Helix High School Alumni

La Mesa, California (CA)

Military Alumni

Military High School Alumni

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Honored Military Alumni

David E. Hendrick
David E. Hendrick
Class of 1956
Coast Guard, 6 Years
After graduating from the Coast Guard’s 12 week Boot Camp in Alameda, California I was selected to attend the 30 week Electronic Technician “A” school in Groton, Connecticut. I graduated third in my class as a PO3 (ET3). My first duty station was on a Coast Guard support base located on Terminal Island, San Pedro. After serving six months on the Coast Guard base, learning my trade and standing guard duty at the main gate, I was transferred to the Island of Rhodes, Greece and served on the Coast Guard Cutter Courier, a Voice of America transmitter ship. My tour of duty there was 18 months. While I was stationed on the Courier I was promoted to PO2 (ET2), received more pay and accepted more responsibility. As a young, brash 25 year old guy, I had a great time during my off duty hours riding my motorcycle all over the island, meeting the Greek people and learning their culture. One of my buddies on the ship and I took a one day trip to Turkey to do some sight seeing, experience another culture, and to sample the Turkish food and drink. The Courier’s three transmitters transmitted in eight different languages 10 hours a day, seven days a week to the Middle East. The ship was transmitting Freedom’s Message to Iron Curtain countries. I served on the Courier during the Cuban Missile crisis and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The Courier was stationed on the Mediterranean Sea near Rhodes from 1952 to 1964 during the height of the “Cold War” years. My last duty station was the Coast Guard Air Station San Diego. Here I continued my trade of repairing ships radar units, communication equipment, and aids to navigation. For some fun after working all day as an ET on my job, I was selected to be a crew member on a 40 foot cutter patrolling San Diego bay looking for hazards to navigation and anyone needing assistance. I served in the Coast Guard for four years on active duty as a noncom, and the last two years of my obligation in the inactive reserves. I recommend the Coast Guard to any graduating high school senior that can meet the rugged requirements. When anyone enlists in any branch of the Military, Boot Camp is going to be hard, but with the right attitude as I had going in, Boot Camp can be a “Fun Experience” as it was for me!

Sincerely,

David Hendrick, Class of ‘56
Dwight Locke
Dwight Locke
Class of 1966
Navy, 28 Years
E1-W4
Electronics Technician
Boot Camp (San Diego) Honor Man
Class 'P' BE&E school (San Diego)
ET'A' school (San Francisco)
NAS North Island (San Diego)
ET'B' school (San Francisco)
ET'C' school (URN-20) (Norfolk)
USS Saratoga (CV-60) (Norfolk)
PCU Nimitz (Newport News)
USS Nimitz (CVN-68) (Norfolk)
Keesler AFB (Biloxi)
Fleet Area Control and Surveillance Facility, Va Capes (Va Beach)
Keesler AFB (Biloxi)
PCU Carl Vinson (Newport News)
USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) (Norfolk/San Francisco)
USS L.Y. Spear (AS 36) (Norfolk)
Officer Indoctrination School (Pensacola)
USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67) (Norfolk)
Fleet Deception Group Atlantic (Norflok)
USS Nimitz (CVN 68) (Bremerton)
Elbert Collins
Elbert Collins
Class of 1962
Air Force, 20+ Years
Communications Security. Vietnam veteran.
Greg Cheung
Greg Cheung
Class of 1966
Navy, 2 Years
General Medical Officer US Naval Ammunition Depot, Hawthorne, Nevada, 1973-1975. Only physician on the base. Took care of Navy, Air Force and Marine personnel on base as well as their families. Transferred more complicated patients to Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland, California.
Gwen M. Boleware
Gwen M. Boleware
Class of 1982
Air Force, 20+ Years
Major Boleware is a Public Health Officer assigned to the 82d Aerospace Medicine Squadron, 82d Medical Group, Sheppard Air Force Base, Wichita Falls, Texas. She leads the day to day operations of 15 military and 1 civilian personnel conducting public health programs areas affecting 7K beneficiaries. Maj Boleware is a member of the 82d Training Wing Public Health Emergency Working Group wherein she provides medical intelligence and disease threat assessments. Additionally, she conducts epidemiological investigations, communicable disease, and vector surveillance programs. She maintains liaison and collaboration with local military and civilian public health agencies. Major Boleware directs the sanitation of 52 food and public facilities, occupational health surveillance and education programs for 1.9K Sheppard Air Force Base Warriors. Major Boleware hails from Battle Creek, Michigan.
EDUCATION:

