This and associated sites of the Punahou, Class of 1956, are not copyrighted, but if you use the photos elsewhere without permission to make a profit and fail to send the money to the person or persons involved, there is a possibility that some Punahou person, most probably a lawyer, request compensation (smile).
Although the collective wisdom of our class helped to produce the captions and other vignettes here (and therefore are undoubtedly the truth and nothing but the truth), it is possible (though very improbable) that the information on this and related pages may or may not be totally accurate due to situations way beyond our human control.
If you run across photos of our class that make us look good (kindly destroy the ones that don't), send them off to Sarah Pasch. Check her main Punahou56 page for instructions. A hui hou at our 50th reunion in 2006 !
Responsibility for Vern's short bio is mine only and is done without the explicit authorization of Vern who honors, to this day, the confidentiality requirements of national security. Other former air force officers in our class such as Buck Buchanan and David Fairbanks are not to be associated with the information posted here and are hereby declared blameless for anything in these pages.
It is my judgement, as a former State Department foreign service officer with secret security clearance and active duty experience in three hot-wars,* that the dog-fight narrative does not compromise national security, particularly since two of the three MIGs returned to base and have undoubtedly given a full account of the incident to the other side. Films of the actual dog-fight remain classified. If anyone out there can get them declassified, please send them to Vern's Mom or any of his sons.
In casual conversations with senior American officers from the Pacific command (CINPAC) at a cocktail party for the former Chief of Staff of Japan's air force, Lt. Gen. Matsui, at Vern's Aina Hina residence in Oct. 1990, one officer privately acknowledged Vern's cold-war encounter. I was present at this function. The General had done fighter training with Vern in Arizona in the late 50s and was the Japan Self Defense Air Force officer on the ground (a colonel at the time) who competently handled the famous defection of Russian Lt. Victor Belenko who landed his top-secret MIG-25P at Hakodate Airport, Japan, on Sept. 6, 1967. Vern may or may not have been in the area at the time. (Smile) General Matsui was decorated by President Ford for this and other interesting activities that solidified U.S.-Japan friendship.
Vern and General Matsui remained very close personal friends through the years. The General's Hawaii visit included receiving a commendatory resolution from (then) Lt. Governor Ben Cayetano at the State Capitol. Last update 12/30/02.
* Arab-Israeli War of '67; Nigeria-Biafra War of '67-'68 and SE Asian War to mid-'69.
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