When former U.S. Navy and Marine aviators meet in a room with food and drinks for a few hours, the results are as unpredictable as a night landing on an aircraft carrier in bad weather.

ThatâÂÂs what happens once a year around Veterans Day when a group of Lawrence-area veterans calling themselves the Bald Eagles of the Kaw have their reunion.

There is one thing you can count on, though.

âÂÂWe tell the same old stories, and they get better every year,â said John âÂÂBuckâ Newsom, 83, during this yearâÂÂs reunion at the Lawrence Country Club. About 20 former Navy and Marine pilots attended the event Wednesday.

ItâÂÂs been about 30 years since the first reunion, said John Emerson, a Lawrence attorney and one of the groupâÂÂs founders.

âÂÂWe decided we needed to get together and tell the same old lies,â Emerson, 74, said with a chuckle.

âÂÂMost of the funny stories you couldnâÂÂt print,â said Bud Burke, 68, a former Kansas legislator, who once flew Navy A-4 attack jets.

But the Bald Eagles donâÂÂt talk about themselves as much as they do about one another” and not all the stories are funny.

They talk about Bob Sudlow, 82, a retired Kansas University art teacher known for his landscape paintings. Sudlow earned a Distinguished Flying Cross during World War II for landing a seaplane in rough water and under Japanese fire to rescue a downed pilot.

âÂÂIt was pretty wild,â was all Sudlow would say about the incident.

Stories of that era draw vets of other wars, too.

âÂÂI come here to listen to the World War II veterans talk,â said Otto Newton, 63, who flew search and rescue helicopters from aircraft carriers during the Vietnam War.

The list of Bald Eagles members includes veterans from virtually every war the United States has fought since World War II. It also reads like a âÂÂwhoâÂÂs whoâ not only of Lawrence but the state of Kansas.

Included are former legislators such as Burke and John Conard, who also was a KU administrator, Lawrence City Commissioner Jim Henry, former U.S. Sen. James Pearson and retired Marine Maj. Gen. Clayton Comfort, now president of Habitat for Humanity, to mention a few.

Also attending this yearâÂÂs reunion were representatives of the KU Navy ROTC program. Lt. Kerri Keehn, who has piloted E-6 command and communications planes and is now an ROTC instructor, was the only woman present.

âÂÂItâÂÂs interesting to hear about things that theyâÂÂve done,â Keehn, 28, said of the retired pilots. âÂÂThey are courageous. TheyâÂÂve seen and done a lot of things.âÂÂ

Capt. Jim Cooper, 50, commander of the ROTC program, agreed.

âÂÂYou get a real sense of history here,â said Cooper, who has flown P-3 Orion submarine hunting planes. âÂÂIt is awe-inspiring. IâÂÂm just a baby around here.âÂÂ

While some of the Bald Eagles stay in touch between reunions, rarely do many of them see each other during the rest of the year.

âÂÂFor that one meeting weâÂÂve all got everything in common,â Newsom said. âÂÂYou never lose sight of each other. WeâÂÂre all very respectful of each other.âÂÂ