Next month we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the end to the Vietnam war.

I remember being in a history class in high school as a junior. I had just met friend John whose family had just moved to the Bay area because his father had just been assigned to the Presidio. John relayed to the class that his Dad had just returned from this place called "Vietnam" and was very firm in the fact that the country would soon be experiencing a lot of turmoil and pain because of what was going on there.

We all looked at each other. We looked at the teacher. The teacher pulled out the world map. All of us could only find this place called "Indochina" on the map. No such place called "Vietnam". Shortly afterwards Bruce was on a destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin, others became 11-Bravos... one rescuing Rocky Blair after he was wounded, Dave, who I had known since we were 9 was flying Huey. Another Dave was fixing Hueys, Sam played Navy Seal doing strange things, Craig and Phil were wounded, I was shooting microwaves, ducking mortars, and missing the birth of my daughter.

John's Dad was right... a real fun time.

One of the guys that we all remember was Bob Hope. Bob tried like hell to make our crazy world partly normal for a few hours. Give us a break from crazy. He knew insanity having worked other wars. Bob is coming back here... To "Firebase Galino" on Saturday March 29th. He'll help us remember all of the fun we had, the pain encountered, the people we lost then, the people we've lost since. We will celebrate them.

Check out the flyer for details. Reserve your spots by calling 530-575-7002. Down the road a bit will be another memorable event to help us celebrate and support those currently doing what we did. Armed forces Day will happen again at the airport on Saturday May 17th.

There are a couple of focuses to this year's event but all with a common thread. #1 We want to say thanks to the troops. #2 We want to connect the county's kids with STEM technical education and great possibilities with hands-on in service. #3 We want to share with those kids in our active opportunities to use all that to make money and have fun here in Nevada county. #4 We want to say thanks to all the Vietnam veterans and their families for serving and once again provide them with services they may need.

This county has been so lucky to have some 10,000 veterans as citizens. We veterans have been so lucky to have people like Lou Conter, Chuck Yeager, Jim Taylor and many others to call brother and sister. Jim will be with us at the event, Lou's family is looking forward to helping us remember Lou, our congressman Kiley will make every effort to attend and recognize you all.

Don't pencil this in - count on being there... and up in the air if you want.