Class of 70 as told to Nino Baldacci

USAFA70 "Challenge Coin"

C/3C Nino Baldacci — Class of Perpetual Hope

Nino, your secrets are safe with us!

Factoids

Initially appointed: 1,035 on 27 June 1966
Graduated: 745 on 3 June 1970; one graduated posthumously; 738 commissioned; one foreign cadet; one commissioned in Army and one in Marine Corps
Lost in Action: 9
Prisoners of War: 2 
Honorary Class Member: C/FC (Cadet/ Forever Class) Nino Baldacci held over each year since the Class of '59 due to  academic, military and athletic probation but counterbalanced by optimism, commitment to service, sheer cunning and pheromones
Class Crest: Very cool (details below)
Fast, Neat, Average, Friendly, Good, Good: Yup
Dress Mustache: Robin Olds / Mark 1
Favorite Dorm: V'berg @ Mach 1 / F-105
Class Quote: "It's a screw job, 70!"

NOTE: all the above - you had to be there.

PLEASE DONATE TO #FINISHCANCER

Click READ MORE for the Real Story ... plus fake news ...

---

Design of Class Ring & Crest

The Real Story

My ’70 class crest recollections, per Bill Jump (Shade):

Fred Jonas drew the design in 3-4 minutes! We were reps on the Ring Committee from Dec. ’67 through Feb. ’68. Committee process was inexorably slow, with 30 to 40 volunteer reps meeting in SAR [Squadron Air Power Room] on weekday evenings.  By the third meeting, nothing had been accomplished except to choose a chair, pass out images of the previous 11 class designs, and listen to classmates make impromptu speeches.  I remember Chris Joy speaking & he may have been the chair.

Fred and I sat in the back adding little to the proceedings.  Fred was a constant sketcher/doodler, a fan of 60s Daddy Roth bloodshot bugeyes,  and his artistic skills were highly advanced.  He was sketching small (1"-2”) falcons on a tablet after we received copies of the crest images.  I sarcastically commented to him that the bird should be diving given the frustrating direction the committee was going.  He laughed out loud, flipped to a new tablet page, and quickly sketched a large diving bird.  We both were chuckling about it while Fred filled in feather and claw details, the exact image now on our class crest.  He may have added a few of the 12 required crest components, perhaps lightning bolt, asymmetric ’70, etc.  One of us raised our hand and satirically announced to the group that we had a proposed design for consideration.  The speaker of the moment walked back to us, looked at the sketch, and because Fred’s sketch quality was so strikingly impressive, assumed it was a serious effort.  He showed the image around the room, everyone loved it, someone moved for a vote, and wham, the crest design was created and approved in 15 minutes.

Over the next few days, Fred worked with the committee chair to add the remaining required components.  In the next meeting, the motto “We Seek Peace” was approved by majority vote, passing over several more hawkish proposals (a sign of the times, for sure).  The Comm Shop objected to that motto and counter-proposed the final “Through the Sword We Seek Peace,” which was approved in the last committee meeting and added to the crest.   

Strolling to lunch past Commandant BG Robin Olds — look closely — everybody wore their Class A mustaches to the noon meal formation — de rigueur

When you look at those goofballs on the left, makes you wonder how 70 got three Rhodes Scholars (not that we're trying to take credit for other people's hard work)

There are many Classmates who deserve recognition, so this is just a smattering ... "Wild BIll" Stealey taking Olds for a ride

Along with Winded Warriors Teammate Jocko Trimble, Bill Reich made it back from Hanoi to see his family again!

Classmate — now Rev. — Bryan McDowell got his Silver Star rescuing downed pilots in North Vietnam (click the photo for story)

Classmate Poppo has done "ok" — he's still not President, but he's so damn cheerful about it we're proud of him anyway ;-)

Nobody had as hard a time cleaning up for inspections as we did ...

Click photo to see why ...

Ed Cole - Tim Kinnan - Graduation, 3 Jun 70

Sue - Tim - Bambino

LtGen Tim Kinnan, US Military Rep to NATO - before delivering address at Ardennes, Belgium

Roomies Tim and Ed - 45th Reunion - Isn't it great when a plan works out ;-)

Ready when you are ...

Read'em and weep ... ok, we're getting "old school" and remain unrepentant

Yet numbers of us have sent daughters and now grand daughters to the Blue Zoo — Classmate Don's grand daughter in front row, second from right — at Basic Cadet Training this summer in the Class of 2022 (another "Red Tag" Class!)

Learn more about our Class's three Rhodes Scholars, three Air Force Academy Distinguished Graduates, & others ►

---

PLEASE DONATE TO #FINISHCANCER