NOTE - NEW LOCATION

Where: Rancho Las Palmas Country Club. Directions.

The doors open at 8:00 am. Breakfast is available beginning at 8:15, and we start the program about 8:45 with members introducing guests. Then, the guest speaker is introduced a touch before 9 a.m. and speaks for 30 to 45 minutes with a question and answer session at the conclusion of the talk. We usually adjourn by 10:00.

Call for speakers

If you, or someone you know, has a story you think our audience would enjoy, please reach out to Gene Anderson, our guest speaker coordinator. gene [at] OldBoldPilots [dot] com

Upcoming Meetings

We go dark from May through September

Meetings resume on October 31, 2024, and continue on the last Thursday of each month through April 2025.

Thursday December 19 2024 at 8:00am

In-Person Speaker: Gary Lueders

Gary Lueders flew 123 KC-135A combat air refueling missions during Vietnam. Two of his pilot training classmates and several friends were shot down. As a Palm Springs Air Museum docent in the Korea / Vietnam hangar, Gary's specialty is the POW / MIA bracelet display curated by Dr. Dave Thompson. 

Topic: Vietnam POWs: The Vietnam War was not like WWII or Korea regarding the treatment of POWs. The North Vietnam Communist regime did not honor the established Geneva Convention rules of 1929 (later updated in 1949). Because there was no "official" declared war, they considered American troops as invaders, referring to shot-down / captured pilots as "criminals" and "Yankee Air Pirates" and not as Prisoners of War! Thus, the harsh, inhumane treatment that was meted out to them.