1.0The Sourcehttps://the-source.netrich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="EXCmHGhfih"><a href="https://the-source.net/honor-flight-classmates-lifelong-friends/">Honor Flight: Classmates and lifelong friends</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://the-source.net/honor-flight-classmates-lifelong-friends/embed/#?secret=EXCmHGhfih" width="600" height="338" title="“Honor Flight: Classmates and lifelong friends” — The Source" data-secret="EXCmHGhfih" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script type="text/javascript"> /*! 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On the first Thursday of every month, four men from the Jacksonville High School (JHS) Class of 1961 (well, really one is from the class of 1960, but has been adopted into the 1961 class, they say) meet up at the Knights of Columbus Hall. They have been doing this since May 2006. It’s usually the four of them, but they have a blue notebook that anyone from their class who joins them signs. These four men also all share the experience of military service during wartime, but each served in a different division of the armed forces. There is Army Specialist 4 (E-4) Robert “Bob” Northrop, the adopted JHS class of 1960 graduate, U.S. Army; Sergeant Dick Matthews, U.S. Marine Corps; Lieutenant Colonel Roger “Rog” Riggs, U.S. Air Force; and Seaman (E-3) Ted Deen, U.S. Navy. All four men, along with Ross Chumley from the class of 1960 (U.S. Army), boarded the Land of Lincoln Honor Flight on Tuesday, May 23. Honor Flight Network is a non-profit organization created through donations, that transports America’s Veterans to Washington, D.C., to visit those memorials dedicated to honor the service and sacrifices of themselves and their friends. Northrop and the other men have gone to see of many of the Honor Flights leave and arrive back in Springfield in the past and say big crowds gather each time. Dick Matthews organized the group and sent their applications in on November 20, 2015, but with 583 ahead of them in the Land of Lincoln area, they waited. On February 4, 2017, they received word their flight would be in May. Robert “Bob” Northrop grew up in Winchester. He started school in a one-room country schoolhouse where his teacher was his great aunt; then, in sixth grade he joined the Jacksonville school district and he met the other three men in high school. Northrup was drafted into the Army on October 5, 1960. He served 23 months and 16 days with Border Patrol at Fulda Gap in Germany from 1960-1962. Northrop said, “On our first day they told us if the Russians decide to come through, they will come through here. And if they do, you will last 13 seconds.” American troops defended that position for 40 years after World War II. During the Cold War, Russian forces were stationed along the border, ready to cross the plain and reach the Rhine River. Fulda Gap was the widest of the invasion corridors through the hills of Germany’s central uplands. After his service, Northrop returned to Jacksonville and married Rita Ann Shelburn in 1963. They have one son, three grandchildren and one great-grandson. Northrop was a tractor mechanic and worked form Howell Electric for 32 years. But Northrop’s big love and hobby was to race cars when he was younger and several of his cars were in national car magazines. He still loves working on and restoring cars in his garage. Dick Matthews, who was born at Passavant Hospital on the same day at same hospital as Rita Northrop, went to Washington Elementary School, before joining the others at JHS. Matthews went to San Diego, California, on September 1, 1964, and served in the U.S. Marine Corps for three years until 1967. He served in Vietnam. Dick returned to Jacksonville and married Brenda Stephenson on in 1970. He and his wife have a son and a daughter, plus six grandchildren, all girls. Matthews worked at IGA for 18 years and a convenience store for 18 years. He also served as Scout Master for Troop #107 for many years; similarly, fellow classmate and Veteran Ted Deen served as Scout Master for Troop #109 at Grace United Methodist Church. Matthews now works for the Illinois State Police in the Firearms Services Bureau and volunteers as a docent at New Salem and Lincoln’s Tomb. Riggs started his flight training at Jacksonville Municipal Airport with Carmen “Bogey” Burgard, owner of the Jacksonville Flying Service and airport manager, as his flight instructor. He earned his private pilot certificate in 1963 and his commercial pilot certificate and flight instructor rating in 1965. Riggs earned his commission in 1967. His first duty station with the 345th Tactical Airlift Squadron at Ching Chuan Kang (CCK) Republic of China Air Base, Taiwan, where he flew C-130s all over Southeast Asia from October 20, 1968, through January 1970. Riggs flew all his missions to South Vietnam. He flew the C-130 cargo plane (four-engine turboprop) on 525 sorties in country. After Vietnam, he continued his military career including on an Alaskan mountain top at Indian Mountain Air Force Station as an instructor and the director of safety at the Civil Air Patrol National Headquarters in Arkansas. He married Marilyn White in 1974 and they have two children and three grandsons. Riggs continued his service as an executive pilot for the State of Illinois. He retired from the State of Illinois in 2002, proud he never so much as scratched an airplane. He wrote a book about his life and aviation career as an historical document for his family. He is working on streamlining the book for publication since so many others have asked to read it. Riggs said writing it was good therapy for many things. When asked if he had a name for the book, he said if it is published he might call it Hogs, Hercs and Heroes. Ted Deen was born in Beardstown. He said he met Riggs in first grade at South Elementary School in Mrs. Lansink’s class. They were also the first class to attend Turner Junior High School. Deen joined the U.S. Navy right out of high school. He was in the service for four years from 1961-1965. Deen served aboard the Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer USS Waldron (DD699). Deen said the destroyer was in the Atlantic side, which differed from the rest of the men in the group. The USS Waldron operated in the Atlantic and in European waters. Waldron was extensively modernized in...