An HOK-1 and H-34 mechanic from 61-65, first in VMO-2, Futema, Okinawa and later HMM-261, New River, N.C., Hunk died in Chatanooga, Tennessee. He was divorced with four children.

Hunk was the brightest of our class in A School at Memphis. At about 5' 4" and 135 pounds, he took no grief from anyone. I have many pleasant memories of him.

One of my favorite stories was of an incident at the barracks in Sukaran. where the troops of VMO were quartered while Futema was being built. The Sgt. Maj. had assigned Hunk to extra duty in the evenings around the barracks for one his many infractions. This evening Hunk was assigned to paint a utility room about the size of a closet on the second deck next to the Staff NCO quarters. With his bucket of oil based paint and turpentine, Hunk closed himself into the closet for his nights task, mixed up a lethal mixture of paint, and painted for a few hours. At about 2000, the Officer of the Day toured the barracks and decided to check on his charge in the utility room. When he opened the door, Hunk was sitting in the middle of floor, bleary eyed and drunk on the paint fumes. When the young Lt. wasn't greeted with proper respect, he started to reprimand the PFC, who promptly interrupted him saying, "Hey, just who in the hell invited you to this party?"