1984 Environmental Medicine Specialist Course, Brooks AFB, San Antonio, Texas
1989 Management of Public Health Programs, School of Aerospace Medicine, Brooks AFB
1991 Medical Entomology Course, Brooks AFB, San Antonio, Texas
1991 Community College of the Air Force A.A.S., Environmental Medicine Technology
1996 NCO Academy, Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas
1996 Hearing Conservationist Certification, Brooks AFB, San Antonio, Texas
1996 Contingency Operations Public Health Course, Brooks AFB, San Antonio, Texas
2000 Senior NCO Academy, Correspondence Course
2000 Bachelor of Science, Public Health and Wellness. Regis University, Denver, Colorado
2001 Commissioned Officer Training School, Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama
2001 Public Health Officer Course, Brooks Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas
2003 Advanced Public Health Officer Course, Brooks Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas
2004 Expeditionary Medical Deployment System, Brooks Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas
2006 Squadron Officer’s School, In Residence, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama
2009 Master of Public Health Practice, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
2013 Air Command and Staff College, Air University, Correspondence
ASSIGNMENTS:

1. Aug 84 - Apr 86, Environmental Health Apprentice, Sheppard AFB, Texas
2. May 86 - May 90, Military Public Health Craftsman, Hickam AFB, Hawaii
3. Jun 90 - Oct 92, NCOIC, Public Health Flight, Yokota AB, Japan
4. Nov 92 - Oct 96, Consultant, Armstrong Laboratory, Occupational and Environmental Health Directorate, Brooks AFB, Texas
5. Nov 96 - Feb 98, NCOIC Public Health Flight, Incirlik AB, Turkey
6. Mar 98 - Jun 99, Military Training Leader, Cadet Squadron 37, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado
7. Jun 99 - Dec 00, Military Training Leader, Cadet Squadron 8, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado
8. Jun 01 - Jun 04, Chief, Public Health Operations, Kadena AB, Japan
9. Jul 04 - Aug 08, Public Health Officer, MacDill AFB, Florida
10. Sep 07 - Oct 09, Public Health Flight Commander, Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota
11. Oct 09 - Oct 10, Public Health Flight Deputy Commander, Osan AB, Republic of Korea
12. Oct 10 - Oct 12, Public Health Flight Deputy Commander, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska
13. Oct 12- present, Public Health Flight Commander, Sheppard AFB, Texas



MAJOR AWARDS AND DECORATIONS:

Meritorious Service Medal (Three Oak Leaf Cluster)
Air Force Commendation Medal (Five Oak Leaf Clusters)
Air Force Achievement Medal (Two Oak Leaf Cluster)
Colonel Cleveland L. Parker, USAF Public Health Technician of the Year
Brooks Air Force Base, Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) of the Year
Armstrong Laboratory, Occupational & Environmental Health Directorate NCO of the Year
PACAF Public Health CGO of the Year, 2004
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award (Three Oak Leaf Clusters)
Air Force Organizational Excellence Award
Afghanistan Campaign Medal
Korean Defense Service Medal
Air Force Recognition Ribbon

- Distinguished Graduate, Environmental Health Specialist Course
- Distinguished Graduate, NCO Preparatory Course
- Distinguished Graduate, Commissioned Officer Training School
- Distinguished Graduate, Public Health Officer Course

