Smokejumper, January 2014, Iaauw 83
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The National Smokejumper Quarterly Magazine Association January 2014 Smokejumper My First Combat Mission ................................................................ 4 To Be Square or Not to Be ............................................................. 22 A Life of Adventure ........................................................................ 27 CONTENTS Message from Message from the President ....................................2 My First “Real” Combat Mission .............................4 NSA Trails ...............................................................8 Finding the Lost Inuit ..............................................9 the President Former Jumper Joins Two Other Firefighters to Save Girl’s Life............................................11 what has been a long and gruel- Book Review: Wildfire ..........................................13 Book Review: Hog’s Exit .......................................14 ing fire season that relied on a Hosts Needed at Siskiyou Smokejumper Museum .16 considerable amount of booster Touching All Bases................................................17 activity from base to base. Ben Musquez Jumps Again at Age 82 ....................21 To Be Square, or Not To Be...................................22 In my October 2013 column, The View from Outside the Fence ..........................23 I suggested that one way you can Sounding Off from the Editor ................................26 leave a legacy to your smokejump- Published Articles about Your Smokejumper Editors ....................................27 ing days would be to establish a When the Wild Ones Are Tame ..............................33 scholarship. Since that time, two Off theList .............................................................34 such scholarships have been estab- Odds and Ends .....................................................36 NSA 2013 Jukkala/McBride Scholarship lished and will be available for the Award Winners ..............................................37 first time this coming year. A Visit with Chris Wennogle, NSA 2013 by Jim Cherry Kristin Maypole has estab- Scholarship Award Winner .............................39 The Jump List .......................................................40 (Missoula ’57) lished the Dr. Donald E. May- New NSA Life Members Since January 2013 ..........42 President pole (IDC-54) NSA Scholarship Letter from NSA President Jim Cherry to Trail It has been a tough and tragic to honor her father. More recent- Program Participants .....................................43 The Return of Ford Tri-Motor NC8419 ..................44 fire season for smokejumpers ly Robert V. Potter (MSO-51) Blast from the Past................................................45 of the Bureau of Land Manage- has established an NSA scholar- Fall Fires in Alaska-We Were Flexible ....................46 ment and the U.S. Forest Service. ship. These two designated gifts, Smokejumper Rations and Accoutrements............46 Ye Olde OXE– 130 Years in Missoula ....................47 In addition to the occasional together with the current schol- time-loss injuries, both the BLM arships the NSA provides, will and the USFS have experienced allow the funding of five scholar- jumper fatalities. ships that will help advance the SMOKEJUMPER, Issue No. 83, January 2014 ISSN 1532-6160 Luke Sheehy (RDD-09) lost learning and leadership skills of Smokejumper is published quarterly by: his life when hit by part of a the recipients. The National Smokejumper Association falling tree while on a fire in the Read more about the scholar- c/o 10 Judy Lane Warner Wilderness in June. Mark ships, their criteria and the appli- Chico, CA 95926 Urban (NIFC-03), a Boise BLM cation process at the NSA website The opinions of the writers are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the NSA. Permis- jumper, died in September when at www. smokejumpers.com. To sion to reproduce Smokejumper in any manner his parachute failed to open in discuss establishing scholarships, must first be obtained in writing. time during a training jump near contact me at jimcherry@wctatel. NSA Web site: http://www.smokejumpers.com Prairie, Idaho. In both situations net or call (641) 927-4428. Managing Editor: Chuck Sheley the NSA was able to be there to Charles Palmer (MSO-95), Associate Editor: Ed Booth provide assistance at the memo- an associate professor at the Editing: K. G. Sheley Photo Editor: Johnny Kirkley rial services. University of Montana, has been Illustrators: Dan Veenendaal, and Eric Rajala While words of comfort can researching a fire that happened Printing: Larry S. Jackson, Heidelberg Graphics, be helpful, the pain of such losses outside of Choteau, Mont., in www.HeidelbergGraphics.com needs more than words. For this 1931 in which five men were Cover photos: Randy “Doc” Gore, Rich Tomich, reason the NSA has the Good Sa- overcome by the fire and died. and Jerry Ogawa as Neds in 1967. (Courtesy R. Tomich) maritan Fund to help in times of Two of the firefighters who died Randy “Doc” Gore, Rich Tomich, and Jerry crisis and a scholarship program are lying in unmarked graves in Ogawa at McCall Base Reunion. 