By Mike Barton
Public Affairs Specialist

Tom “T-Mac” McFalls is at it again. For about the seventh time in as many years, he has constructed a unique holiday greeting to local aviators, especially those from nearby Marine Corps Air Station New River, located adjacent to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. The greeting is unique because he grows it in his front yard.

The 62-year-old aeronautical engineer for the H-53 helicopter program here at Naval Air Depot Cherry Point has had his hands on one type of aircraft or another for 44 years. He began as an enlisted crewman in the Navy and later became a bombardier/navigator in the Navy’s premier attack jet, the A6-E Intruder. After 22 years in the Navy, he retired and moved into civil service, where he has spent the last 20 years working on the H-53.

Like many former service members, if you ask him where he is from, he will answer, “All over.” But when he transferred to Cherry Point several years ago, something happened – he began to put down roots.

OK, here’s where we get to the “growing” part. You see, several ago McFalls began constructing helicopters from grass and dirt on his property near Maysville, N.C. No, this isn’t one of those X-File sort of things. It’s just his way of giving a holiday greeting to the local Marine helicopter crews out of New River, or anybody else who happens to be flying by.

This year, like most of his past projects, it is only the design of a lone H-53 that has climbed up through the dirt and brown summer grass. The message – Happy Holidays – is spelled out above the pattern. Below it – Size matters! – is clearly a reference to the monster-sized and monster-powered H-53 that McFalls has a natural affinity for. Got a problem with that? Then get your own grass a-growin’.

McFalls did make an exception last year when aircrews could see a Cobra, a Huey and an H-46 springing to life from the winter rye. That was his special project designed specifically to honor aircrews serving in the Middle East war. The message – Thank You, Happy Holidays – appeared beside them in five-foot letters. “I just wanted (the young Marines) to know that we appreciate what they do,” said McFalls, a man who has quietly spent his own life in support of his country. “I get my thrill or payback when a Marine aircraft circles around, obviously looking over the greeting.”

When you look at these grass sculptures laid out in bright green against the surrounding winter stubble, you can get an idea of the kind of guy McFalls is – patriotic, thoughtful, precise. The engineer in him shows in his designs, drawn carefully from official profiles, staked out in grids, outlined in the grass and fill-planted over the course of several days. And if you see them from the right angle, they just might appear to be landing near the faded orange windsock beside the narrow grass landing strip that stretches through his yard.

McFalls built that strip so that whenever the mood strikes him, he can easily take to the air in his small Piper Cub, which he has flown for more than a quarter of a century. Sure, it’s a huge difference from tooling around in a multi-million dollar jet war bird, but according to this old pilot, “It’s good for what ails you.” His 1,000-foot private strip – flanked by his home, a horse pasture, and by power cables at one end – doesn’t attract much landing traffic. In McFalls wry words, “It keeps the riffraff out. A lot could probably get in, but they’d have to be catapulted out.”

But he is quick to point out that he doesn’t mind aerial visitors, because that’s what his helicopters are “grown” for. They can only be seen from the air, appearing in late October and lasting – with regular care and trimming – until the surrounding grass greens in the spring. To most civilian aviators, his place would be just an interesting sight about two miles west of Maysville, halfway between New River and Oak Grove. At coordinates N 34 54.4, W 77 16.1, it doesn’t even appear on pilot sectional charts. But to a passing Marine aviator who has brethren out in a combat zone, it is a symbol of respect from a man who has always been with them in spirit. And to Tom McFalls, it is the one place where he has finally been able to put down roots, without giving up his love for the sky.

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Photo cutline: Seen only from the air from late fall through spring, Tom McFalls’ grass CH-53 helicopter greets Marine and civilian aircrews who pass over his private airstrip near MCAS New River. The NADEP Cherry Point aeronautical engineer has worked on the real thing for the last 20 years. (Photo by Tom McFalls)