Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The Old Pilot's Salute Got Me Thinking...My Dad Was Sick...

The late summer of 1990. He was going to die and knew it, but he was pretty robust sixty or so days out from his rendevoux with whatever came next. We were sitting on lawn chairs at his brother's house across from the Crawfish river in Jefferson Wisconsin, in the late afternoon under the shade of a silver maple.

Dad's hearing wasn't as good as mine, but his ears perked up first. He cocked his head a little to the right - his left ear being a bit better - and listened to the distant growl of an approaching aircraft.

Dad pronounced, "It sounds like a B-17, only there's something odd about it. It's not quite right.

It was too high to make out with the naked eye, so I ran inside for a pair of binoculars. Once I had the aircraft spotted, I could only smile and thinking about it now, tuggs at my heart. I handed Dad the binoculars and let him take one last look at an aircraft he'd spent a lot of time in fifty years before that day. He watched it until it was out of sight and maybe thirty seconds beyond that...maybe hoping for another glimpse. It wasn't to be.

When he sat down, there passed a long, quiet moment. I didn't say a word because it was his time and he didn't have a lot of it left. Finally, he said, "I thought it sounded a bit odd."

You see, it was a B-17, but along side escorting it, was a P-51 Mustang. The two aircraft were too close together for there to have been two discernable engine sounds so far below.

I can only imagine that along with the visual memories that must have flooded back in my Father's head in that moment, there had to be others. The smell of hot oil; the swirling smoke from the waist gunners Browning "fifties" and the sweat on the palms as the young man gripped the yoke like it was his only connection to the ground.

There was a television show my Dad loved to watch, but it was almost an addiction. He hated to miss it and lamented it when it was cancelled. It was called, "Twelve O'Clock High." I liked it too, but was way too young to understand why it affected my father so.

Dan

My admiration goes out to your Dad and i also loved the show Twelve O'clock High and so did my Dad

Thanks Bea

Dad went from 17s to the 29s and was transitioning for the long trip to the Land of the Rising Sun, when Truman set the world on fire over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, thus saving a million airmen, soldiers, sailors and Marines.

Dad never took control of a stick again when he mustered out. He still loved to fly, but he always sat right seat and enjoyed the view.

Dan

Dan dammit that made my eyes water....I hold nothing but admiration for those who have served us so well!

Nice touch on the keyboard,Dan!

Thanks Dan, great story. I have the greatest admiration for fellows like you Dad! had the chance along with my Bil. to each grab a " waist" Fifty. on a 17, Was not a lot of room! I know you are Very proud of your Dad.

My dad and his crew were training to drop paratroopers on Japan when the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I can't help but think that the C-46s and C-47s would have been sitting ducks over the Japanese mainlands. The airborne troops would have been the easy targets coming down. The house to house fighting would also have beenbrutal for those who made it safely to the ground.

It was really a different world. and I have nothing but admiration and gratitude for those who served and made all the difference.

My father was in the Army Air Corps and hit all the islands in the Pacific Campaign. His best friend from high school was a marine that made all the stops, too, but he came back with more and badder demons. He committed suicide in 1949...

Speaking of the series, "12 Ocock High," B17s and B29s, a good friend of mine was Story Editor and tech advisor on that series. His name was William C. (Andy) Anderson. He was well qualified for the job.

Andy was career USAAF/USAF, and flew B17s over France and Germany during WWII. He then flew B29s in the Korean War. When he retired from the Air Force, he went to Hollywood to "tell" stories. And a very good story teller he was, too.

He also wrote some novels, one being a novel called "BAT 21." Later co-wrote the screenplay for the flick.

Several years ago he told me an interesting story about something that happened relating to the story and movie.

Andy had been a friend of and served with the LTC. Hambleton, who was the A.F. officer who was shot down in Vietnam. If you saw the flick, you might remember the scene where the helicopter pilot tries to set down and rescue the LTC. The VC blow up the helicopter in a flooded rice paddy, killing the pilot and all the crew.

Their bodies were not recovered during the war.

In the mid-'90s, their remains were recovered and flown back to the States. The retired LTC was contacted and asked if he would come to the ceremony at the airbase honoring the remains/caskets and burials at the military cemetary of the remains of the pilot and crew of that helicopter?

Anderson told me that his friend, the LTC, asked if Clinton (President) would be there? They said they were not sure but he might be. The LTC said that if Clinton were there, he would not come and stand beside a coward and draft dodger.

Clinton did not go, so the LTC was there.

If anyone reading this subscribed to "Trailer Life" an R.V. magazine, W. C. (Andy) Anderson also wrote a monthly column therein.

He died about three years ago, not long after his wife died. Another combat vet and fine person, gone.

FWIW.

L.W.

My father spent the war in the 8th Army Air Core in Basenborn. Had some pictures of him leaning out the window from the pilot seat but when my sister cleaned out their house she threw it all out.

He never missed going to see one whenever he found out one was coming to town.

Dan,

for my 40th birthday, my wife bought me a flight on the Yankee Lady, a B-17G that flies out of Willow Run airport. The whole flight, I thought about what it would be like to fly a mission on her, and thought a lot about that generation and the debt we owe them. It was an experience I'll never forget. However, on the flight before mine, there were 5 8th airforce veterans that the Yankee Air Museum took up on the flight as a thank you. That gesture was really moving. But the best part was that Jack Roush, the race team owner heard who was flying, and he took off in his P-51C and flew formation with the B-17 for the whole flight. A touching tribute, I thought.

Dan,

Wonderful tribute and great writing. Made my eyes water too.

And made me think of my father, who lived through the Great Depression, wounded on D-Day, wounded again in hand-to-hand combat during the Battle for Germany. And yet always cheerful and optimistic, always looking forward to the new day, until the very day he died.

The World War 2 generation, a generation of the great, has almost all passed now. They now belong to the ages.

Chuck

I loved 12 O'Clock High and I was just a pup. Great tribute. Thanks.

Moving stories, gentlemen. Thank you, Dan, for kicking off this thread. These men were indeed the Greatest Generation.

Were it not like many brave young men going forth whether they were scared or not, then and since, all of our lives may be drastically different.

Many of us might not be here at all if it were not for their sacrifices.