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I first met "The Blazer" at Rhein Main Germany where we were assigned to the 6916th security Squadron. A kind and gentle man with outstanding skills and personality, I flew many C-130A Recon missions with him as Airborne Mission Supervisor (AMS).
In December 1968 we opened a detachment in Athens Greece after many years of temporary Duty (TDY) deployments there. When Dave brought a crew from Germany t o Greece, he wanted to fly every day. I was in charge of flight scheduling and recording flight time. I would often not record his flying time so that he did not exceed the maximum allowed.
During one of the trips, Dave was introduced to a local lady, Becky, who later became his wife and the mother of their daughter Rebecca. During the courtship time there was a a delicate situation that came up. Becky's former husband was not happy with the relationship between Dave and Becky. German and Greek authorities were put on alert, as there was information that Dave was on a hit list. That got squared away through diplomatic channels.
The Blazer was sometimes known as the man with the "Midas Touch." His investment in trees in Australia was well known in our circles. Conrad Schott and Dave had some interesting adventures. Dave was the first person in the air Force to fully deposit $10,000 in the ten percent plan, where the money deposited payed 10% interest at maturity. When Dave had 10K invested and wanted his interest payment, there was no plan in place to do so. No one was ever expected to have 10K in the plan. After a Congressional inquiry, he got his $1,000 payment every year.
Dave knew that Greeks had a a BIG interest in German clocks. Greek customs made purchasing them difficult. Every so often, there would be a long box on the C-130 coming from Germany to Greece. I would unload the box and drop it off at an undisclosed location in Glyfada late at night.
When my tour in Athens was over and I went to the Philippines, Dave sent me $100 and some pictures of Philippine wood things from the BX catalog . I was able to take the money to a local wood shop and, along with a few cartons of cigarettes and a bottle of whiskey, four packages of wooden things were packed and sent by four different people to Dave in Athens. His $100 investment turned into much more when The Greek customers got their goods. Dave's next check was for $300 followed by more packages arriving in Greece. That was the end of that adventure.