Bill Fosina, President, who attended the 2023 Air & Space Forces Association National Convention and the following Air, Space & Cyber Conference shared some of the highlights discussed there and at the Congressional Luncheon he attended along with Air Force, Space Force, and Civilian DOD leadership.

Further, Bill shared some of the thoughts of various commanders and their feelings on China, China, China as the Honorable Frank Kendall’s, Secretary of the Air Force, top priority is China, China, China.  Most importantly, it’s the people that make a difference such as the first Para-Rescue Airman reinstated with artificial limbs. Also, the AFA 2023 Teacher of the Year – what he does and what we can learn from him.

Pictured: Some Meeting Attendees – L-R: Dale Leppard, Peter Hinge, Bill Fosina, Bob Kennaday, Art Snyder, Gus Manz, Frank Cappuccio, Stu Rosenthal, Howard Leach, Jim Morgan, and Jim McConnell

On Saturday, June 3rd, at 1:00 PM in the Florham Park Diner, Florham Park, NJ, Chapter 195 presented their Teacher of the Year Awards to two deserving educators:

Dr. Michael Gottfried, Aviation, Physics, & Geophysical Science Teacher, Roxbury High School, Succasunna, NJ

Diana Muench, K-8 STEM Teacher, Harding Township School, New Vernon, NJ

Captain Fosina discussed his two tours, one in-country from June 1967 to July 1968 (TET Offensive) leading Harbor Security Forces and supporting the US Marines of the Third Marine Amphibious Force. Another in 1972, when he returned to Vietnam on the USS Joseph Hewes and supported the US Marine Forces in Northern Vietnam from the gun line.

Additional assignments of interest were:
1976: Operations Officer for the first United States evacuation from Beirut.
1978: Executive Office in USS Sumter, participating in contingency operations off the coast of Murmansk, USSR.
1981: Assisted in the planning for the US Operations off the coast of Libya.
1984: Commanding Officer, USS Fairfax County, circumnavigating the continent of South America conducting good will operations and training operations.
1990: Chief of Staff to Commander Amphibious Group TWO, deployed to the Persian Gulf with the East Coast Amphibious Task Force in support of Operation Desert Shield.

Pictured: Some Meeting Attendees

To honor her Uncle Mark Miller’s WWII service, Linda Simonsen, of Harding Township, presented a video she created over a one year period entitled, “The Ultimate Sacrifice, — My Family’s Journey”.

It’s the story of a Harding Township man, Mark Miller, a B-29 crewman of “Thunderbird”, and his experiences in WWII. It also shows much about the crew’s operational experiences.

Sadly, it leads up to his death one week before the War’s end during a bombing run over Japan. It includes a description of the missing pilot’s brother’s arduous, but successful, search for the downed plane shortly after the war.

Pictured: Some attendees (L to R): Bob Kennaday, William Fosina (Pres), Linda Simonsen (Speaker), Jim Morgan (VP), Toby Terranova (VP Membership / Chaplain), Peter Hinge, Gus Manz

Long time Chapter 195 member Arthur Snyder gave a presentation about how he dropped leaflets from a CIA black B-29 that resulted in a MIG pilot defecting to the US during the Korean War. Art was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Air Medals, and the United Nations Korea Medal along with his other decorations for his service.

Psychological warfare missions are in violation of the Geneva Convention and if shot down, Art would not have been protected by the Convention’s protocols as a POW. On his final CIA combat tour, he flew 65 B-26 interdiction missions similar to those in North Korea from Thailand and Da Nang, from November 1953 to the end of the War on May 7,1954.

After 15 years his missions were declassified.

Some of the members and family attending the meeting.

Back Row (L-R): Steve Shapiro, Jim Morgan (VP), Gus Manz, Avanti Borucki, Howard Leach
Front Row (L-R): Jim McConnell, Betty McConnell, William Fosina (Pres), Art Snyder, Art’s grandson, Toby Terranova (VP Membership / Chaplain)

On Saturday, Jan 28th, our Chapter Secretary / Treasurer, Howard Leach spoke on his service in the Air Force in 1967 at Whiteman AFB in support of the Minuteman Missile weapon system, America’s Ace in the Hole. He was assigned as a Technical Engineering Analysis Officer within the 341st and 351st Strategic Missile Wings, SAC at that time.

In June 1961 Whiteman Air Force Base was chosen to become the fourth Minuteman missile wing. On February 1, 1963, Whiteman AFB received its first Minuteman IB missile from Hill Air Force Base, out of Utah. Its final Minuteman IB missile went on full operational alert on June 29, 1964. Starting on May 7, 1966, and finishing in October 1967, Whiteman AFB modernized its Minuteman missile force with the next generation, Minuteman II missile. On July 31, 1991 when President George H.W. Bush and Premier Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), President Bush ordered a stand-down of all deployed Minuteman II missiles. The last Minuteman II missile at the 351st SMW was removed on May 18, 1995. Whiteman Air Force Base officially inactivated the 351st SMW on July 31, 1995.