On the third Tuesday of each month, you can find a group having a nice catered lunch in the Bayview room of the Beach Club. Having attended last week, I can report that the this is a patriotic group of mostly men, mostly retired US military veterans. There was lots of fellowship and shared backgrounds before lunch.

The 27 good folks I met are members of the “Olympic Squadron” of the Association of Naval Aviation (ANA). The name of the group would lead you to believe that membership would be limited to those in Naval aviation whereas it now includes all military backgrounds.

Longtime readers of this column will recognize that I particularly enjoy a conversation with former Hoosier Ted Elior, who went to Purdue and whose wife went to Butler in Indianapolis. My wife and I both went to different colleges in Indiana, she at DePauw and me at Wabash. Ah yes, shared history in the land of corn.

At lunch I sat with Peter Joseph, a Coast Guard veteran, Glenn Davis, an Air force veteran, Tom Johnson, an Army veteran, Bill Collier, a Marine veteran, and Pat Cooper a Navy veteran. Tom encouraged me to write my autobiography before I passed on and would not accept the 750 columns I have written for The Leader as an appropriate substitute. I suspect he might also reject the Christmas letter I have written annually for the past 40 years as a mini autobiography.

Bill Collier shared a postcard he had printed that promotes the three books he has written outlining his adventures as a helicopter pilot. He has another book he is currently writing.

The stated mission of ANA is to educate the general public about the overall military status of the United States, to encourage widespread interest as to the importance of Naval Aviation in the defense of the United States and its allies, to stimulate the collection, preservation and display of historical material concerning the history of Naval Aviation, and to encourage scientific and  technical development of Naval Aviation. As you may suspect about a group like this in East Jefferson County, the fellowship and camaraderie seemed to hold the most interest.

Jamie Kelly, the commodore of the squadron, presented updates on the current military issues as well as updates on the health and well-being of members of the group.

Jamie is a regular reader of “Life in Ludlow” and took the opportunity to introduce me as a guest. He seemed to take pleasure in noting the meeting would probably provide plenty of rich material for this column in the form of all the curmudgeons in the room.

The person scheduled to provide the program did not show up, so Jamie provided all those in attendance with the opportunity to share a story about their military experience. No fewer than eight folks took him up on it.

Pat Cooper kicked it off with a story about his experience as a naval attache officer in Singapore. Another man talked about how he became a regular commissioned officer from being an officer in the reserves. Lisa Travis did not give a military story but instead provided an inspirational story about taking advantage of one’s passion as the way to be happy.

I kept thinking about how I missed my calling to be an Indy Car driver, a thought probably prompted more by the race this past weekend in Indianapolis.

These are some rock-solid people in our community who come together each month to check on each other and share their contributions to the safety and stability of these United States. I suspect they enjoyed the flags displayed throughout Port Ludlow, Chimacum and Port Hadlock celebrating Memorial Day! These folks come from different places and different military services but they share the same passion for the US and the people in it.

Love all those curmudgeons and have a great week! Contact Ned at ned@ptleader.com.