"Ariston R. (Joe) Talan"
"From Hawaii, Joe Talan. It's easy to be friends with a happy, smiling, generous man. Joe was our Flight Engineer. He was my best friend, but he was a lot of peoples best friend! He was always cheerful and fun to be around, even in Viet Nam!
He would lessen the burden we were under in many ways. I always felt that he kept our helicopter as well as the crew in top shape! I still miss him"... David Knight
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"The only time I ever saw Joe get uptight was when a "maintenance" type
got the mix box gasket in backwards and flooded the ship with oil!"
"Sorry to say, it was me!"... Tim Herrington
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"One story about Joe, a great guy, and as David
says, everyone was his best friend. Joe somehow got a hold of a
saffron colored robe. Joe was hairless, due to a rare childhood
decease that removed all the hair on his body...according to
him. Anyhow he was asked what he was going to do with the Monks
Robe. His comment was that if his ship went down he didn't "know
what you white guys are going to do, but I am going to put on my robe
and walk back to the base." Quiet sense of humor and really did
believe in what we were doing there, and asked me to extend and be
part of the Guns a Go Go because that was what he was going to do. I
look at that picture, that smile, and I remember an old friend."... RIP
Joe.
...... Chris Christensen
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