SERVING THE CRADLE OF NAVAL AVIATION SINCE 1921 NAVAL AIR STATION PENSACOLA, FLORIDA
Navy Awards CAC Wings 33 Years After
By Larry W. Kachelhofer
More then 175 people attended the HMM-364 (Purple Foxes) reunion at the Mustin Beach Officers Club Oct. 5. The Highlight of the event was the pre- sentation of a set of combat aircrew (CAC) wings to Stephanie Hanson on behalf of her father, HN Gary Norman Young. Young was 20 years old when he was killed on a rescue mission Feb. 7, 1969, while serving with the Purple Foxes. Stephanie's birth mother found out she was pregnant after Young left for Vietnam and decided not to tell him in a letter, but intended to wait until he got home - in three weeks. HN Young was killed on his first day with the Purple Foxes when the helicop- ter he was aboard was shot down, killing all aboard. Young had 2.7 flight hours and he never knew about Stephanie. Alone and overcome with the grief of Young's death, Stephanie's mother decided a family could provide a better home for her child, so she gave her baby up for adoption. In 1996, because of medical reasons, Hanson began a search for her birth parents. She located he birth mother and learned of her father's death which created a greater interest. She contacted her father's family, but they didn't have much information for her. Hanson spent two years searching on the Internet before she found additional information. "I left him (her father) a letter at the Wall (in Washington, D.C.) telling him I would get him his wings," Hanson Said. Eventually she was able to contact the Purple Foxes who were thrilled to help her. After years of work and miles of "red tape," Hanson reached her goal. "It took me five years, but I made a promise to my dad," she said. Another special guest, Jan Bartolina is the sister of Marine Capt. Ernie Bartolina, the pilot of the helicopter Young was flying in. About four of five years ago Bartolina was in a Vietnam chat room on the Internet. Someone told her about the website "Virtual Wall" (www.virtualwall.org). Bartolina visited the website, but didn't find any information about her brother, so she began to scan through the names. Eventually she randomly clicked on a name - HN Gary Norman Young. As she read the profile on Young, Bartolina found that Young was killed on the same day as her brother, so she began the research and eventually contacted Hanson. At first, Bartolina didn't want to attend the reunion, but Hanson wouldn't give up. "I wanted to say something (at the reunion), but I couldn't, "Bartolina said. "The love and acceptance in this room is almost scary, over- whelming. I lost my brother and he was the only sibling I had. It makes me angry I didn't get this support sooner." Though one lives in Colorado and the other in Oregon, the two women have become friends and occasionally talk on the phone. Both are now honorary Purple Foxes.
LtGen. (select) Mike Hough, Deputy Commandant of the Marine Corps Aviation (left), and retired Col. Gene Brady, CO, HMM-364 in 1969, present Stephanie Hanson with her father's Combat Air Crew Wings. Gen. Hough said, "I'm just helping to give something to someone who earned it so many years ago. It's a remarakable evening. It's all about heroes." |
