MAG, INC

Chief Inspector Darrell (Bill) Condry Featured Employee

By Chelsea S. Jordan

Growing up between Oldtown, Cumberland and Baltimore, MD, Bill Condry grew up watching his Father, a mechanical draftsman, design everything from cargo ships to rockets. However, it was a different form of transportation that captured his attention. I always wanted to fly says Condry. It was this motivation that drove him to enlist in the Army in 1967. While his eyesight prevented him from being able to fly, he did the next best thing by becoming a flight engineer and

well then you better go clean whats left of Daniels out of his aircraft, Condry remembers. Daniels was one of the guys who went with us from AIT class. From then on, Condry crewed for the next two years, enduring the loss of his crew in an accident and extending his tour from the usual 12 months into 26 months. During the last seven months of his tour, he crewed attack helicopters. Amidst the loss and hardships of war, also came memorable and

I always wanted to fly says Condry. It was this motivation that drove him to enlist in the Army in 1967. door gunner. After completing basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, Condry went on to Fort Eustis, Virginia for aviation maintenance school. Condry completed his advanced individual training as a crew chief with a class of 22, the majority of which soon set off to Vietnam. It was where I wanted to go, says Condry, who joined the 335th Assault Helicopter Company with three of his fellow classmates. Condry worked in maintenance upon arriving in Vietnam, and volunteered to fill in for door gunners and crew chiefs when they needed someone. He was soon approached by a sergeant, who informed him he was next on the list to crew. He said you wanna start crewing? and I said yes. He said rewarding moments for Condry. He was able to work with the Vietnamese Montagnards, the indigenous people of Vietnam, who he describes as wonderful, loyal people who were always willing to stick with them in tough situations. Though not a medevac unit, Condry and his crew also flew medevac missions into areas no one else would go and rescue as many wounded as they could. War is a very nasty thing, reflects Condry, who earned an Air Medal for Valor after exhibiting heroism during aerial flight. There are times of sheer terror and then when it is over, there is just relief. It was while in Vietnam, that Condry made a very important connection back home in Maryland.

After asking his brothers girlfriend if she knew anyone who would want to write to him while he was in Vietnam, he began corresponding with a girl from Cumberland, his future wife Nancy. During a return home on leave, Condry called Nancy and asked if he could come see her. When she said yes, he informed her he was at a payphone down the street and he would be to her house in five minutes. I went to her house, but she wouldnt come downstairs. Her hair was in curlers and she was in a sweatshirt and blue jeans. After I got to know her, I learned that was the worst thing I could have done, laughs Condry, That was the first time I ever met her. Despite the first impression, the two married shortly after he returned from Vietnam and have been married for 43 years. Following his return from Vietnam, Condry, who reenlisted with the Army, was sent to Korea with the 377th Medevac Company and became a father to his first daughter, Nanette. On returning from Korea, Condry was stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas with the 335th Assault Helicopter Company, the same unit he served with in Vietnam. He returned to Korea with the 2nd Combat Aviation Battalion and then joined the 6th Air Cavalry in Fort Hood Texas, where his second daughter Megan was born. Condry was then sent to Germany with the 8th Combat

Aviation Battalion. While in Germany, He and his wife adopted their 3rd daughter Katie. Always on the move, Condry returned to the States and was stationed in Fort Rucker, Alabama where he was the Chief Maintenance Instructor of the Armys OH-58 Maintenance School. He was also able to attend night school at Alabama Aviation College, an education that would help make him employable outside of the military. After completing his schooling, Condry requested to retire from the Army. However, he was told that he would instead be moving to Fort Hood, Texas, where he would be training a unit for the Apache Training Brigade as 1st Sergeant of B. Company in the 227th Advance Attack Helicopter Battalion. After getting the unit approved as combat ready, he learned they were heading for Germany - and he was going with them. Along with his wife and daughters Megan and Katie, Condry packed up and headed for Germany. Three days in, he learned that his unit was deploying to Saudi Arabia but that he would be staying back in Germany to aid in processing soldiers families and getting them settled. It was a tough pill to swallow, says Condry of watching the unit he had trained head off without him. They told me I had seen enough of war. Unfortunately, it was also during this time that he lost his mother to cancer. The hardest thing I have ever had to do so far in this life was kiss my mother goodbye and walk away to go to Germany knowing I would never see her alive again, says Condry. Her death was especially hard considering the admiration Condry has for mothers. If anyone was to ask me who I consider a hero, the answer is mothers, says Condry, whose own mother had three sons serving in

Vietnam at the same time. Those who saw their son's off to war. Who prayed for their safety, wrote to them, sent them care packages from home and were waiting for them when they came home. Despite the loss of his mother and watching his unit go to Saudi Arabia, Bill and his familys time in Germany was an enjoyable one. His wife and daughters were able to take trips around Europe and the family visited the Alps. Eventually, the family wanted to come back to America, where they settled in Condrys

I think MAG will be going places. Id like to try and help it along, says Condry.

hometown of Cumberland after his retirement from a 26 year military career. Condry worked a number of jobs, before finding himself at the Maryland State Police. He worked there for 18 years as mechanic, inspector and as director of maintenance for a year. Two months into his job with the Maryland State Police, they did a repair on an aircraft that was later sent back out. After leaving work for the day, he sat on the highway as that same aircraft he had fixed picked up two injured children. I guess you could say that after that, I was hooked, says Condry. After 18 years of completing a 200 mile round trip commute, Condry was ready for a

change. When he found out there was an opening for a Chief Inspector position at MAG Inc., Condry jumped at the chance to work closer to home. I have enjoyed this immensely, says Condry of working for MAG Inc. I think there are some fantastic people in this organization and I couldnt ask for a better group of people to work with. Condry has been working hard to get the Hagerstown branchs building and repair station certified, hoping to see MAG Hagerstown up and running as a flourishing repair station. The job closer to home has also provided him with some much needed relaxing after a lifetime of travel and change. It is nice to just hang around the house, says Condry after spending many years waking up at four am. I am enjoying a leisurely life now. That leisurely life includes regular reunions with his comrades from Vietnam. Every two years, a group from all over the country meet to catch up and reminisce about their times together. Any old annoyances and feuds have been long forgotten, Condry says, and the comradery always ties them together, making it as if they have never been apart. I have some problems with Vietnam, says Condry, but I am proud of the guys I served with and the time I spent. Though unsure of what he may want to do in the future, Condry says he is enjoying his time at MAG Inc., and living a simpler life in Falling Waters, WV, where he currently resides. I think MAG will be going places. Id like to try and help it along, says Condry, when it is time to go, I will have no regrets.

Note: MAG, Inc. Hagerstown received its Repair Station Certificate on August 6, 2013.