When I saw the screen name I knew you'd been at Kobbe. I, too, was in A Company (Airborne) 3/5th, but way back in '69 and early '70. We used to spend a lot..and I mean alot, of our off duty time at the Ancon Inn on 4th of July Ave in Panama City. That place collected a lot of GI pay. We also used to swim at Kobbe beach, that attracted a lot of pretty Panamanian girls because it was the only beach on the Pacific side with a shark net. Jumping on Kobbe DZ, Rio Hato and Gatun Lake were a blast, especially Gatun Lake. Uniform for the jump was steel pot, t-shirt, shorts and tennis shoes. Loved the water landings.
Ahhhh,,,the memories!! The Ancon was still there when I left and yes they collected a LOT of GI pay. As did the Blue Goose. I am planning a 2 week trip to go back. The Ancon & Goose are now long gone, not really surprised when the GI's left so did 97% of their revenue. I still have not found out what they did with our mascot's when Kobbe closed.
A Zodiac? In my day there were a couple of guys in cayucas (log canoes) that paddled around picking up those guys that hit the water. They would put the parachutes in the canoe and have the guys hang on the sides of the canoe. Fortunately, no one got shark bit.Ahhhh,,,the memories!! The Ancon was still there when I left and yes they collected a LOT of GI pay. As did the Blue Goose. I am planning a 2 week trip to go back. The Ancon & Goose are now long gone, not really surprised when the GI's left so did 97% of their revenue. I still have not found out what they did with our mascot's when Kobbe closed.
Kobbe DZ was renamed Cotes-DeBlois DZ after a couple of our guys that were KIA in Just Cause. I always escaped having to putt around on that zodiac that would fish guys out of the pacific when they missed the DZ.
No Thorn tree (Black Palm??) in the middle of DZ while I was there. If you are a facebook user. Moatengators have a group page, go join, I bet you will find someone you worked with there. Was your shoeshine guy set up close to the pit and named Carlos by any chance??
Not black palm, though there were many of those along the edges of the DZ, This was a good sized tree, many branches and covered in thorns about an inch maybe two inches long. Our cherry 2LT managed to land in that tree on his cherry blast.
