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| Major Edward J. Rasimus, USAF September 29, 1942–January 30, 2013 |
250 missions in Vietnam, in the F-105 and later in the F-4.
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| The mighty Thud, The F-1o5D Thunderchief. |
They broke the mold when they made Raz.
There's a great tribute to him over at Fighter Pilot University, go read. I'll wait right here.
Excellent wasn't it?
I thought this one from the Tube o' You wasn't bad either.
I do believe my buddy Murph was at Raz's funeral!
Bud, Robin and Raz. Men I will speak of from time to time, with great reverence but with a smile as well. All three men were larger than life.
I miss them...
Raz was one for the ages. I had seen his movie "There is a way!" while in ROTC, and wondered what was the big deal. Yeah, war is hell...(I was young and naive). Got to Holloman and he was my IP for many of my Instructor Upgrade rides. Got to talking with him over beer one night and asked him about the movie. Turns out, there were 5 guys in the 105 RTU class ahead of him, 5 guys in his class and 5 guys in the class behind. Of those 15, He and Bill Ricks (the other guy in the movie and our Asst DO at Holloman) were the only 2 guys that completed 100 missions. The others were either KIA or captured.
ReplyDeleteTAC at the time had a program where Fighter Pilots wore stars on their sleeve signifying their experience level. A guy with 500 hours of fighter time would wear one silver star and receive an additional star for every 500 hours. If a fighter pilot had even one hour of combat time, he was authorized to change one of the stars to gold and would receive an additional gold star for every 500 hours of combat time. I was very proud when I received my second and third stars at Holloman. Raz on the other hand had 9 stars, two of which were gold. That irked the heck out of the Wing King, who like me had two silver stars.
His first book is superb, I need to get the second covering his Phantom tour in SE Asia.
DeleteI was there. I couldn't not show up and pay my respects to Ed after knowing him online for so long. But I stayed small and quiet in the back corner, because I was among giants and great men that day.
ReplyDeleteSomething to remember, I'll wager.
Delete"He refused to #### #### for a living."
ReplyDeleteThere really aren't any higher words of praise.
He made Major 3 years below the zone, almost unheard of at that time. Retired as a Major after 23 years in the Air Force. I never did figure out what he did, but he really did have a way of tweaking the ears of the pompous.
DeleteHear hear Shaun!
DeleteHe made major that quickly and then, no doubt, the Perfumed Princes decided he was not of their ilk.
DeleteGiven a choice, I'd rather have his record than theirs.