Scenery in South Carolina on our way down to Savannah.

We arrived in Savannah today around 2p.m., what a beautiful city!!! Checked in and there was Capt. Chris Pannell, his wife Jeannie and Ken Ashbaugh to greet us. Ten minutes in the building and I am shaking hands with some of the great men of the 20th.! We head towards our room and run into Bill Sharpe, who came all the way from England to attend the reuninon! We got cleaned up, I began checking all of the equipment and the phone rings; it's none other than Jack Ilfrey wondering why we haven't made it down to the hospitality suite yet...Well, we hurried and got down there and suddenly the realization of a dream is upon me...

Showing Maj. Jack Ilfrey the website.

The first man I see as we enter is Jack Ilfrey himself. Finally, after all these years I get to shake the hand of a legend! But the thrills haven't ended yet, next I get to meet Harley Brown, who is all decked out in a red fighter's helmet and goggles!

I set up everything, brought up the site and showed Harley the page concerning him, then along comes Don Rheimer and I do the same for him as well, followed by Merle Nichols and his son...clear up to time for us all to leave for dinner at a nearby restaurant there were people enquiring about the sites.

The original wooden model of the King's Cliffe Memorial, designed by Bill Sharp.
This has been donated to 8th. AF Heritage Museum and will be displayed in the library.

We had a great steak dinner, Capt. Pannell introduced us to the crowd and not long thereafter Maj. Ilfrey and I retreated to the smoking area to have a cigarette. This was simply an amazing thing for me, there I was smoking a cigarette and chewing the fat with a true aviation legend! Not long after we made our way back to the hotel and Nancy went to bed.

I, on the other hand, took off for the hospitality suite with computer in hand and set everything back up again. This time I got to sit down with Cliff Kies, Max Pyles, Chet Hallberg, Gale Turner and more than I can recount right this minute. I promise there will be more tomorrow, as I will have the chance to sit down and actually think once we get back from the museum. In the meantime, remember to keep checking back in!

---Syd & Nancy

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