The VAL-4 "Black Pony" 50th Anniversary Reunion Will Be Held April 4th thru 7th, 2019 At The Grand Hotel In Pensacola, Florida. Speaker Will Be Phil Clay - CO & Pilot Of RCU-1 That Took Two 'Modernized' OV-10G+ Broncos To Iraq In 2015. Room Rates Are $109 Plus Tax.

The 'OV10 Squadron' - Is rebuilding 2 VAL-4 Broncos in Chino, CA. They are striving to have 1 or 2 airframes at the reunion and have mentioned giving rides.
Itinerary:
Wednesday April 3rd: For those that get into town early enough: Blue Angels practice: Mainside of NAS Pensacola - proper ID required.
Thursday April 4th: Golf depending on how many swingers there are. Welcome Mixer at hotel. Heavy poo-poo's & bar. No formal dinner. Gathering room open, stocked, and available as needed.
Friday April 5th: Tours - P-cola Beach, Museum, Golf or just leisure time getting reacquainted. Evening: Probably an evening get together at the O Club. Gathering room open, stocked, and available as needed.
Saturday April 6th: Golf, AM. Tours again. Gathering room will be available from noon to around 3PM for casual time. Snacks, etc. Dinner at 6PM. Program and then drink til we're blind. Retire.
Sunday April 7th: Check out.

Mike Lamberto talked to DJ Hutzley, Grand Hotel Mgr., and our contact for the reunion. If anyone wants to make a reservation now Contact hotel directly at: 850-433-3336, X-5526 (Reservations). There are 100 rooms reserved under block "VAL" which will have special room rates for us. Important to mention "VAL". Cancellations are accepted up to 24 hrs in advance at no charge and you will not be charged anything until you register at the hotel. If you fail to show up and have not notified the hotel you will be charged for the one night. If you use a service such as Trivago, Priceline, Trip Advisor, Expedia, etc., not only will you probably pay more but their cancelation policy might not be as liberal. Hotels do not have any control over those outfits so it's buyer beware. Everyone should know this and make reservations directly with the Grand Hotel.
Pensacola Grand Hotel
200 East Gregory Street
Pensacola, FL 32501
info@pensacolagrandhotel.com
http://www.pensacolagrandhotel.com/index
For More Information, Email: Bob

 


We Gathered Together To
Honor And Remember


Arlington National Cemetery
October 11, 2008




The Black Ponies Held Their Fifth Reunion At The Sheraton National Hotel In Arlington, VA On October 10-12, 2008.
Marty Schuman, Ed Sullivan And Jim Falls Put This Reunion Together To Celebrate The 40th Anniversary Of
The Black Ponies Stand-Up In 1968.


About 60 People Attended The Opening Memorial Service At The Navy Memorial On Friday Night. A Long Overdue
"Meet & Greet" Followed The Ceremony And Included A Buffet Meal And Open Bar. The Navy Memorial's Movie And
Tim Sikorski's Slideshow Were Shown.


On Saturday While Some Toured Washington Or Visited With Friends, 50+ People Were Bussed To The New Smithsonian
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Air Museum At Dulles Airport For An Enjoyable Tour Of This History Filled Facility


Skipper Marty Schuman With ADJ Larry Johnson & Granddaughter At The Air Museum


75 Ponies, Mares And Foals Attended The Banquet At The Hotel On Saturday Night.


Skipper Klein


Skipper Schuman
And Others Regaled Attendees With Stories And Anecdotes Of The Era Of The Black Ponies In Vietnam.


Melvin Biggs Led A Memorial Service On Sunday Morning At The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial To Bring The
Weekend To A Close.


After The Memorial Service On Sunday Morning At The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Becky Pell
Took This Photo Of The Aged Gathering Herd.


The Hospitality Suite Was Open Throughout The Weekend Which Created The Perfect Opportunity To Renew
Old Friendships And To Get Re-Acquainted With The VAL-4 'Band Of Brothers' Who Served Together In Vietnam.







More Pictures Will Be Added If I Get Any.

2002 Reunion

The Black Ponies held their fourth reunion in Fort Worth, TX in April 2002.
About 50 "Ponies" showed up, many with their significant others. Here you
can see Jack Skwara and Steve Salisbury chatting over old photos.

There was a social "hour" Friday evening at the hotel, many friendships
and memories were cussed and discussed in either the hospitality suite or
the banquet room. The OBA folks set up a place to sell T-shirts, cups and
other items. The Teem Events folks handled both room and reunion check-in.

The Clarion Hotel is located in Fort Worth’s “Sundance District”. And
the annual Art Festival provided plenty for people to do. On Saturday.
Tim Sikorski made arangements to take everybody to the local air museum
where the Bronco mock-up is located along with the OBA's museum.

Saturday afternoon most of us got together to pose in front of the

Bronco Buster statue at the nearby Barnes & Noble Bookstore.

I ran a couple of the pictures that one of the wive's took, (Thank You
whoever you are) through some photo merging software I have and I think
that the results came out pretty good.

Click Here For the full sized picture.

Saturday night's Banquet was another great chance for getting together,
a good time was had by all and Melvin Biggs' tribute to our fallen
squadron mates was inspiring. I have turned what he said into the 'In
Memory' page, click on that link from the main page to read it.

Our Closing Ceremony on Sunday morning was conducted over breakfast
and afterwards we started to break up and head for home. A special
thanks to Tim Sikorski and his team for putting this event together.
Hopefully we can all get together again in November 2004 at Pensacola.
Start encouraging any of this years 'No Shows' that you can to make the
next reunion a priority.


If anyone has any more reunion photos to add, please send them to me to be posted.

Last Updated: October 2009