Thomas Cato West

West Point, 1955

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Daniel Dugan on May 31, 2016:

Well, Tommy, where to start? We followed such parallel careers. We overlapped in so many places - Ft. Eustis, VPI, Naval Test Pilot School, NASA. It was kind of a weird coincidence, too. You and Elaine fed me dinner many places like Ft. Eustis and Fairfax. And, we flew some of the same strange aircraft like the XV-5 Lift Fan. I still recall fondly when I took you out on a NASA mission in the CV-990 when you were out there at Langley with NASA. And then there was "Where everyone knows your name" in that DC bar! Oh yeah - they really did know your name when you walked in that place. And who would have thought that Tommy West would be doing a Master's thesis on Solar Sails! And only a few of us knew you as "Tom the Bomb, the Spherical Moon Man!" Was it Willie Welter who gave you that name? One more thing, I was glad to visit with you that one night in Pleiku - where I had to sleep under a blanket! You were used to it in those highlands! Anyway, Thomas Cato, we miss you, but we're glad that we had the chance to know you and serve with you. Danny

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