After 12 plus years, Jim Gallagher TCVA vice president will retire from his position on November 12, 2018 at the TACAMO Reunion Banquet in Charleston, SC.
Jim first attended a TACAMO reunion in 2005 in Pax River at Solomon’s Island Recreation Center. Seeing old friends and shipmates, then meeting the Vos’s, Jim become active in the TACAMO Association (Former TSA - TACAMO Survivors Association). It didn’t take long before Jim was involved in the restructuring and eventually incorporating the new association which is now known as TCVA - TACAMO Community Veterans Association, a non-profit 501(c3) association.
Jim had the following to share ,“So now, a new beginning for me, a new journey, the time everyone calls “retirement”, the time that is for all those hobbies and activities we don't have time to do when we are so involved. It will be a difficult transition for sure, as my time with TACAMO both active and as part of TCVA has been a passion for me all these years and now I will need to get my kick's elsewhere!
I look back with gratitude as I leave it, I am taking many of you with me. You will live on in my memories as I'll always remember the many accomplishments on behalf of TCVA: the crew 4 memorial, the establishment of the Hall of Fame program, recognizing the efforts of so many dedicated individuals that advanced the TACAMO program and the many long hours on BOD conference calls.
I've been asked what I'm going to do now. I'm going to do a lot of things and very few of them conform to the notion of retirement as a time of waiting for the inevitable end. Helen Hayes put it this way: 'People who refuse to rest honorably on their laurels when they reach “retirement” age seem very admirable to me.'
I want to pay tribute to my fellow Board of Directors for their support, friendship and exemplars of what it is to serve faithfully and with dedication. I will always remember our shared accomplishments, our joys as well as our struggles. Thank-you for the words of encouragement, sharing of resources and time, but mostly for your sincerity, trust and friendship.
And lastly, thank-you for being my traveling companions along a large and important part of my way. I am forever grateful for your stimulating company and the enormous collection of shared experiences indelibly printed on my mind.
No doubt I will see many of you at future reunions but until then, be safe, be healthy and continue the good work of TCVA. Thank-you.”
Jim will become TCVA Board Member Emeritus. He will pass on his Paraloft Manager duties to Cheryl & Mike Vos.
TACAMO History
Jim arrived at VQ-4 in February 1972 after completing SERE school in Brunswick, ME. After attending and graduating RTD, he was assigned as an ACOM on crew nine eventually qualifying as an ACS of that crew. Later on during his second tour he was asked to be ACS of the Captain May’s crew, crew one, until he transferred out at the end of his tour.
During the transition from TAC-III to TAC-IV, he flew with many comm crews from VQ-3 indoctrinating them into the new TAC-IV systems.
After leaving VQ-4, Jim was transferred to shore duty in Charleston, SC as a communications instructor where he had the pleasure in teaching Morse code to many of the radiomen on their way to either VQ-3 and VQ-4. At the end of his instructor tour Jim requested a return tour back to VQ-4 but unfortunately no billets were available for a Chief Radioman so he was assigned to courier duty a POMFLANT (Polaris Missile Facility Atlantic) in Charleston SC where he eventually retired from the Navy in 1984. After retirement he went into business as a land developer/home builder where he is still active.