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Dear Mike, "If tears could build a stairway and memories a lane, I'd walk right up to heaven and bring you home again. You will always be in my heart! I love you and miss my dear sweet cousin.
Love you all than life itself, Janice
My wife and I had the pleasure of a cruise with "Captain Mike" and he truly made us feel at home. God Bless Him and His Family
What a tribute!! Even though I've never had the pleasure of cruising on the Bama Belle, I feel as if I knew Mike personally. Thank you for sharing such special memories of him with us.God Bless you and your family.
April Carnley
To Mike's family: My prayers and condolences go out to you. I just learned of Mike's death via an email from Janet Perdue. Mike and I served together in the 167th Signal Company (RR-VHF) in Viet Nam. The last time I saw Mike was in passing and a quick conversation at Vielseck Germany. I will go through some of my boxed items and see if I can find some pictures of Mike. I remember a couple of him with and trying to fly a model airplane. The burn scar was obtained as he was trying to initiate me into Viet Nam. He lit the Drambui and then began the story of the 13 day elephant walk. While he was talking the Drambui began to boil. He directed me to down it. I said no that it was boiling and that if we lit a new and cold glass I would down it (which I did) He said he didn't want to waste it so he attempted to drink it and thankfully missed his mouth. I have other good memories of Mike that I am sure others will remember and some that were more private. I remember the day he got the letter in which he learned that Janet had gotten her pilot's license before he did. I will try to come by the Bama Belle and bring some things with me later this Spring. Mike was one of the friendliest people I have ever known. I believe he was liked by all. May the good Lord be with you all.
John V. Nash Formerly of the 167th. johnvnash@knology.net
This is an email from Mike's best buddy during the "early days" of his military career. "Hey, Jan, Chet Nicholson here. I just got back into town after a four day backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail in north Georgia and am only now able to respond to your email. I am very saddened to hear about Mike. I lost contact with him years ago, but the past is something we all carry with us--it becomes our eternal present in a sense--and Mike was very much part of my youth. I met him in early 1965 when we were both 18 year old rookie paratroopers in the 101st Airborne Division at Ft. Campbell. We were in the same platoon for a year and lived in the same barracks, spending a lot of time together on and off duty. Then, as you know l, we got orders in December sending us to the OCS in January 1966. I was in Colorado on leave when the orders came down, and Mike called me just after Christmas and told me to come back so we could head out. He had an old '50 something Chevy that broke down on the way to Georgia. What I remember most about the trip (aside from finishing it in a bus) was the radio playing Barry Sadler's song, Ballad of the Green Beret over and over. OCS was seriously intense, and we spent six months there in a very small class. After we graduated, we lived together off post until the fall when you and he married in September and I got married in October. Long ago and far away. In any event, he was a quality man, and I hope that he was pleased with his life. I'm thinking about whether there's anything that I ought to be disclosing about Mike all these years later. Those secrets have been safely out of site of the public view for all these years. Maybe I could give it some thought and come up with a version that would betray no confidences.
Take care. Chet P.S. I remember Mike's mother too. Say hello to her for me and give her my condolences. She pinned on my gold bars for me at the OCS graduation. " Chet Nicholson
Mike, thank you for being an excellent helicopter instructor. You fulfilled my wish of owning my own helicopter so I could travel back and forth from my home on Chappy to my company in Holliston, MA.
We had great times bringing golf buddies from Edgartown to the International in Bolton, MA and vice versa.
You even had the opportunity to transport Santa to airports – bringing Christmas joy to many children.
Walter
We will always have fond memories of when you and Nikki first started managing Katama airport. Humble beginnings to two very humble people.
I’ll never forget the evening I got lost in a sand storm on the beach between Katama and Chappy. You were willing, after a long day, to fire up the airplane and help Woody search for me. I was lost for over an hour on an empty gas tank in mid December. You were the one to locate me and notify Woody and Bob Fountain so I could be rescued and brought safely home.
Mike you were a perfect gentleman and friend to so many of us.
I am sure that many people from Katama and Edgartown [Edgartown Air] have warm memories of you and Nikki - your best friend and faithful companion. What a perfect team.
Sorry we never had the opportunity to visit you on the Bama Belle.
Joyce
Photos of Mike, Woody and Joyce ( Click Here )
This was a wonderful and touching story. He was a son and brother to be proud of. He had a wonderful life, now he is with his father. Bless you Jean!!!!
Gladys Machado, Massachusetts.
I was so glad to hear that the delightful Bama Belle would continue to be a part of the Tuscaloosa Riverwalk scenery and entertainment. I felt like I knew owners Nikki and Mike Medeiros before I ever boarded the Bama Belle for the first time. My son took his girlfriend on a dinner cruise and their photo was on the Web site for a while. Nikki was so generous to share it with me. My son worked for the Tuscaloosa Department of Transportation and helped to maintain the area where the Bama Belle was docked and saw Mike, the boat’s captain then, often. My son talked about the Bama Belle and the captain. When my (now) daughter-in-law and I went on an evening cruise last fall, I had such a relaxing and enjoyable time that my resolution for the 2006 year that I wanted to keep was to ride the Bama Belle more often. The tragic loss of Mike has been felt in The Tuscaloosa area and I feared it could change the plans for the Bama Belle, but I am so glad that Nikki will carry on the work that she and Mike started. What a gift Mike (and Nikki) gave their family, for Mike to spend the last few years of his life in Tuscaloosa near those he loved. Though Mike is tragically gone, the Bama Belle will always be a reminder to us of a gentle man with a big smile, who served his country, gave to his community and loved his family.
