Aviator photo by Sean Dath) returns to NASCC, reenacts winging from 1971

A former Naval aviator who recieved his wings at NAS Corpus Christi back in the 1970s, returned to the original location recently to reenact the ceremony with his family.

Glenn Schenenga first donned his “Wings of Gold” at a winging ceremony in April 1971.

The original ceremony was held in front of the NAS Corpus Christi Bay Club, which was torn down in 2017.

With the Bay Club no longer present, it took Schenenga and his wife Connie only a few minutes to orient themselves to the location of the original ceremony, a site that they had not been to in amost five decades.

With their son Kevin and daughters Lea and Katie present, Connie pinned her husband’s wings onto his jacket, just as she had done 48 years prior.

It was a chance for the whole family to relive a special moment, and a chance for Glenn to reflect on his time in the Navy over the Veterans Day weekend.

“My career started out training on the T-34 at Saufley (Field), then I went to OCS and then on to (NAS) Meridian for basic jet and (NAS) Beeville for advanced,” Glenn said. “I guess they held all the wingings here at that time since there were guys from here, (NAS) Kingsville and Beeville all getting there wings together.”

After six years in the Navy, with the war in Vietnam winding down, Glenn left active duty. But even as his career changed and priorities shifted, he never forgot the day he became a U.S. Naval aviator.