Heard the story many times.
Never saw that painting yet.
Buncha fun guys, those 34 Pilots!

You know that ALL helo pilots from MCAS New River were permanently 86'ed out of the Officers' Club at Camp Lejeune back in the '60s? Not to worry, we had our own O Club, and ALL officers were welcome (If they had the balls to come in the front hatch!)

Back in '67, in Ky Ha, the citizens of the local Ville had built us a nice E club at Ky Ha out of gratitude for our civil action efforts. It was bamboo with a palm-thatched roof and rattan tables. One night "Papa Deac" (Capt. "Deacon") Warner caught one of the rattan tables on fire drinking "Flaming Hooks" with the guys. Reason it almost burned down the club was that folks were more interested in putting out Papa Deac's flaming handlebar moustache than dousing the burning table. One helpful guy in his panic threw his shot of brandy in Papa Deac's face.

Afterward, the CO banned officers from the E Club.
Papa Deac got his original nickname "Deacon" before he got in country. "Papa Deac" was a moniker he chose because he used to tell folks that his idol was "Papa Doc" Duvalier of Haiti. He shaved his head and grew an awesome, waxed handlebar in country. Handlebars were de rigeur amongst us helo folk. Anything that passed for mustache wax was utilized. I used the same Hi-Temp grease we used for greasing the Tail Rotor linkage.

Papa Deac flew my bird in off the beach after it was punched full of drain holes by an errant frag grenade. 115/145 AvGas was falling like rain from the bottom as he approached the USS Iwo Jima flight Deck. The Crash Alarm sounded and Papa Deac started to wave off to let whatever bird was in trouble have the right-of-way. He didn't realize, right off, that the crash alarm was for him.