A web site that shares the emotional and spiritual experiences of the Vietnam War through poetry, stories, and photos by combat veterans.

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Stories/ Memories /Comments 

From: Herbert M. Galdwill (The Mad Mormon)

Hello, My name is Herbert M. Gladwill, Jr, the "Mad Mormon", CE on AC 612. I skimmed the veteran's site and saw that my name was listed as Gallswill, Gerbert M. Jr. My current e-mail, if you want it is hlgladwill@juno.com.  After I left the 128th, I went to Ft. Eustis as an instructor until my ETS in July, 1970. A few years later, I got homesick for Army Aviation and went into the Arizona National Guard at Papago Army Airfield in Phoenix. In June, 1975, I went back on active duty. Years later, when it seemed that enlisted flight slots were becoming ever harder to come by and a few health considerations cropped up, I left aviation and went into CID. I retired as a special agent in May 1992. I currently am employed as a counselor with the Arizona Dept of Corrections, Douglas, AZ. My only connection now to aviation is model building and lots of dreaming. But I have a young son in law who is working towards his commercial license and just today, he took me up in a Cessna 152 to tour the valley where we live and to allow me a few photos of our small ranch. As we flew over the Mule Mountains near Bisbee, he asked me if I "missed it". What a question, of course I missed it. I figure it will take all the rest of the weekend for my wife to get my feet back on the ground. I went a long way to getting my feet back on the ground by cleaning out some trash in my chicken yard in the 100 degree heat later this afternoon. Boy, I would sure like to be up in old Tomahawk 612 "Tijuana Taxi" and cool off from this summer Arizona Sunshine. I have added this site to my favorites. I hope to visit it often. Sincerely, Herb Gladwill.

Dialog about Capt. Jim Osborn

 

Jay,  (Jay Riseden)
I thought you might want to add Jim's name to your list of Tomahawks that have been killed since their duty with the 128th. I've sent you his cell comments, to-date, but I had a continuing dialog about Jim Osborn with Larry Tweedie, before Larry died, that will be added when I get to the rest of his old emails.
See the attachment.
Later,
Russ (Russ Layton )
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Larry wrote to Russ Layton:  Yep, 1st Platoon was the Yellow flight, we had yellow shirts made remember? I still have mine. Too bad I can't button it!). Jim Osborne and I were both T-19.
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Russ Layton wrote to Dave O'Quinn:   While looking at the chart, I noticed that you live in Austin, TX. I know this sounds a little bizarre but would you by any chance know my AC? He was from Austin in 1967-68. His name is James Osborn. I have been trying to find him for the past 10 years without success. I know it's a long shot but stranger things have happened. He would have also spent part of his tour during your tour.
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Dave O'Quinn wrote to Russ Layton:   James Osborn, wife Diane, was stationed in Aschaffenburg, Germany, after Vietnam and went to England and imported a dozen and a half lotus cars for everybody else and made enough profit to own two or three.  My wife Theresa and I, while stationed at Nellingen, near Stuttgart, went to see them in early 1970.  Theresa was pregnant for our son Chris who was born in June 70.  I'm sorry to inform you but the Info I have is that Jim was killed sometime thereafter.  It's been a long time but, Theresa and I just discussed it and we both seem to recall it was a helicopter crash. (Wire Strike?)  I can't recall how I got this information, Diane may very well have written to us.  I don't have his name or SSN on any of my orders.  If you do, you might run the numbers against the SSN Death records.  He was a neat guy, loved making those slot cars.
Also, any of you reserve/guard guys (Mike) have access to Safety Center Archives? Maybe I can run some Texas connections here.
Regrets  Dave O'Q
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Russ Layton wrote:  I feel kind-of responsible for Jim's importing profits since he and I collaborated on importing stereo and camera equipment in VN. I can't remember how we got the literature but maybe we sent away for it or we got it from the PX. He and I use to take orders from all of the guys that wanted to buy cheap equipment and I think he went to Japan twice and I sent him to China once to get a bunch of camera equipment. We use to love it because when he got back we would set up all of the equipment in his hooch and try it out before we turned it over to the guys that bought it. I remember one night we had like $30,000.00 worth of stereo equipment (at 1969 Japan prices) set up all over the hooch and we were comparing what stuff sounded the best. A lot of the guys would come in to hear the music and BS. We thought we were so cool with the incredible quality of music we could produce and we were all kidding around with one of the officers because he only had this stupid little boom box stereo and he was perfectly satisfied with its quality. He was probably the only officer that wasn't receiving any of our imported equipment. I remember when it finally hit me, later that night, and I told Jim that it was a lot of fun teasing that officer for what we considered junky quality music but we had just spent every last penny we earned on music while he was sending his money home and maybe we weren't as smart as we thought we were. I second-guess that now because I still have all of the stereo and camera equipment and still use most of it but then maybe he's a millionaire now. I even borrowed money from one of my fellow Tomahawks when we landed in Yokota, Japan on our way home, just so I could buy a reverberater. I had to get money wired to me to pay him back when we got to San Francisco and I missed him, so I had to mail it to his home in N or S Carolina. I ended up with Patrick Finch's Polaroid flash attachment and Macauslin's AR speakers because Finch was killed in the June 4, 69 crash and Mac was shot in the chest and shipped back to the states for better medical treatment and to recuperate. Both of them were gone before the stuff came in and I remember packing Finch's stuff up for the family and wondering whether I should send it to the family when it came in. Finch replaced Mac as my roommate when Mac was shot. I was developing a reputation for loosing roommates but I assure you that I had nothing to do with it.
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Dave O'Quinn wrote to Russ Layton:   from the "Austin American", 24 Aug 1971

CAPT. J.C. OSBORN
Crash victim
Crash Kills Austin Man In Germany
Army Capt. James Carroll Osborn, 28, of Austin, was killed Saturday in Schweinfurt, Germany in a helicopter accident.
Funeral is pending at Wilke-Clay Funeral Home here.
Osborne, whose Austin address is 3505 South Lamar, was serving as a helicopter pilot with the Seventh Cavalry Division in Germany at the time of the crash.
Osborn was a member of Windsor Baptist Church and a graduate of Johnston High School. He attended the University of Texas before joining the Army.
Osborn was a member of the American Aviators Association and a graduate of warrant officer schools at Ft. Wolters and Ft. Rucker, Ala.
Survivors include his wife, Mrs. Diane Osborn of Austin; a son Bradley C. Osborn of Austin; parents, Mr. and Mrs. R. L. "Bob" Osborn of Austin; a sister, Susan Gail Osborn of Austin; Two brothers, Robert C. Osborn and Gary K. Osborn of Austin; grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. C. L. Schmidtke of Bandera; several aunts and uncles.
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