Mystery No More
A photo in your July issue
about helicopter pilot Dayton
Wayne Lanier shows him
standing with an unidenti-fied
Marine. That Marine
captain is me, Capt. Curtis
Mack Davis Sr. We were on
operation Pegasus between
Quang Tri and Khe Sanh.
I was the only Marine attached
to the First Air Cavalry to coor-dinate
artillery fire with heli-copter
flights.
I had known Wayne before
while he was attending NCSU
and roomed with my brother,
who is another musician. Wayne played at one time with “Buddy
Skipper and the Jetty Jumpers” at Carolina Beach.
I ran into Wayne accidentally in Vietnam and we were excited
to see each other. We would gather in the evenings for a toddy and
talk about times back home in North Carolina. We would talk into
a reel-to-reel tape recorder and send it back home to his wife. Being
together made the rigors of war more tolerable.
I came back before Wayne and had only been home six weeks
when his wife called me to tell me his helicopter had been shot
down. They were on an operation with the First Air Cavalry to help
get us Marines out of Khe Sanh to keep it from becoming another
Dien Bien Phu where the French had been soundly defeated. The
North Vietnamese regular army in the area had radar-controlled
anti-aircraft weapons and helicopters were good prey. Wayne was
shot down near Khe Sanh in a fiery descent.
I was a pallbearer in his funeral with full military honors. His
remains were interred in the graveyard near the hospital in Wilmington.
I miss Wayne and think of him often, especially on patriotic
holidays.
Wayne Lanier did in fact “Give it all!”
— Mack Davis, Raleigh, N.C.
A Sweet Adaptation
I enjoyed the June 2019 jam article and wanted to suggest
an adaptation: I use much less sugar and keep the jam (sauce)
in the refrigerator. I use the same method you listed, but use
1/3 to 1/2 cup of sugar to 1 lb. of fruit. It turns out more of
a sauce than jam. I mix it with yogurt and put it on top of
ice cream and pancakes.
— Kay Britto, Wrightsville Beach, N.C.
EMAIL: info@wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com
MAIL: P.O. Box 1110, Wrightsville Beach, NC 28480
Letters to the editor may be edited for clarity.
Atlantic Urology Welcomes
H. Mallory Reeves, MD, FACS
NHRMC Physician Group - Atlantic
Urology Wilmington Office
1814 New Hanover Medical Park Drive
Wilmington NC 28403
14
WBM august 2019
letters to the editor
Wilmington’s Chief
Warrant Officer and
helicopter pilot Dayton
Wayne Lanier (1940-1968),
left, and Capt. Curtis Mack
Davis Sr. stand in front
of a Bell UH-1 (Huey)
helicopter in Vietnam.
PHOTO COURTESY OF LANIER FAMILY
Dr. Reeves is now seeing patients at our
locations in Wilmington and Jacksonville.
Please join us in welcoming him to the team.
nhrmcphysiciangroup.org
Call today for an appointment 910.662.8765
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