Museum Guide

John Quintrell, writes a devastatingly personal memoir. His recalling the chilling nature of guerrilla and helicopter warfare and its effect on the men who fight in it chronicles their cold fear. Ground with precision, John evokes the foot soldier’s daily life. Its raw language brings a shocking and gritty portrait of horror and pain with its immediate emotional impact of shame and guilt- recalled even 50 years after his one heart rendering year in Vietnam.  With intense sketches of fellow soldiers, bloodied bodies and lands scarred by bullets and napalm the author never lets up with the gore and agony and loss of yet another brother in arms.  When you read his account of his year in Vietnam, you will be amazed by the true unvarnished not politically correct stories. Experience the unique bonds of brotherhood between men that came into the platoon as strangers but soon became brothers watching out for each other’s back. You will feel the anguish of a soldier whose friend dies in his arms. You will be with the platoon when they face 300 NVA regulars in an impossible fight for their lives. You will feel the startling fear that grips a man when he sees his buddy blown up by a land mine. You will ride home with Big John on the freedom bird that is taking him home after a year in hell. Observe a broken soldier trying to adjust to living back in the world dealing with alcoholism and PTSD. Quintrell, a former staff sergeant in the United States Army who served in the combat zone of Vietnam, is the founder and chairman of Wolfhounds Veteran Association Inc. The book is available on Amazon.com and is available in Kindle book and audio book.  

The USS Hornet Sea, Air & Space Museum in The Bay Area In an average year, over 60,000 visitors come to the Museum. They come to step into history and learn about the long service history of this great ship. That history spanned from 1943 – 1970 and included service in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and finally as part of NASA’s Apollo program. Visitors learn about how sailors lived, the aircraft they flew, the recovery of the Apollo 11 and 12 astronauts, and more. The Hangar Deck, Flight Deck, and 2nd Deck are open for self-guided tours. Lower decks and the Island super-structure can be accessed as part of guided tours and include the engine room, catapult systems, and much more.  The Museum has robust Education programming and works with schools from all over the Bay Area. We also hold engaging Community Events and are a unique venue for Private Events. Our crew of staff and volunteers works hard to ensure everyone’s experience aboard the ship is a memorable one! We are also a resource for veterans—many of our crew are veterans and many of our community events are focused on veterans and, more generally, civic duty and service.    

  Castle Air Museum located in Atwater is proud to announce the arrival of the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk Stealth aircraft to the Museum early this Friday morning, July 29th prior to dawn. The aircraft is scheduled to be offloaded at approximately 8 AM at the Museum's Restoration Hangar at 3040 A Street, on the Castle Airport complex. The Museum to date has the distinction of being the only air museum in Northern California to receive this aircraft, and one of a few museums across the nation with this distinction!   An interesting note is that, technically this aircraft and its 58 sister aircraft did not exist as far as the general public was concerned for over 7 years after its introduction! Many of the advancements made on the F-117 remain cloaked in secrecy to this day! The aircraft coming to Castle was one of the aircraft that were first to fight in the night skies over Baghdad Iraq on the first night of the air offensive during Operation Desert Storm in 1991.   Currently the aircraft is in Tehachapi, California and awaiting Highway Patrol escort over Highway 58 to Bakersfield and up Highway 99 to its final destination, the Castle Air Museum in Atwater California. At over 19 feet in width it is necessary to have Highway Patrol Escorts the entire journey, and allowed to travel over road at specified times only, per law enforcement. The aircraft is slated to begin the last leg of the journey at sunset this evening from Tehachapi to the Museum and due to arrive in the early morning hours for scheduled off load the Museums Restoration Hangar at 8 AM Friday morning July 29.   For more information on this historic event, please contact Joe Pruzzo, Executive Director at the information provided below.   -- Joe Pruzz Executive DirectorCastle Air Museum209.723.2178 Main Ext. 304 209.201.8289 Cell209.723.0323 Faxwww.castleairmuseum.org