American traditions shared with the international community
25/11/2011- PÁPA AIR BASE, Hungary - Heavy Airlift Wing organized a traditional Thanksgiving dinner on Friday evening in Pápa Air Base mess hall.
- Delicious pies were all eaten to the last bit.
- Reverend Hall said a prayer.
- HAW Commander, Colonel Keith Boone's welcome speech, protocol officer Miklós Pelsöci translated.
- Everyone was able to write a leaf on the Thanksgiving tree
The dinner has been arranged in Pápa from the very beginning of the unit’s history: the whole international SAC community, HAW, NAMA and Boeing, gathered for the Thanksgiving dinner together for the fourth time already. This time also many Hungarian representatives from the local community were invited to enjoy the meal and community spirit.
The Reverend Ray Hall said in his prayer it is easy to forget to be thankful for the good things, when things, big or small, go wrong. He also reminded of being thankful for the people who no longer are in our lives: “But we cannot forget those who can't be here with us today. We give thanks to you for them, too. We miss our loved ones, Lord, but we are thankful for all the good times that we have had – and do have - with them.”
SAC (Strategic Airlift Capability) is a cooperative effort of 12 nations: Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden and the United States. It is stationed in Pápa Air Base, Hungary.
Since the delivery of the first aircraft in July 2009, the HAW has now flown over 5 300 FH hours and delivered more than 27 000 tons of cargo and almost 14 000 passengers for the nations over 6 continents including missions to Haiti, Afghanistan, Pakistan, South Africa and Europe. More information is available on our website www.heavyairliftwing.org.
