Long story.....I grew up in Marty's home town and was on leave waiting to go to Vietnam when Marty and his dad (Sid?) came to visit me. I gave Marty a real sales pitch for the WO flight program. The next I knew (I was back from VN and a flight instructor at Fort Wolters) I read Marty's obituary. Since then, I've had a sense of guilt for having sold the program so highly. I guess, though, that Marty would have gone anyhow, atleast that's what my hopes have been. Of interest, Marty's roommate in Vietnam (Paul Penney) and I became good friends in the early 70's when Paul joined the Massachusetts ARNG where I had become a flight instructor....I mentioned to Paul that I was from Northfield and his first question was....did you know Marty Given?? Wow.....I proceeded to tell Paul how I'd spoken to Marty about the program etc...small world I guess.

I've emailed Gail and expressed my feelings to her and must say this is absolutely an extremely well-done tribute to him and the others involved.

Dave Pearsall

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