The White Falcon - 23.12.1977, Síða 1

Keflavik notes
Christmas caroling
on base tonight
Tonight at 7 the NATO base Chapel
'ill sponsor Christmas caroling. Those
carolers who wish to participate may
meet at the Chapel at 7.
A Candlelight Communion Service will
be held tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the NATO
base Chapel.
Regular Sunday services will be held
Christmas Day, beginning at 9:15 a.m.
with Sunday school at the Lower School.
The Morning Worship will be at 11 a.m.
at the Chapel; Gospel Service at 1 p.m.
and Evening Service at 7 p.m.
A special Midnight Mass will be held
tomorrow at midnight. The Evening Ser-
vice will begin at 11:40 p.m. with the
singing of carols. At midnight, Mass
will start with a procession to the
manger with singing by the choir in
"0 Come All Ye Faithful".
Volume 33 Number 51
Keflavik, Iceland
December 23, 1977
Rescue |
A serious business for the
Air Rescue and Recovery Wing
To celebrate Christmas Day, the En-
listed Dining Facility will host a
special family dinner. Unaccompanied
personnel are invited to dine from 3
to 4 p.m.; serving will start 4 and
run until 6:30 p.m. for families.
The menu will consist of spicy toma-
to juice cocktail, turkey noodle soup,
roast tom turkey, Virginia baked ham,
steamship round, brown giblet gravy,
pineapple sauce, brown beef gravy,
bread dressing, whipped potatoes,
buttered corn and hot dinner rolls.
The Air Rescue and Recovery Wing,
Detachment 14, has been involved in
numerous rescue attempts recently. The
most recent was the attempted rescue of
former Air Force Pilot George Martin
when he ditched his single engine plane
in the Atlantic about 25 miles west of
the Keflavik runway. Mr. Martin, a well
known figure in the Icelandic pilots'
community, had been ferrying aircraft
along this route for about seven years
since his retirement from the U.S. Air
Force.
Upon receiving word of the downed
aircraft at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, Dec,
14, Det. 14 dispatched an HC-130 and an
HH-3E helicopter, attempting to locate
the downed aircraft. Encountering 12
foot seas and 25 knot winds, Captain
McCabe, pilot of the C-130, and Captain
Walters, of the H-3 "Jolly" were unable
to sight the craft. A second helicopter
piloted by Captain Tatsch joined with
nearby Icelandic fishing vessels in the
search.
At 5:45 a.m. the wreckage was located
and a man lowered by helicopter in order
to inspect the still floating tail
section of the plane. Martin's body was
discovered a short time later about a
quarter of a mile from the wreakage by
one of the fishing vessels. Martin, who
is survived by his wife and son, was to
have been the subject of an upcoming
article in the "Iceland Review" magazine.
Earlier this month Det. 14 was
involved in the effort to save Mrs.
Delores A. Blake, the late wife of the
American Ambassador to Iceland James J.
Blake.
In response the following letter was
sent to Rear Admiral K. J. Bernstein and
the members of the Keflavik military
community:
I would like to take this opportunity
to express my deep appreciation to you
and members of the military community
for the efforts you all took to save my
mother's life. This is obviously a very
difficult time for me and my family.
However, her death is easier to accept
when I know that every possible step was
taken to save her. These steps included
a helicopter being sent into Reykjavik
>to pick my mother up and then a plane to
transport her and my father back to the
states. Even though the odds of my
mother pulling through were very slim,
at least an extraordinary effort was
taken to save her. In closing, even
though my mother died, I will never for-
get her and the efforts taken to save
her.
Signed, David Blake,

Commissary has
new late hours
For late shopping convenience, the
Commissary Store will change its late
shopping hours from Thursday to Tues-
day, starting Jan. 10 to comply with
the weekly produce flight. New hours
of operation will be: Tuesday 9:30
a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Thursday 9:30
a.m. to 5:30 p.m. All other hours
will stay the same.
Midnight Sundowners
dance into 1978
The Midnight Sundowners Square Dance
Club will greet 1978 with its annual
party New Year's Eve. Festivities will
begin at 8 p.m. at the Glacier Hut and
continue until the early hours of the
New Year.
All paid-un club members and those
enrolled in the current class are
invited, but should call Merle Parker at
7347 or Sandra Baskin at 7269 after 5
p.m. for reservations.
Light refreshments will be furnished
by the club but anyone who did not sign
up to bring food at a regular dance
night is also asked to call.
Special holiday issue
Today's White Falcon has been pub-
lished in a condensed edition because
of the Christmas holiday.
The Dec. 30 issue will also be pub-
in a shortened version because of the
holiday period.
The White Falcon will return to its
normal four pages and entertainment
section Jan. 6.