At the local detachment one evening a group of us were jawboning when the topic of where we celebrated our first Marine Corps birthday came up. Some mentioned places like LeJeune, MCRD and Vietnam but the best was Bill Godbey's who recalled that he was on Guadalcanal during 1942 and he enjoyed steaks and beer on that occasion with fellow aviators and Gen. Roy Geiger. Needless to say, nobody topped that. At the time Bill was a young Lt. flying SBD's out of Henderson Field.

Bill was instrumental in lining up the funding which purchased the physical facility for the local League detachment and when it came time to name the building after someone, he was the logical choice of our group. Despite some political opposition to a formal building dedication, we were able to decorate, form a color guard, notify the media and of course the event took place on 10 November 2010. Bill arrived in dress blues with his wife Char and the ceremony went beautifully. A suitable plaque now adorns that building. One of the high points in my experience with the Marine Corps League was in coordinating the drill team with M/Gy/Sgt Art Vanderschans, reading the high points from Bill's 214 and reciting the Commandants message to an excellent turnout.

I don't know if there are any other surviving Cactus Air Force members, but I am happy to report that Lt. Col. Bill Godbey has yet to report to the Supreme Commandant.

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