crew pitched camp for the night in an apple orchard. I dug a pretty fox hole.  The next day we witnessed groups of aircraft passing overhead. Each group had 30-35 bombers.  We could see three groups at a time- one on each horizon and the third overhead I found out later their mission was to destroy St. Lo When we were later trucked through St. Lo all there was left were piles of brick. I don’t know how there were any survivors.  A few days after the break through at St. Lo we were piled into trucks and crossed France. I saw Paris from the back of the truck and relieved myself in the Rhine River. 

            Our destination was the headquarters of Combat Command “B” of the 2^nd Armored Division which was coiled up in Germany awaiting replacement personnel, ammunition and gasoline. I remember a captain asking out motley group if any one could operate a radio- and I was foolish enough to raise my hand. I handed in my Guarrand rifle and received a grease gun in exchange.

            Another odd excerpt from my memory which may give you pause to reflect was the fact that we threw cigarettes at the Russians, who in turn threw back bottles of Cognac!”

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And lastly, The Swan Song; A Farewell, by the Editor, KA2CLX.

It’s time to bow out gracefully. I’m weary of all the excuses I had to invent to excuse my own faulty behavior in regard to completing my job and doing it in a timely manner. You, the SPARC, deserve better than that, and I believe you shall get it. I am therefore letting you in on a secret. N9LPT, Bret Phillips, has graciously agreed to take over the duties of newsletter editor. A fresh viewpoint should perk us all up. I am not saying that I won’t write anything for the newsletter again, but a fresh viewpoint is needed. I want to thank you all for your patience the last few months. I trust that you will help make this transition as smoothly as possible for Bret.

As a club, you have honored the many responsibilities, great and small, which we have assumed to help our community. Please keep up the good work, volunteer as often as you can, and continue to do honor to the SPARC as we have in the past.  Au Revoir, Elsie- KA2CLX… Bienvenue, Bret- N9LPT!

 

If you have any news for the Club, please call or e-mail the Editor.