The White Falcon - 03.09.1971, Blaðsíða 6

Lalnie Dominguez, the little girl up front,
gets her VP-49 'Woodpecker' badge, as her par-
ents, SSgt. and Mrs. Jesse Dominguez hold her,
and members of the squadron, (L to R) AMS1 Ed
holds Lainie on the table beside her birthday
cake.
"Happy Birthday, Lainie!" says VP-49
Story & photos by JOSN Terry J. Carroll
Lainie Dominguez was one year
old Monday, but she celebrated
her second birthday party on that
day.
Last Friday afternoon she was
given a special birthday party
because Cdr. Eugene Tansey, CO of
VP-49, was not able to make the
party on her actual birthday.
What does all this mean? Let's
start at the beginning.
Last year, Lainie Dominguez,
daughter of Air Force SSgt. Jesse
and Judy Dominguez, was bom ten
weeks prematurely, which meant
that a special flight to a hospi-
"Happy Birthday, Lainie Domin-
guez , Happy Birthday to Youl "
tal in Germany was necessary for
her safety. This responsibility
was given to an eight-man crew
from VP-49. The crew had to jury-
rig a P3C to accept an incubator,
necessary to sustain Lainie's
life during the emergency flight.
The flight itself met with
complications. After three hours
of flying, the oxygen flow into
the incubator began to diminish
quickly. Members of the crew and
those along from the dispensary
staff immediately replenished the
incubator's oxygen supply by using
the aircraft's emergency oxygen
bottles. Their efforts kept the
baby out of danger for the re-
mainder of the flight. Also
there were ground problems at the
airfieldin Rhein Mein (Frankfort)
because of the aircraft's arrival
45 minutes early. The pilot re-
alized before landing that the
ground air controllers were not
expecting them. But once they
learned of the problem, the con-
trollers along the route provided
immediate assistance. The plane
landed with 20 minutes of oxygen
remaining and Lainie was rushed
to the hospital in Wiesbaden.
Good care in Germany brought
Lainie along on the weight charts
and she was released from the in-
cubators when she reached four
pounds. When the Dominguezes
left Germany early in November,
Lainie weighed nearly six pounds.
Lainiehas brown hair and eye
and just loves birthday parties.
If you don't believe it, ask her,
or any one of the crewmembers who
were at her party last Friday.
Tuesday, Lainie will take her
parents to Grand Forks, N. D.
where her father will be working
at the Air Force Base there.
LETTER, from Page 3
for those unwanted school papers,
a backstop for those off-season
little leaguers who want to prac-
tice their pitching, or a good
place to practice penmanship,good
and bad.
I sometimes think that the
children make bets, competing to
see who can knock my windows out
the most times.
My boss, Public Works, tries
to keep me in good condition, so
I won't let these young children
stand out in the bitter cold. But
I'm beginning to think PWis fight-
ing a losing battle.
To those children who try to
take care of me, thank you. Those
of you who abuse me, I hope you
flunk coloring.
Regretfully
Bus Stop 13
If it’s news... call 4156

6
September 3, 1971