When I first heard of Mike’s death I didn’t yet know the circumstances but I knew he wouldn’t die in some hospital bed with a bunch of doctors hanging around him. When I read the article on the accident I was even more convinced that was the way Mike would probably go. Trying to help others. I can see him on that bridge moving around to make sure everyone is OK and then slipping away. I have looked everywhere for pictures of us but all of our good times were such that no one even thought of a camera or was in a state to operate it. Bob Freihofer’s picture of Mike and his dog on the motorcycle at Schwaebisch Hall is Mike. I have never met someone with as much spirit of adventure. It was never all the reasons why we couldn’t do something, it was “ let’s get going.” Mike was always into something a little different, he definitely marched to the beat of a different drummer, and all the time made it seem like fun. If there was something new and different to do he would be in the middle of it. (1970’s streaking thru a German Village at night) or my favorite; opening a frog farm. Not to eat but to sell to high school and college biology classes these were first rate Nymphant Giant Bullfrogs which fed on the billion crickets he grew in large cages. I still own a piece of that frog farm I think but it was more fun than a success. 25 years,as we haven’t seen each other since 1980, have clouded the memories a bit but I’ll always be happier for the times Mike and I had together doing things we probably shouldn’t have done. My sincerest best wishes and sympathy to all the family for the passing of a great guy and good friend.
Colonel(Ret) Richard C. Heehn
Sanford Gardner traveled to Viet Nam with Mike and has written a story about their trip over. You can read it at: The 167th Signal Co Advance Party Trip page. (Click Here)
My name is Kevin McBride and I met Mike when he and Nikki first started Edgartown Air ( Cape Air Today). I was an up and coming pilot and talked to Mike one day after flying into Martha's Vineyard. He helped me get my first pilot job by referring me to a friend of his. I kept in contact with him until he had to give up flying and said that he was going into the "tug boat" business. I had not heard from Mike in years and was talking to an air traffic control friend of mine who told me what had happened. Mike was the kind of guy who would go out of his way to help people. In the short time that I knew him, I could tell that he wanted to be friends with everybody. God must have called him home one day because he reached his quota on how many lives he touched. He will be surely missed by myself and countless others.
Kevin McBride Commercial Pilot
thesharkbites2001@yahoo.com
Mike, You were just plain amazing. Graciously living life to the fullest. Your chipper attitude even during the days that were not so chipper always reminded me of how much you loved life. You have left a lasting legacy in everyones minds who met you. You were just a wonderful father. Look forward to seeing you again down the road. Roger that!
Love Lee "Bird"
I worked with Capt. Mike's daughter Michele at the hospital in Northport a while back, and she was also in my wedding even though she had studying to do. I remember having private parties on the boat and how gracious Mike was to everyone and for letting us do that. He seemed like the nicest man and I hate that I didn't get to know him better. Michele, I can see from reading all of these comments about your dad where you get it from! He seemed to be a good man and I am sorry for your loss.
I happened to come across this and found it thought provoking and a bit comforting to read. I've put it up on my web site to share it with any who might like to read it too.
" The Train Ride " ( Click Here )
I'm so thankful that Mike was with me for most of my trip. It's hard to see his seat empty now but I'll continue the trip I'm destined to make and one day, I'll see him again.
Mike's Sister
Phyllis
Today, I drove through hills and glanced onto moving waters. I sat with a Captain who steered with his foot. Captain Mike had all the answers; omniscient through technology. He pointed to contrasting pixels and, with a dentist's smile, explained happiness.
"These are the golden years," he said as his Nike tennis shoe curved starboard.
Plastic supported me, and the sun glimmered on the river. All seemed well, but his honeysuckle words left me empty. If his were the golden years, what were mine?
Captain Mike carried on about distance, locks, and currents while decades plagued my mind. These are the coal years.
I work without hesitation. I am focused and concise. I push through the dark with no aim, only hope. When there is no light ahead, I keep walking for an end is always near.
And I've come to the realization that these are my coal years. I am making my way through the mines, workers all around me. They have hard heads and floating lights, but I have only my hands and my thought. I am separate from them, but we all just want to escape.
I come through the main entrance, misguided by leaders. Every step is a deduction in life; I can hear them coughing.
I'm trapped and cold. I'm thinking about their families. One will go home to watered-down chicken soup. His child will be crying during dinner, but compassion will never leave his wife's eyes. Another is just a child of only 17. He knows the perils that come from this hole; his father is still fighting it. He comes every day with a lunch packed by a sister, and when the whistle blows, he sits alone. His bad posture comes from carrying the world.
How many students have poor posture? Too many, I say, round the halls of public education facilities. They're slouched over, looking up but headed down.