EFFECTIVE DATES OF PROMOTION:

Airman Aug 84
Airman First Class Jun 85
Senior Airman Mar 87
Sergeant Mar 88
Staff Sergeant Jul 89
Technical Sergeant Apr 96
Master Sergeant May 00
Second Lieutenant Dec 00
First Lieutenant Nov 02
Captain Nov 04
Major Jul 10
Harry Truman Holzman Jr.
Harry Truman Holzman Jr.
Class of 1964
Army, 41 Years
Sitting on Saddam Hussein’s palace throne in 2004, Harry “Bud” Holzman ’74 had a few thoughts about power.

Not political power, mind you. Holzman, a Vietnam helicopter and fighter pilot-turned Trinity geology major—turned U.S. Army counterintelligence chief analyst serving in the Second Gulf War—had his sights set on something a bit more practical.

“So many Iraqis had lost their electricity in the war, and it was 130 degrees over there,” says Holzman, stationed in Al Faw palace during the final four months of his Iraq tour. “I just wanted to figure out a way to turn everybody’s AC back on.”

Holzman has always stayed cool under pressure. As a U.S. Army counterintelligence analyst in Iraq in 2004, he also was charged with helping the U.S. and Iraqi governments administer justice to members of Hussein’s regime—and actually signed Hussein’s official recommendation for arrest warrant. Holzman also used his geosciences expertise to restore Iraq’s damaged oilfields to working status, helping bring power back to millions of Iraqis. Before that, he enjoyed a 25-year geological career at Geomap, all after surviving tests from Trinity’s demanding geology department and the perils of flying aircraft in the Vietnam war.

“And let me tell you,” Holzman says of his days at Trinity, “Vietnam was nothing compared to taking tests under (the late geology professor) Dr. Donald McGannon. I remember a 12-hour ‘Optical Mineralogy’ final that was harder than any combat mission.”

At Trinity, Holzman pursued a love of rocks, fossils, and science dating back to his childhood days in La Mesa, Calif. As a young man, Holzman loved playing outdoors, and even had baseball dreams, briefly playing second baseman for the San Diego Padres when they were still a minor-league team in the 1960s.


Holzman, a U.S. Army warrant officer, stands by a Bell AH-1 "Cobra" attack helicopter in Vietnam.

VIETNAM

For all his time spent digging through rocks and dashing between bases, Holzman actually took to the skies before his Trinity days. Joining the Marines in 1966, he eventually transferred to the U.S. Army in 1967, where he piloted helicopters and became one of “very few” Army pilots to operate an A-37 fighter jet. Before Holzman left active duty in 1971, he was shot down multiple times, suffering a couple of bullet wounds and leg and back injuries but surviving each of his crashes.

“It seems like every mission I went on, they made a point to shoot me down,” Holzman chuckles grimly. “My call sign went from Spartan 13 to Magnet Ass 13 because I attracted lead.”

Even Holzman’s less perilous missions were still white-knuckle affairs.

“I actually flew as (President) Nixon’s combat pilot in 1969,” Holzman says. “He came into the Presidential Palace in Saigon, and I flew him in my Huey to visit the 1st Infantry Division at Di An.”

Flying a president came with a more robust military escort than all of Holzman’s other missions, and surrounded by dozens of gunships and fighters, he felt an unusual feeling.

“I felt like there was no way I was getting shot down on that flight,” he laughs. “That was an experience.”

TRINITY

After Vietnam, Holzman joined the Texas National Guard and decided to get a college degree.

In 1972, he started at San Antonio College for two semesters, and then attended Trinity for his final two years of school, graduating in 1974 with a degree in geology. He remained in the National Guard and kept flying throughout school, even serving as Bexar County’s first police helicopter instructor in 1971.

“I didn’t get much of a social life outside of the geology department—I went to class by day and flew at night and on the weekends,” he says. “I remember studying in the aircraft hangar at Stinson Field at night between missions.”

