Bucket List

[camelracer]

Several years ago I passed up a ride in a war bird because I was too cheap. Today I got a second chance. The Collings Foundation brought a B17, B24 and P51 to town for tours and rides. The P51 was way over my budget so I went up in the B17. It was only a half hour ride but it was well worth it. It was loud, uncomfortable, and fun. I have a much greater appreciation of what those airmen endured.

 

[Marc]

Very cool Dick. A couple of years ago I did the same thing, and like you said WELL worth it. My dad was a radio operator on one during WW II. Only flew a handfull of missions before the war ended but said it was quite the experience and scared the **** out of him.

 

[Foy]

A lifelong friend of the family was a B-17 navigator serving in the European Theater during WWII. Like so many of his surviving colleagues, he returned to NC after the war, finished his engineering bachelors and masters degrees, and worked in engineering for the regional electric utility for +40 years. Three years ago his wife learned of an impending visit from Collings and she booked him a ride on the B-17, without his knowledge. She kept the secret all the way to the airport. He had a lot of mobility issues by then but she reported he practically sprang out of their car and into the airplane. When he told me about a couple of months later, he was still beaming like a kid with a new toy. He died 4 months after his ride.

Foy

 

[Smokecreek1]

A lifelong friend of the family was a B-17 navigator serving in the European Theater during WWII. Like so many of his surviving colleagues, he returned to NC after the war, finished his engineering bachelors and masters degrees, and worked in engineering for the regional electric utility for +40 years. Three years ago his wife learned of an impending visit from Collings and she booked him a ride on the B-17, without his knowledge. She kept the secret all the way to the airport. He had a lot of mobility issues by then but she reported he practically sprang out of their car and into the airplane. When he told me about a couple of months later, he was still beaming like a kid with a new toy. He died 4 months after his ride.

Foy


Nice story, I understand they have a program of trying to send WW2 vets to see their memorial before they die. It still amazes me that Korea and Vietnam vets had their memorials before WW2 vets did! Even though I was in Thailand, not Vietnam, I've always regretted never seeing the Vietnam memorial either in DC or when the travel Vietnam memorial passed through Reno, awhile back-still time i guess!

Smoke

 

[Foy]

Nice story, I understand they have a program of trying to send WW2 vets to see their memorial before they die. It still amazes me that Korea and Vietnam vets had their memorials before WW2 vets did! Even though I was in Thailand, not Vietnam, I've always regretted never seeing the Vietnam memorial either in DC or when the travel Vietnam memorial passed through Reno, awhile back-still time i guess!

Smoke


Smoke,
My lifelong hometown of Raleigh, NC was the departure point for something like 8 or 10 Honor Flights over the last 24 months. The Honor Flights grouped WWII veterans with escorts on a 2 to 1 basis, with the vet' flights free and the escorts paying their own flat ticket fee (and with a lengthy waiting list for the honor of paying their own way to escort a pair of veterans). They'd leave RDU airport early in the morning, fly the hour to National Airport, and bus over to the Memorial and a second or third DC area attraction, where they were greeted and treated with the utmost respect and welcome. Probably the most heartwarming aspect of the Honor Flights were the returns to RDU, normally around 7-8pm, after a 12 hour day. The local news coverage of the first Honor Flight caused a spontaneous crowd of a couple hundred individuals to gather to welcome them back home. The subsequent flights included a widely broadcast invitation for the general public to come to the airport, park for free, bring flags and banners, a band, and just every form of warm welcome you could imagine. The welcome home crowds had grown to 2,500-3,500 by the last flight, just last month. There we'd be, guys in their 50s like me, my sons in their 20s, younger kids, and every age in between, greeting these 80-90 year-old vets, and not a dry eye in the whole crowd. I don't give Tom Brokaw and the mainstream media credit for much, but Brokaw got it right with the WWII vets: They are truly the Greatest Generation.

Foy

 

[chnlisle]

Wow Dick,
What a great opportunity.

 

[jcfly]

"They are truly the greatest generation"

Truer words never spoken.

 

[camelracer]

It was good to see a large number of older vets show up to look at the planes. Some were wearing their old leather flight jackets. The local TV station was there interviewing them. I'm sure they're all deservedly proud of what they had accomplished.

I just ordered a copy of Twelve O'clock High from blockbuster.

