War memories from the ‘City of Madera’ pilot

On April 6, 2004, I wrote about a couple of Navy pilots who flew combat missions over North Vietnam in an A4C Skyhawk that had been christened “City of Madera.” Their names were Lt. Hugh Magee and Lt. Bill Rezek. The men were from Lemoore Naval Air Station’s Attack Squadron 146, better known as the “Blue Diamonds.” Imagine my surprise when I got an email from Magee, who retired from the Navy as a Commander and is now in his late 70s. He doesn’t know how it happened, but he accidentally logged onto an archive that carried my 2004 Pieces of the Past article, and when he saw the photograph that went with it, he said to himself, “Hey, that’s us!” CDR. Magee called the Tribune and got my email address and sent the following message: “Hello Mr. Coate, “I am retired Navy Commander Hugh Magee, formerly of VA-146 at NAS Lemoore.

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