Muster & Mingle is Out of this World!
On Tuesday June 4th we gathered at the Miami County YMCA Activity Center for a presentation from the Armstrong Air and Space Museum. The fun started even before we officially kicked off, with one of our veterans, Robert, giving an impromptu table tennis lesson to the teens hanging out in the center.
Dinner was generously provided by Frickers in Troy, and everyone was eager to dig in! We had chicken chunks, a wide array of sauces, mac and cheese, and coleslaw. The coleslaw was the hit of the night, with everyone loving the spice it offered. We added some salad to round out the meal, and Ann brought some blondie cookies bars to share with everyone. Along with the blondie bars, we also had cotton candy cookies and our Director of Development made copycat Starcrunch cookies.
After dinner, Greg Brown from the Armstrong Air and Space Museum gave a very through presentation on the life of Neil Armstrong. While everyone in attendance knew that Neil was local, we all learned quite a bit about his life. For example, he moved over a dozen times before he entered high school! An avid pilot, Neil’s love of planes started when he was young and his father paid $9 for them to take a flight. While his father did not enjoy the trip at all, Neil was captivated. He got his pilot’s license at 16, and flew himself to Purdue to complete his enrollment paperwork. After deploying to fly jets in Korea, he came home and began test flying anything fast. The Armstrong Museum has one of those planes on display! He moved from that program into NASA, and the rest is history, as they say! After his presentation, he stuck around to chat with some veterans who were interested in learning more about Neil, who had attended the launch, or had been stationed on the same ship Neil flew his planes off of.
We had an amazingly informative evening with Greg, and we are so grateful that he came to talk to us about the incredibly interesting pre-moon life of Neil “Peel” Armstrong. We will not be having Muster & Mingle in Piqua on July 2, to ensure everyone can enjoy the holiday. You can join us in Tipp City with Concerned Veterans for America on June 26 or check out of Upcoming Events page to see where else we’ll be!