Holzman fondly recalls learning under professors McGannon, Walter Coppinger, Edward Roy Jr. and Robert Freed.

“I love geology because it’s the story of how the earth was created—how it evolved,” Holzman says. “And at Trinity, we learned in the real world. We’d take trips to field sites in Colorado, the Guadalupe Mountains, and West Texas. All of the time you learn social skills, and you learn how to work as a team.”

After Holzman graduated, he knew he wanted to move into a career in geosciences.

“People need energy,” he says. “Your lights don’t just turn on by themselves. I wanted to be part of that.”

This drive led him to a 25-year career at energy service company Geomap, where Holzman started as a geologist and worked his way up to president of the company between 1975 and 2000.

In 1978, Holzman married Teresa Holzman. The pair would go on to have two daughters, Heather and Jessica; Heather graduated from Trinity University with a degree in anthropology in 2010, while Jessica graduated from UTSA in 2013 with a degree in anthropology.


Holzman takes a well-deserved break on Saddam Hussein's palace throne in 2004.

IRAQ

In January 2000, the Army came calling again, but not for Holzman’s piloting skills. Holzman, now in his late 50s, spoke some Arabic and had a unique knowledge of the oil profession, making him an ideal candidate to become a counterintelligence agent in the Middle East.

“In Iraq, your age—they respect that there. I wish kids over here would learn that trait. A lot of sources and tribal elders we were trying to establish relationships with wouldn’t talk to younger American agents, so I was called in,” Holzman explains.

In Iraq, Holzman’s first task in 2004 was to clean up Abu Ghraib prison, the site of a disastrous scandal involving the mistreatment of Iraqi detainees.

“I spent my days living in one of the cells at that prison,” Holzman says. “Not the most spacious place—I was 58 at the time and feeling my age.”

But after helping the U.S. forces at the prison, Holzman was on the move to a new location: Al Faw Palace, Saddam Hussein’s former summer home. Located on a pristine lake in southwest Baghdad, this compound served as the headquarters for the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I), the coalition of U.S.-led forces that led the occupation of Iraq after the fall of Hussein.

“Fifty-foot ceilings, gorgeous views—I went from living in a cell to a palace with gold bathroom handlebars and ivory toilet seats,” Holzman says, leaning in. “You know—that kind of place.”

But even at Al Faw, Holzman notes he couldn’t shake the injury bug. One night, insurgents launched a mortar round onto the palace compound, and Holzman suffered yet another active-duty injury, getting blown out of the cot in his tent and injuring his shoulder.

“Even at the palace...” Holzman smiles ruefully, his words trailing off as he shakes his head.

But Holzman wasn’t at the palace for the decor—or the danger. Serving as a counterintelligence chief analyst for the U.S. Army, Holzman had a graver duty: making an official recommendation for the judicial fate of nearly 100 members of Hussein’s regime, including the ousted dictator himself.

“Not everybody in this group was evil—some were forced into his service,” Holzman says. “But we visited the mass graves (left by the regime), saw the crimes they had perpetrated… and you see the lasting effect Hussein’s rule had.”

Simply put, Holzman’s job was to help the U.S. government figure out and recommend which of these regime members to release, and which to recommend to the Iraqi government to sentence. But this task was anything but simple.

“You have to figure out what effect… punishing or releasing every one of these people would have on the (new Iraqi state),” Holzman says. “But for some—like Hussein—recommending trial and punishment was the only choice.”

Hussein, who evaded U.S. authorities at the onset of the U.S. offensive in early 2003 until his capture in December 2003, was handed over to the new Iraqi government in June 2004, then tried and executed for his crimes.

The final stages of Holzman’s military career now turned towards his original passion and area of expertise: geosciences. The Iraqi people had lost many of their oil fields to the damage of war, and vast swaths of the country were without electricity.

