John Walsh and I were fellow members of the Moses Lake High School Great Class of 1965. We both ended up at the same place and the same time in Vietnam in 1968.

John was the 9th Infantry Division commanding general's aide and I was a helicopter pilot with the 9th Aviation Battalion.

John and I renewed our friendship at the 45th High School Reunion in 2010.

Larry Little was a fellow pilot in the battalion and we became friends. We stayed in touch over the years through letters, Christmas cards and, lately, e-mails.

My goal after the reunion was to somehow bring John and Larry together and introduce them from afar.

The two live within a 30-minute drive of each other, both near Georgia's Lake Lanier and John is a fishing guide.

It was the perfect arrangement to surprise the two on the water, during a fishing trip.

Of course, for this long-distance prank to succeed, two co-conspirators were needed.

The willing pranksters turned out to be none-other than Alice, Larry's wife, and Michele, John's, wife.

The prank progressed to the point where Larry was tossing lures, while Michele and Alice were trying to encourage John to remember high school classmates from Moses Lake.

Larry's recalls what happened next:

As I continued to plug away and the balance of the group was huddled and talking behind the clear enclosure of the boat's center console area, the true mystery of the journey began to unfold.

  This unfolding began when amidst the wind distorted conversations the group was having beyond my discernible hearing,

I strangely and distinctly heard John say the name "Dennis Clay."

I looked back over my shoulder and said, "Say, I know a Dennis Clay."

At this, John looked at me from behind the clear enclosure with a totally perplexed look. I laid down my rod and joined them.

   "So, where is it from that you know a Dennis Clay," John then asked me. "Well, I knew a Dennis Clay from when I was in Vietnam with the 9th Infantry Division in 1968. We both flew for the 9th Aviation Battalion," I told him.

"Man, this is totally unreal", he said. "I not only knew Dennis from the same time period with the 9th, but I also went to high school with Dennis. In fact, just a couple months back now, I met up with him again at our high school reunion in Moses Lake, Washington."

Seemingly totally amazed at this coincidence, he then followed up with, "Do you have any idea what the odds are of two total strangers meeting and just happening to know the same fellow from 40-something years ago? Absolutely and totally unbelievable!"

   At this moment, Michelle said, "Well then, maybe you two need to take a look at this," as she handed a package to John. Confused, He opened the box and with Michelle's coaxing first extracted an envelope within the box. Within the envelope was a short letter of introduction from none-other than our mutual friend, Dennis Clay!

Dennis, learning that John and I lived only some 30-minutes apart, had contacted both Michelle and Alice as co-conspirators in arranging John and I meeting using this fishing trip as the perfect rues. The girls had played their parts perfectly and neither John nor I were the wiser.

   Again at Michelle's coaxing, John retrieved from the package four smaller boxes, which were individually addressed to each of us. When we opened these, we discovered a special presentation Buck pocket knife inscribed to commemorate this very special occasion. To say that we were absolutely blown away would be an understatement.

   The next Big Moment came when Michelle looking at her watch said, "Okay, it's somewhere around 8 a.m. now in Moses Lake, so what's say we give old Dennis a call thanking him for this special surprise."

As I best recall, Dennis, having expected the call, picked up on the very first ring. When Michael asked if she had awakened him, he laughed and said with all the mounting excitement awaiting our call he had hardly slept. He was especially tickled to hear that John and I were totally blown away and we each took turns thanking him for his thoughtful gesture.

  John was extremely jovial as we headed back to the dock. The fishing had not been as good as he wanted, but I could sense a load of worry had been lifted from his shoulders. The trip wasn't about fishing, but rather about introducing two men, surely to become friends, from 2,500 miles away.

It had been a good day. The four of us could only wish our special friend, Capt. Dennis, could have been with us in person.

This has been an enjoyable series of columns to write. As stated in the beginning, my family has pulled pranks on each other since, well...I'm not sure of the earliest prank, but suspect it was a few generations ago. Doesn't matter, because the pranks will continue, as my uncles and aunts are at this time working on the design of another prank to pull on an unsuspecting niece, nephew or cousin. All are fair game.  

Harmless pranks should be fun. There should be no hurt feelings and no damage to property to consider a prank successful.

Several readers have responded with stories of pranks they have either completed in a successful manner or ones where they have been on the receiving end. Look for some of the stories in tomorrow's Bits and Pieces column.