Navy squadron reaps benefits of Wildcat connection

By Marilyn Soglin

Define Wildcats.

• Team name for North-western’s sports teams.

• The nickname of the U.S. Navy’s “First and Finest” F/A-18 Squadron.

• A fierce, undomesticated member of the cat family.

• All of the Above.

If you picked “All of the Above,” you’re correct.

Some Northwestern Wildcat supporters have been working to let the Navy Wildcats know that the efforts of the aviators in defense of the United States have not been forgotten.

One Navy Wildcat, Brendan Lies, had a special connection to Northwestern. He is the 24-year-old son of Barbara Lies, the former division administrator in General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics for the Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation (NMFF). NMFF physicians are faculty members of the Feinberg School of Medicine.

For four years, Brendan Lies has been a member of the Wildcats of VFA 131, working as an aviation electrician and cross-training in all other Navy jet systems. “We have had a lot of fun with the Wildcat connection over the past few years,” Barbara Lies said.

Two years ago, when the squadron was deployed on the U.S.S. Eisenhower, the North-western Athletic Department sent a box of Wildcats banners and pennants. The Abbott Hall bookstore gave Barbara Lies a discount so that she could purchase dozens of foam footballs, can holders and other Wildcat items for the whole squadron.

“When the ship returned to Norfolk after that tour of duty, many of the 250 Wildcat crewmembers used those banners and pennants so their families could find them in the mass of 5,000 other crew members getting off the ship,” Barbara Lies said.

As more and more North-western employees heard about the Northwestern/Navy Wildcat connection, they also purchased items for Barbara Lies to send to the Wildcats. This past March, when the Wildcats arrived in the Arabian Gulf on the U.S.S. Kennedy, the care package grew to four boxes, including snacks, books, toiletries and 250 Wildcat yo-yos, contributed by the Norris Bookstore on the Evanston campus. “The yo-yos were purple and practically the same purple as the Navy Wildcat logo on the F-18’s,” Barbara Lies said.

Last summer, Barbara Lies got so many contributions that Northwestern sent 11 boxes of items to the Wildcats at sea. “We sent books, book lights, hand-held personal fans, toiletries, card games, needlework kits, word puzzles and candy. Brian Collie and the ROTC sent two boxes, and the Athletic Department sent a box of t-shirts, shorts and towels and a beautiful football autographed by the whole team,” she said. Lies said Brad Hurlbut, the associate athletic director for external affairs, arranged to have the football painted purple and white and inscribed, “From the Northwestern Wildcats to the Wildcats of VFA131.” Lies said Hurlbut collected signatures from the entire football team.

When the boxes arrived on the U.S.S. Kennedy, the first one to be opened was the box with the football so that it could be displayed in the squadron’s Ready Room.

“People from all over the University collected and purchased items, including the Department of Medicine and the Divisions of General Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine, Emergency Medicine and Geriatrics,” Lies added.

She said this deployment was so different from those of the past. “We are a country at war. As soon as the U.S.S. Kennedy arrived in the Arabian Gulf, the Navy Wildcats immediately began continuous bombing missions as a crucial element of Operation Anaconda. The Wildcats also took part in ongoing missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Southern Watch, which involved patrolling the no-fly zones over Iraq,” she said.

“We are so conscious now of the sacrifices these young people make for us. We wanted the Naval Wildcats to know how grateful we are to them for what they do for us, everyday,” Lies added.

In mid-July, the U.S.S. Kennedy was relieved of duty in the Arabian Gulf by the U.S.S. George Washington. The Wildcats and the rest of the Navy crew returned to Norfolk in mid-August.