“Everyone was talking about handing political power over to the Iraqi government, but my priority was getting ‘power’ back to the Iraqi people,” Holzman says. “With the insurgency and the continued violence, our feeling was that if we could at least turn people’s electricity back on, that was bound to calm people down a bit.”


Holzman at his retirement in 2008, alongside his wife, Teresa (center), and daughters Jessica (far left) and Heather (far right).

BACK ON HOME TURF

At long last, Holzman was able to retire from active duty in 2008. His 41-year military career ended with honors including the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, two Purple Hearts, Bronze Star, 40 Air Medals, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, among others. He earned his Army Master Aviator Pilot Wings in 1976 and a Combat Action Badge in 2004.

But for a man whose entire life has been about energy—literally—Holzman hasn’t slowed down. Returning to Texas, he went to work for local billionaire Red McCombs and Dan Hughes to evaluate oil exploration blocks in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. He’s since gone on to work as a geological consultant right here in San Antonio for Thunder Exploration, and he’s “never planning to retire.”

If you want to see Holzman in his element, just get him talking about his home turf.

“Trinity’s campus, this part of San Antonio, we’re sitting on a ‘graben’ - that’s a low area between two faults in the earth,” he says. “We still find Cretaceous fossils out here, and I still get excited every time that happens.”

That passion for geology, Holzman says, springs from what he learned at Trinity.

“At Trinity they instill this in you: when you find a problem, they want you to go find answers,” Holzman says. “And whether you’re talking about your aircraft getting shot down, living in 130 degrees, working 16-hour days for months at a time, you have to show persistence—you never give up.”
James Legler
James Legler
Class of 1966
Navy, 4 Years
ADJ2- Jet Engine Mechanic/crew chief on F8 Crusader. Served at Miramar, USS Bon Homme Richard, Da Nang Vietnam
Joe Clapsaddle
Joe Clapsaddle
Class of 1967
Air Force, 20+ Years
Active duty 1968-1972. Reserve and Guard 1983-2004 Army and Air Force. Recalled to active duty in 1990 for Kuwait and in 2003 for Iraq. Surgery on knee stopped Iraq deployment. Discharged as Master Sergeant 2004. Proud to have served my country for 26 1/2 years. Hooah!!
Kristi Patterson
Kristi Patterson
Class of 1988
Army, 20 Years
US Army Enlisted
US Army Reserves Enlisted
US Army Reserves Commissioned Officer
US Air Force OSI Commissioned Officer

Hooooooaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!
Lorne A Drakeley
Lorne A Drakeley
Class of 1955
Air Force, 20+ Years
Air Force Master Sargent. Worked on U-2 spy aircraft and SR 71 recon aircraft. served in the Air Force from 1956 until 1981. After retiring form the Air Force, I went to work for the Department of Defence and retired from that job in 2000. I now live in Washington State near Seattle.
Lorne Drakeley
Lorne Drakeley
Class of 1955
Air Force, 20+ Years
Air Force Avionics technician, worked on SR-71, U-2, F-104, F-4, B-52, F-101, T-33, B-57, Stationed in Germany, France, Thailand, Korea, Spain , England, South Carolina, Mississippi,Florida, California , New Mexico
Tim Wamsley
Tim Wamsley
Class of 1976
Navy, 15 Years
Navy Reserve, yeah I fell for the 1 weekend a month, 2 weeks a year , bit too!
Oh well, I've seen a lot, so thinks I never want to see again!
Timothy, Wamsley
Timothy, Wamsley
Class of 1976
Navy, 17 Years
Needed a hobby, so I enlisted in the Navy Reserve in 1994.
Been a lot of places, in this world, Some great, Some really sucked ass.

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Obituaries
Our Helix High School military alumni are some of the most outstanding people we know and this page recognizes them and everything they have done! Not everyone gets to come home for the holidays and we want our Helix High School Military to know that they are loved and appreciated. All of us in La Mesa are proud of our military alumni and want to thank them for risking their lives to protect our country!