Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
May 1, 2008 issue
North Carolina Boy Brings 501st AMC Back Together
Story by Garrett Simmons
At the height of the Cold War, during the late 1950s and early ‘60s, Germany’s Fulda Gap was the expected starting location of World War III. A lowland corridor between surrounding mountain ranges, Fulda Gap was perfectly suited for a large-scale invasion by the Soviet Army. If such an invasion had occurred, it could have sparked nuclear attacks between the United States and Soviet Union.
Dave Landon of Charlotte was stationed at Fulda Gap with the 501st Armored Medical Corps from 1960 to ’61, a time he described as, “cold and dangerous.”
“Forces on both sides knew the importance of that location. Our men were on full alert for as long as we were there. There were no breaks,” said Landon.
An attack by the Soviets never occurred, but amid the severe conditions at Fulda Gap, the men of the 501st forged bonds that would remain long after the Cold War ended.
“We did everything together,” Landon said. “We fought, struggled, laughed and froze together. There were men of every color, from every part of the United States in our company. We arrived as individuals and left as brothers.”
Landon returned to the United States in 1961, finishing his last year of service in Fort Polk, La., a far cry from Fulda Gap. Years earlier, the fort had been abandoned and had since been used by local farmers. Landon spent his last year of service reopening the fort. “We had to run out the cows that were living there,” he said. “It wasn’t exactly the level of excitement I was used to.”
Then in 1962, he moved back to Charlotte where, like the rest of the men in the 501st, Landon put Fulda Gap somewhere in his memory and embarked on the next phase of life.
During his first five years out of the army, Landon worked odd jobs, including as a health instructor for Cosmopolitan Health Studies. In 1968, he began what was to be a long and successful radio and television career.
In the following years, Landon worked as an on-air personality, general sales manager, marketing director, vice president and contributing editor for two radio organizations. He was the first person to bill more than $1 million in sales for North and South Carolina, and was the number one sales person in the United States for EZ Communications.
Landon also found success in television as a part-time weatherman, a model for Tate Brown Men’s Wear, a motivational speaker and guest lecturer at Johnson C. Smith University and an instructor at the Carolina School of Broadcasting.
From 1992 to ’93, he was sales and marketing director of the Charlotte Rage arena football team, and one of the top sales producers for the entire league of more than 12 teams. In the ten years following, he worked for the Alltel Mobile corporate sales team, where he was the number one sales person in North and South Carolina for two years.
Over the years, Landon has won hundreds of sales awards and letters of accomplishment from mayors, senators, congressmen and even President Reagan. But Landon has never taken his success for granted. Since returning to North Carolina in 1962, he has done volunteer favors for the VA hospital in Salisbury and other charitable causes. In 1984 he was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest award given to private citizens in North Carolina. He was recently on the front sports page of the Charlotte Observer for motivating the basketball team at his former high school East Mecklenburg to win a state championship.
But throughout his professional and personal journeys, Landon said he always wondered about the men of the 501st with whom he served at Fulda Gap. “It was an experience like no other,” he said. “And the only people who truly understand it are the men who were there with me.”
So in 2005, Landon began searching for his lost buddies in the 501st. He located Richard Garcia, and together they began scanning the Internet. Their search presented one problem, however. “The problem is that in the army, you’re known by your last name, and maybe a nickname,” said Landon. “So we were looking for names like ‘Jim-Bob’ Smith from either Georgia or Alabama, and so on. It got very complicated.”
But Landon managed to track down 75 members of the 501st, and started the 501st AMC Fulda Germany Reunion Committee.
This weekend, May 1 to 4, the veterans of the 501st will have their third reunion since Landon started the 501st committee in 2005. On Friday, May 2, beginning at 9:00 a.m., they will hold the main ceremony at the American Legion in downtown Blowing Rock. The event will feature several guest speakers, including General Tom Saddlers, a veteran of WWII, Korea and Vietnam. Other speakers include Jesse Belgrade, a U.S. marine who served in Iraq, Pastor Lorane Livingstone from Charlotte, Kal Kardous of Charlotte Copy Data, and Rusty Page of Linville.
For the men of the 501st, the reunion is an opportunity to spend time with the people who mean the most to them. “I love every one of them like my own brothers,” said Landon. “It means the world to me to see them all together and smiling.”