 

[dsrtrat]

Small world. I was there as well,my sister and I flew in the B-24. My father was a bombardier in one, flew out of Rackheath, England in 1944 and 45. It was a great experience for us both.
Dsrtrat



Several years ago I passed up a ride in a war bird because I was too cheap. Today I got a second chance. The Collings Foundation brought a B17, B24 and P51 to town for tours and rides. The P51 was way over my budget so I went up in the B17. It was only a half hour ride but it was well worth it. It was loud, uncomfortable, and fun. I have a much greater appreciation of what those airmen endured.

 

[K6ON]

Nice story, I understand they have a program of trying to send WW2 vets to see their memorial before they die. It still amazes me that Korea and Vietnam vets had their memorials before WW2 vets did! Even though I was in Thailand, not Vietnam, I've always regretted never seeing the Vietnam memorial either in DC or when the travel Vietnam memorial passed through Reno, awhile back-still time i guess!

Smoke


Smoke, Where in Thailand were you?? I did my year at NKP with the 56th Air Commando Wing, flying night interdiction along the trail in Laos & Cambodia.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Nice story, I understand they have a program of trying to send WW2 vets to see their memorial before they die. It still amazes me that Korea and Vietnam vets had their memorials before WW2 vets did! Even though I was in Thailand, not Vietnam, I've always regretted never seeing the Vietnam memorial either in DC or when the travel Vietnam memorial passed through Reno, awhile back-still time i guess!

Smoke

a
Smoke the Vietnam Memorial in DC is hard to view without getting saddened.For 45 years I wore a POW/MIA bracelet of a navy pilot who flew off the USS Ranger CVA 61 the ship I was on.Back in 01 I found out more info about him and that he was from Monterey.I met a teacher who had him in class.How small the world is.Sometime in the 90s his remains were found and sent to Arlington.I can't wear it how as it has a crack at the lettering and I don't want to lose it.It still keeps me thinking of all the needless waste.Sorry to hi-jack the thread.

Frank

PS.How can nickel be"welded",anyone with an idea.I want to wear it again.You can see the crack by the "L" on the left side.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

That same group of planes are in Monterey Wednesday/Thursday.Hope to get to view them as they fly over.
Frank

 

[K6ON]

a
Smoke the Vietnam Memorial in DC is hard to view without getting saddened.For 45 years I wore a POW/MIA bracelet of a navy pilot who flew off the USS Ranger CVA 61 the ship I was on.Back in 01 I found out more info about him and that he was from Monterey.I met a teacher who had him in class.How small the world is.Sometime in the 90s his remains were found and sent to Arlington.I can't wear it how as it has a crack at the lettering and I don't want to lose it.It still keeps me thinking of all the needless waste.Sorry to hi-jack the thread.

Frank

PS.How can nickel be"welded",anyone with an idea.I want to wear it again.You can see the crack by the "L" on the left side.



Continuing the thread hi-jack..

Frank, if you can't get the bracelet repaired, you can get a new one at www.herobracelets.org

I still wear one (not every day, but often) from my days at NKP. One of my best friends was shot down 3 weeks before we were scheduled to go home. Sucks !! The Memorial is on my list to see soon.

Bob

 

[Smokecreek1]

Go ahead and hi-jack the thread Frank! The bracelet reminds me of another one of those "mistakes" we all make. In the early 80's (81-82 I think) they were looking for volunteers for the MIA search crews in SE Asia based out of Hawaii and my name came up because I was a vet and had spent two years in Thailand, a working archaeologist and a present government employee (BLM) and I got phone call from a friend with the Park Service and was asked if I was interested. I thought about and if it would have been year or so commitment I probably would have done it but they wanted a five years commitment and the thought of climbing up and down those jungle trails, the heat, snakes land mines and such, and probably getting malaria relapses again, sort of convinced me to stay in the deserts of the Great Basin. From what I later heard about the job it was really a bear, super dangerous and no fun, but allot of satisfaction about doing something that was so important to so many people. But you know, I wonder how much my life would have changed if I'd have said "yes" and I still feel guilty about not doing it. As an aside, my 2 years in Thailand ( I was an E-5 in S-4 with the 83rd RRSOU from 65-67) was spent running/shipping supplies upcounrty from Bangkok to our detachments in Udorn, Ubon and Chaingmi; Had a wonderful job, spent half the time in Bangkok and the rest up country where I got to live on the local economy and catch malaria. Lot's of adventures, but again nothing compared to those who where getting shot at and getting killed, so maybe that's why I feel a little guilty about saying no when my friend asked me.

Smoke