46 years later. for children of jumpers killed in the Choteau Cemetery and it has Gore is retired after practicing internal medicine and cardiovascular research for 35 years; Tomich the line of service. been Charles’ goal to get head- is a retired USAF fighter pilot (Lt. Col) and At the time of writing this stones in place for them. retired Southwest Airlines Capt. of 22 years; article, there has been some snow While not meeting the criteria Ogawa is a retired teacher with 30 years in the classroom and a retired USFS smokejumper. and rain in the northern Rockies for funding from the Good (Courtesy Jerry Ogawa) to help dampen at least some of Samaritan Fund, members from Check the NSA website 2 www.smokejumpers.com the NSA’s Board of Directors personally chipped in to plish this level of membership online with the use of a support this project so those headstones could be in credit card. place before winter. In making reference to the NSA’s website, have you The NSA, now at 290 life memberships, is within visited it recently? It has been redesigned this past sum- striking distance of reaching 300 life members. mer and has a totally new look and feel. Comments If you’ve been thinking about becoming a life mem- have been very positive. ber through a donation of $1,000 to the NSA, why not The photo gallery that changes every 10 seconds is put those good intentions into action before the end made possible thanks to Mike McMillan’s (FBX-96) of the year and take advantage of the tax deductibility excellent camera work. You can find more of Mike’s available through the NSA’s 501(c)(3) status? Your gift photos and videos by visiting spotfireimages.com. becomes part of a fund where the principal is preserved I hope you have marked your calendar for the All- and only the earnings of the fund are used to support Base Smokejumper Reunion scheduled for July 17-19, annual operating expenses of the NSA. 2015. It will be held in Missoula and Jim Phillips You can find information about life memberships (MSO-67) is heading up a top-notch, high-energy at www.smokejumpers.com and you can easily accom- team that is laying out plans for this event that will be a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the first fire jump made in 1940. As the date draws nearer we will be keeping you informed of the reunion details. NSA Members—Save Our next NSA Board of Directors meeting is sched- This Information uled for Boise March 19-20, 2014. Guests are always welcome. Just let us know in advance so we have suf- Please contact the following persons ficient seating available. directly if you have business or questions: Finally, have you considered switching the method used for getting your issue of the Smokejumper Maga- Smokejumper magazine zine? It is now available for delivery online. You can Articles, obits, change of address print off you own hard copy and also have it electroni- Chuck Sheley cally available for future reference, plus you will get the 530-893-0436 electronic version 3-4 weeks earlier than you would [email protected] through the regular mail system. Past issues of the magazine going back as far as 10 Judy Ln. August 1993 are also available on the website. To Chico, CA 95926 switch to the electronic version, contact Chuck Sheley Membership (CJ-59) at [email protected]. John McDaniel 785-668-2093 [email protected] Are You Going to Be P.O. Box 105 “Temporarily Away”? Falun, KS 67442-0105 As more of our membership moves with the weath- All else er, we are getting an ever-increasing number of Smoke- NSA President jumper magazines returned by the post office marked Jim Cherry “Temporarily Away.” Since we mail the magazine via bulk mail, it is not forwarded, and we are charged first 641-927-4428 class postage for its return. [email protected] If you are leaving your mailing address during the 2335 300th St. months of March, June, September and/or Decem- Ventura, IA 50482-8502 ber, please let Chuck Sheley know. He can hold your magazine and mail it upon your return OR mail it to Smokejumper base abbreviations: your seasonal address. Please help us save this triple Anchorage .......... ANC Grangeville ........ GAC Redding .............RDD Boise ................. NIFC Idaho City .......... IDC Redmond ............RAC mailing expense. Chuck’s contact information is in the Cave Junction ........ CJ La Grande .......... LGD West Yellowstone