September 74

  1. After a week spent by 1Lt Kramer to arc weld reiforcing panels, beefed up door, and a water trough, the new aluminum canine cage is ready for the Bear. Is Buff ready for the cage? Bo way. Chocolate syrup is poured onto the far end (far? The cage is sorta tiny, about 2 1/2 wide by 3' high x 4 1/2' long) to get him inside, and he goes. Only far enough to reach the goods with his 8 inch tongue- the rest of him hangs out the end and nothing can get him in there all the way - in fact, Buff gets down right pissed when folks attempt to force him.

Now what? We've put the cage into his home cage, and after a few sniffs and licks, he has gone clean into the thing several times. Give him a chance to get used to the idea and try again on the 10th of September. In case it hasn't been mentioned before about Buffy and his move, it's been pretty involved.

Col Kamhoot, being the perspicacious individual that he is, realized pretty early on that the future of the squadron here, and indeed the base itself, was uncertain, especially the longer range status of one year or more. He knew it would take some time to plan and coordinate Buffy's relocation (the bear has been the squadron mascot for 3 1/2 years and has found a place in the hearts of all 40th members; the guys who got him donated $800 to build him a spacious cage, pool, logs to climb, perch, feeding area, etc.) and he was dead on. Efforts were made to get the bear transport on a MAC aircraft. Disapproved. Letters were written to Anheyser Bush and Ed McMahon to get their sponsorship for a move to Bush Gardens. Not interested. The Jolly Green Convention in March voted $600.00 to aid in covering the cost of commercial air transport for the bear, and so for the last 4 months the preparations have gone slowly forward. Applications to the Thai forestry dept for an export permit were initially disapproved, so an animal exporter was paid to get it. The wooden cage, guaranteed to hold Buffy, was built at a cost of $80.00 and beefed up downtown. The thing weighed nearly 200 lbs. The bear made short work of it.

In the meantime preparations have been made at the St. Louis Zoo; a plaque to stand in front of the enclosure (ed. Buffy is still alive and well in the zoo. However the plaque is not there and Buffy's keeper had no knowledge of it.). Buffy will share his area with 4 (count em) female bears. So now everything is about ready for another try. If we can get him into the cage and down to Bangkok the battle should be won.

  1. Buffy, lured into his cage last night by Tudor, McCormack and Kramer, left for Utapao this morning on a C-47. He arrived at 1215 and departed for Bangkok on a truck.
  2. Buffy is finally on his way in a Pan Am 747, still workin that cage over!!

Shelton is up, up and away on the "freedom bird", on his way to Woodbridge, England.

Return to 40th ARRS 1974 Log