VAW VRC VUQ Foundation - Norfolk Chapter

East Coast Hawkeye-Greyhound-Stingray Ball 2025

10/11/2025

The East Coast Hawkeye-Greyhound-Stingray Ball was held at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott on November 8th. It was a great night, with 400 members of the active-duty, retired, and corporate communities in attendance. It was a historical night, inducting AVCM Ken Borchik as our first enlisted member of the H-G-S Hall of Honor. Special thanks to Ball coordinator, LT "Slinky" Shirmohammadi from VAW-120. It was "Vegas Night" in the Admin... a spectacular night!!

2025 Hawkeye-Greyhound-Stingray Symposium Happy Hour & Golf Tourney

9/11/2025

The 2025 Symposium Happy Hour was hosted by Skipper DuLang (Steeljaw Extraordinaire) at Shore Break Pizza & Tap House. By all reports, a great time was had by all, and despite the confessions (aka "sea stories") passed by multiple unindicted co-conspirators, no liberty incidents were generated.
The East Coast Hawkeye-Greyhound-Stingray Golf outing was on Thursday, November 6th, at the Sewell's Point course. Over 75 golfers enjoyed the day despite the high winds. Thanks to LT "Peggy" Bryan for organizing a great event.

Foundation Member Supports Intercollegiate Flight Team Competition

4/11/2025

The USNA Intercollegiate Flight Team competed at the Chesapeake (Virginia) Regional Airport from 15-19 October, earning a win over two other collegiate teams. Rudy Costanzo '78, a USNA Alumni Association Hampton Roads Chapter - Board of Directors member, retired NAVY E-2C Hawkeye pilot, and member of the VAW VRC VUQ Foundation (Norfolk Chapter), provided flight time to Midshipmen who didn't participate in the airborne challenges. Over three separate flights, nine (9) Midshipmen were given an airborne tour of Southeastern Virginia and an opportunity to see the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kitty Hawk, N.C. Six of those Mids were from the class of 2028.

Crash's Hoedown

30/10/2025

Alex "Crash" Craddock recently hosted a "Hoedown" on his farm just outside Martinsville, Virginia. A great event with many old VAW126, VAW120 and VAW77 alums. The day had multiple bands, plenty of food and great beverages. Thanks to Crash and his family for an awesome day.....hoping we can enjoy the farm again next year.
CAPT (ret) Ed Rosequist

June 2025 Luncheon

4/6/2025

The next Chapter luncheon will be Thursday, 12 June @ 1200 sharp (please be seated prior) at the DOCKSIDE Restaurant, 3311 Shore Drive, Virginia Beach, VA 23451. If you did not receive an email announcement from Rudy, drop a line to let him know you'll be attending ... and if you have, please RSVP so we can get an accurate headcount for table set-ups. See you there!

Fall Crawl Event POSTEX

22/12/2024

THe Norfolk Chapter of the Foundation met at Froggies in Virginia Beach on Thursday, December 5th. CAPT (ret) Tom "Du" Lang coordinated the Fall Crawl event....claimed it was to celebrate the repealing of Prohibition in 1933. As always, we had a great turnout and everyone seemed happy to toast the post-Prohibition era!! Even had the Executive Officer attending from VAW-124.

We will be looking forward to the Spring Fling in the new year, along with monthly luncheons for those in the Norfolk area. Happy holidays to all.....know it will be a great 2025 for our Hawkeye, Greyhound and Stingray community.

November Overhead Rendezvous Luncheon

22/11/2024

VVVF Norfolk Chapter had a great luncheon today (November 21st) at Dockside in Virginia Beach. We had 16 old timers in attendance, with CAPT (ret) Bob Allen designated as Senior Officer at Lunch (SOAL), along with CAPT (ret) Marty Morgan and CAPT (ret) Tom Lang supporting.
It was great to have CAPT (ret) Glenn Ackermann attending from the Fredericksburg area and CAPT (ret) Dave Buttrum down from Kilmarnock. Thanks to CDR (ret) Rudy Costanzo for organizing the group and CAPT (ret) Paul Grossgold reviewing the upcoming Reunion in VIrginia Beach. Awesome to have CAPT(ret) Jeff "JT" Trent, along with regulars Stein, Lumpy, Rodent, Melonhead, Lips, Vern and others at lunch.
Next BIG event is Happy Hour at Froggies on Shore Drive in VIrginia Beach on December 5th (Tuesday) at 5pm - a DuLang production - designated the Fall Crawl. Best wishes to all.

Memorial Service for CAPT Terry Dudash, USN-Ret. 15 Oct 2024

16/10/2024

The memorial for CAPT (ret) Terry Dudash was held at VAW120 today in their hangar. RADM (ret) Bill McCarthy provided some great insight as Terry's Executive Officer and critical leadership to ensure Hawkeye overland support during the early days of Desert Shield / Desert Storm. Both of Terry's children told stories about their dad. Capping off the memorial was a fly-over of the hangar, with a single bugle playing taps - a fitting tribute to someone who has contributed so much to the Hawkeye/greyhound community. VAW120 even adorned aircraft 653 with Terry's name.

There were numerous "old guys" in the crowd - great to see BIlly, Lumpy, Mikey, Melonhead, Crash, Rudy, Spaz, Gan, Dude, Lips.....and many more in the crowd.
A day of remembrance.

Norfolk Foundation Luncheon: 10 Oct 2024

11/10/2024

Norfolk Foundation had an awesome luncheon on October 10th at the Dockside restaurant in Virginia Beach. There was a BIG crowd (three full tables) and some long distance travelers in attendance - great to see CAPT (ret) Jay "Slime" Wilkins and CAPT (ret) Dave "Ram" Buttram. It was declared that RADM (ret) Bill McCarthy was the SOPAL (Senior Officer Present At Lunch).

Hope to see even more folks at the next event in November. Thanks to Mike Skelly for the photos.