David honors military veterans

Eddie David has a special way to honor U.S. military veterans from Chaves and Eddy counties.

David, officers and employees of his company, and friends work for months planning a dinner and program to honor a veteran.

The most recent veteran honored was Charles “Chuck” Joy, a 100-year-old, World War II bomber pilot.

Joy, a retired petroleum engineer from Artesia, was the fourth veteran honored at a Patriot Appreciation Dinner. The dinner was held Saturday night in the conference room at Lovelace Regional Hospital in Roswell. 

The dinner, sponsored by David Petroleum Corp. of Roswell since 2009, is the brainchild of David, the company’s president.

Joy flew 50 combat missions as a pilot with the U.S. 15th Air Force over Europe and North Africa in a B-24 Liberator bomber.

Maj. Gen. Jerry Grizzle, NMMI superintendent, and Joy

During the dinner, Joy told how he had tried to join the British Royal Air Force (RAF) or the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) before the United States entered World War II. However, the RCAF recruiter told him the U.S. government had asked Americans not be recruited as the United States would be entering the war.

“I was attending Compton Junior College in California when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941. I went down to the recruiting center, where I passed the test for military pilot training. I was placed on inactive duty while waiting to be activated,” Joy recalled.

“On Nov. 22, 1942, the Army ordered me onto active duty. I was sent to San Antonio, Texas. While there, I attended classification and preflight schools. Then I was sent to primary flight training in Muskogee, Okla.,” he said. “After primary training, I was sent to basic flying school in Coffeyville, Kan.”

His next assignment was advanced flight training at Mission, Texas, near the border with Mexico.

“Sometimes we would buzz the bullring during bullfights. These drew protests from the government of Mexico,” Joy said.

“After graduating from advanced flight training, I was assigned as a copilot on a B-24 crew at Pueblo, Colo. The first week I was there, eight aircraft flew into Pike’s Peak,” he added.

Before deployment to the European Theater, Joy was assigned to Long Island, N.Y., where he was to pick up a B-24 and ferry it across the Atlantic to Italy for combat duty.

His flight took him from Long Island to Palm Beach, Fla., then to Cuba, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Brazil, Dakar, Tunisia, and eventually Italy.

Along the way, his bomber experienced engine oil loss caused by a whisky cork in the tank. Only two of the eight B-24s in his flight arrived safely in Italy.

“While stationed in Italy, I flew 50 bombing missions over France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and Northern Italy,” Joy recalled.

During these missions, he flew the lead aircraft for five bomber groups.

“Combat was a bad experience. Every morning you got up and didn’t know if you would return that night,” he said.

Eddie David hosting dinner

Joy remembers one mission over Munich in which the B-24 flying in front of him took a direct hit in its bomb bay. “When the bombs exploded, the aircraft just disappeared.”

Joy returned to school after the war, enrolling in Howard College in Birmingham, Ala., in 1947. He later dropped out to work for two years, then enrolled at the University of Alabama.

“In 1954, I received my MS in Petroleum Engineering, placing in the top 15 graduates in a class of 1,200 engineers. I accepted a job with Atlantic Refining Co.”

Years later — after other jobs in petroleum engineering — “I took over operations for Newmont, then the third-largest oil company in New Mexico. After 10 years with Newmont, I became a consulting engineer. I worked until I was 96 years old,” Chuck said.

Over the years, the other veterans honored by David Petroleum are:

Thomas J. Owen

The previous veteran honored by David Petroleum was Retired Lt. Gen. Thomas J. Owen, a Roswell native whose military career included high Air Force command positions.

Before retiring from the Air Force in 2012, Owen was commander of the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

As Center commander and program executive officer for aircraft procurement and modernization, he led the Air Force’s center of excellence for development and acquisition of aeronautical systems.

After retiring from the Air Force, Owen served as executive vice president of Dayton Aerospace. He later joined Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. as vice president of sustainment strategies.

Owen holds a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Behavior from the Air Force Academy, a master’s degree in Political Science from Troy University, and a master’s degree in National Security Strategy from the National Defense University.

His military awards include the Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, and the Meritorious Service Medal with a silver oak leaf cluster.

He was honored in March 2018 as Patriot III by David Petroleum.

Scott Lilley

In December 2011, Retired Staff Sgt. Scott Lilley was honored as Patriot II.

Lilley, raised in Roswell, joined the Air Force in October 1999. He was assigned to Holloman Air Force Base, Spangdahlem Air Force Base in Germany, and Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota before being deployed to Afghanistan.

He then was deployed to Camp Liberty, Iraq.

On April 15, 2007 — five months into his Iraq tour — Lilley suffered major head trauma in a roadside bomb explosion.

After recovering from his wounds, Lilley was assigned to Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, as a security force instructor until his medical retirement in December 2010.

Jack Swickard

Patriot I, honored in 2009, was Vietnam helicopter pilot Jack Swickard.

Swickard, whose father was a military officer, lived in the Philippine Islands and on the outskirts of London while growing up.

He enlisted in the Army in 1965 and was commissioned a warrant officer aviator after completing flight school at Fort Wolters, Texas, and Fort Rucker, Ala.

In February 1967, Swickard was assigned to the 118th Assault Helicopter Company at Bien Hoa Airfield, South Vietnam.

Three months later, in May 1967, he and the pilot of another UH-1D “Huey” helicopter rescued more than 120 South Vietnamese troops from an ambush by 600-700 enemy soldiers. To rescue the troops, the pilots chopped their way to the ground through branches with their rotor blades. They flew into the rescue landing zone 5 times under heavy enemy fire.

After returning from Vietnam in 1968, Swickard was assigned as adjutant of the 55th Aviation Battalion at Fort Hood, Texas.

His combat awards include the Distinguished Flying Cross with 1 oak leaf cluster, the Bronze Star Medal, the Air Medal with 22 oak leaf clusters, and the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry.

He moved to Chaves County in 1974 as editor of the Roswell Daily Record.

In 2000, Swickard founded The Triton Group, a public relations company specializing in international police consulting.