The retired chief of the US Navy-Marine Corps Military Auxiliary Radio System (NMC MARS), Bo G. Lindfors, N9UH, of Yorktown, Virginia, died September 15. An ARRL Life Member, he was 70. A native of Finland, Lindfors came to the US when he was 6 years old. After high school, he was accepted into the US Naval Academy and subsequently served for 26 years in the US Navy, rising to the rank of Captain. His military service included tours as commanding officer of a Landing Ship Tank (LST) and the USS Enhance. Before he retired from the Navy in 1993, Lindfors had been awarded the Navy Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal, and the Navy Achievement Medal. He became US Navy-Marine Corps MARS Chief in 1997, after having served as a MARS volunteer.

“As Chief, Capt Lindfors successfully made significant improvements to a program that many considered to be obsolete and overcome by modern technology,” said a Navy-Marine Corps MARS bulletin announcing Lindfors death. “Through Capt Lindfors’ outstanding leadership, NMC MARS improved interoperability with Army and Air Force MARS, reorganized NMC MARS regions to align with the Federal Emergency Management Agency schema, and expanded the use of HF Automatic Link Establishment and other radio technology.”

Lindfors was a guest, as a visiting LST captain, aboard the restored LST-325 — the home of WW2LST — when it was in Williamsburg, Virginia, during its 2005 US East Coast tour. The vessel now is home ported in Evansville, Indiana.

Navy-Marine Corps MARS members observed 1 hour’s radio silence on September 19. A memorial service with full military honors was held that same day in Newport News, Virginia.

The US Navy-Marine Corps MARS program is being phased out, and its operational mission will transition to the other MARS service branches by the end of September. — Thanks to Tom Pendarvis, W0MTP/NNN0YNQ