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AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS www.ahwatukee.com
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
AHWATUKEE HERO
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Downed by enemy fire: A Memorial Day story
AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
W
hen Kevin Conry and Kathy Attwood attend a special mass for the war dead at St. Vincent’s Cemetery this Monday, it will mark the 45th consecutive
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Memorial Day dedicated in part to the memory of their brother Tim. In a war that many Americans have forgotten – or don’t want to remember – the memory of Army First Lt. Tim Conry is never far from their thoughts. Nor is it far from the hearts
of retired Army Col. William Reeder and Army veteran Dan Jones. Each of them was indelibly affected by Conry’s death in Vietnam on May 9, 1972, when his Cobra helicopter gunship corkscrewed in flames and crashed in the jungle near Ben Het, South Vietnam. Providing air cover with Reed for a mission supplying some South Vietnamese troops that were hemmed in by Viet Cong guerrillas, Lt. Conry was one of 759 Americans killed that year in Vietnam. He died 23 days after his tour of duty began. He was one of 619 (Special to AFN) Kevin Conry of Ahwatukee Arizonans killed in and his sister, Kathy Attwood, a war that claimed hold the framed medals their brother, Army Lt. Tim the lives of 47,434 Conry, earned before and Americans in hostile and an after he died for his country action in a South Vietnamese jungle additional 10,786 who in 1972. died in non-hostile
incidents between 1956 and 2008, according to the National Archive. His sacrifice came nearly nine months to the day before the United States reached a peace accord with North Vietnam. He was 26 years old. Two soldiers who last saw Lt. Conry before he died have memorialized him in books. One was just published by Reeder, a Washington State resident and the last American taken prisoner by South Vietnamese guerrillas during the war. In the other book, Vietnam veteran Jim Stein recounts his valiant effort to save Lt. Conry’s life after he was shot down. Attwood, of Tempe, and Ahwatukee residents Kevin Conry and Dan Jones also remember him. Jones, who served two tours in Vietnam and earned the Silver Star for bravery
AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS GRADS’ BIG NIGHT
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MEMORIAL on page 18
Billion-dollar windfall accelerating major I-10 upgrade BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
A
hwatukee and East Valley motorists in the coming years will reap a significant part of a billion-dollar windfall that will jump-start upgrades on several key highways in the region – including the oft-clogged Broadway Curve on I-10. That forecast to the Chandler Chamber of Commerce came
recently from Bob Hazlett, senior engineering manager for the Maricopa Association of Governments, the principal highway planning agency in the Valley. “If you haven’t seen a construction cone lately, you’re going to be seeing a lot of construction cones soon because this is a pretty big shot in the arm,” Hazlett told a group of business executives. Principal among them is a
Rolls Bowls.
major overhaul of the Broadway Curve and I-10 between the Chandler interchange and the I-17 split. “We’re very excited about seeing these projects open up,” he added. “You’re going to be seeing projects in areas you can’t really get to, but then at the same time, ones that will improve vital transportation routes so people can get back and forth to their jobs, their recreation as well as to their schools.”
Rolls Bowls.
By far the most ambitious project, however, involves the Broadway Curve and the entire length of the I-10 between Pecos Road and the I-17 split – a segment that MAG and the Arizona Department of Transportation call “The Spine” because it handles 40 percent of all Valley traffic daily. It could also be called “the headache” by motorists whose
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HIGHWAYS on page 10