Our doctors say the packs are too heavy. Lies, deceit. Yes, the load is overwhelming, but it is not your text book, Doctor, that pushes me to the center of the earth. It is the burden of the future.
The coal miner's son leans forward under the weight of a family, but the student falls down under the knowledge of an ever-changing world.
Some are a raindrop, disappearing instantaneously into the concrete, but others are the heavy drops that merge to form a puddle. I drown insects but nourish the land.
And today I worked with a struggling waitress. Five dollars on her son's second birthday made her eyes become glass, reflecting the world and hatred within.
Cupcakes with star sprinkles told me her dreams. Her small, tense hands were pushing him out of this town to a place where haze did not distort the view.
Her son was beautiful and had no scratches. Such perfection on his skin and purity in his body. A smile such as his is never seen on an adult. His miniature body stands straight, his chin ten degrees high, his smile wide, and his eyes consuming.
Consuming in that the world seems intriguingly beautiful, and he must absorb it all. Consuming in that his naivety overwhelms anyone aware of his curiosity.
She tries to save him. "No, no."
I know that she is unaware that repetition does not protect, only delays.
Soon his skin will be flawed, and pain will become evident. Soon there will be fear and confusion overpowering happiness and curiosity. Soon he too will not understand how one who serves only deserves twenty percent.
The mines are dangerous and hesitant. I am searching, walking, hoping in the dark. I am looking for a path to gold amidst my claustrophobia and shaking hands. My pay is not enough to keep me alive, but the journey down, around, and back up is enough to teach me of things to come.
Captain Mike explains happiness so clearly, his foot resting on coated oak.
"These are the golden years," he said as his Nike tennis shoe curved starboard, "These are my years."
I have only today found the link to the 242nd. and it filled my heart with joy to see the pictures of Mike on the web site. I was looking forward to seeing him again at a reunion coming . Only I read further to notice the news of his tragic death which sadden me deeply. As I read on I see the many people that loved and admired him as I did when I first met him as a green 18 year old pfc in Cu Chi. It was Mike that first gave me my nickname of Murph he was in charge of operations and I was always making mistakes. Thank you Mike for helping me get past that and helping me be a man. Jack [Murph] Maddox . P.S. thanks for the New Mike Medeiros memorial latrine you built for us it was a dandy.
Latrine Photo ( Click Here )
May you rest in peace. For those who knew and loved you, your memory will always stay. co-worker with your sister.......Lois Remong
I only heard of Mike's death this week. My deepest sympathy to all his family. I will always remember Mike from Cape Air, especially how he delayed a plane for my husband to be brought back to the island on release from Mass General Hospital, telling passengers why the delay and if they could not accept it, to get the bus. This in part enabled my husband to die in his own home. Again my deepest sympathy to all his family Julia Chalmers-don
We just learned of the tragic loss of your husband and our comrade-in-arms. The members of the 167th Signal Company offer our sincere condolences. The men who served in Viet Nam with this unique company have gone on to contribute significantly to their country and their communities. Mike certainly fit into this category. Our prayers and best wishes go to you and your family. Mike will be missed greatly but remembered as a great officer and friend.
Dave Drummond
What a beautiful and incredible journey down memory lane of a beautiful and incredible life! Thank you!
Jan DiRuzzo
Me and my family have made a lot of trips on this boat & Mike always made it wonderful. He was such a great person & so nice. He will be missed.
I didn't know Mike very well but he was the type of person you felt like you knew for years after spending a short time with. I rode the Bama Belle with my wife one night and spent the whole night with Mike talking engineering and stern wheelers with him. He was so giving of his time and knowledge I will never forget him. I am deeply saddened by his loss and will miss the chance to spend more time with him.
Interesting life story of Mike, I did a search of my own name and came across this site. I'm 33 and live in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.
I never got the chance to meet Captain Mike; however, I know he was a great person. I am touched by the loving memories he left behind as listed on this website. Me and my girlfriend, Ashley, are getting the chance to experience the dinner cruise for the first time on June 3rd to celebrate our four-year anniversary. We cannot wait to come aboard!
Ben Pounds 2006
A grateful note from Mike's family.
On May 18th, the
Tuscaloosa Convention
and Visitors Bureau, paid tribute to Captain
Mike for his contribution to the community. Photographs taken at his
induction to the Hall of Fame, which was attended by his wife and 2
daughters, can be seen by clicking this link:
"Hall of Fame"
We'd like to Thank them for honoring a man we all loved.
Sincerely
Mike's Family
I was stunned to learn of Mike's passing. Mike was one of the best pilots I ever flew with. His knowledge of aviation and his incredible confidence were palpable. I had flown with a fair number of pilots. Mike set a new standard and few could match much less come close to it. It was a blast just being around Mike and Nikki. I will always have fond memories of the summers I spent on the Vineyard and the summer I spent at Katama Airpark was the best. I am very sorry for your loss. I hope that you find peace. I hope to take a cruise someday on the Bama Belle and pay my respects to his memory.
Bob Aronson
Happy Birthday Daddy.... I miss you so much....MDM
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