US Air Force opens new Memorial in DC
 

http://www.airforcememorial.org/design/index.asp

When I saw this I couldn't help but think of my father. How proud I am and how much I appreciate the sacrifices he made (that I now understand) to protect our country (and Me, and YOU, or your parents). When I was a very young child my Dad would be away from home for 2-3 weeks at a time. When I asked Mom "Where's Dad?" she would say "He's on Alert." If we were lucky we got to go out to the alert shack on the flight line of an Air Force base that was bigger than the town it was locatated near and visit him for about 30 minutes in the evenings. Unless he was on a 24 hour mission flying over the North Pole or something.

My father, who passed away Dec. 23rd 1983, was a career Army Air Corp/Air Force officer. In other words, he was in the Air Force before there WAS an Air Force. And the Air Force was his life. He served from before WWII (1937 I think) starting out as a private in communications. From there he proceded to climb the ladder to Sgt. and was then selected for Officer Candidate school.

After graduating he started flying and became very proficient in navigation and bombing skills. Then WWII broke out. Because he was one of the best in his field he was assigned as an instructor for navigation and bombing which included training men to use the top secret Norden bomb sight used in the B-17 Flying Fortress and the B-24 Liberator. (I, personally, am very thankful for that. I might not be here if he had to go to England)

After the war in Europe was over he was assigned to the Pacific theater flying in a B-29 Super Fortress against Japan in 1945. My Dad didn't like talking about this time in his life much. He was a Christian man. But in a conversation with my brother and sister shortly before he died he said he shot down a Japanese Zero during one of those missions. I don't think he was proud of that at all. He said most of the missions he flew were to drop leaflets asking the Japanese to surrender before the "Bomb" was dropped. Though he never mentioned it I suspect he was also involved in the incendiary bombings that burned a lot of Japanese cities to the ground.

At the signing of the Japanese surrender on the battleship Missouri, my Dad was in a B-29 flying escort over the ship.

After WWII he was discharged but decided to re-enlist and make the Air Force his career. Fortunately he didn't have to go to Korea to fight but spent the rest of his career defending the homeland and fighting the Cold War. Hours upon hours of missions flying in B-47's and later B-52's loaded with nuclear weapons ready to retaliate against any attack made to this country we live in. At the time I had no idea what he was really doing.

In 1963, after 26 years, he retired from his position as radar navigator/bombardier in a top rated B-52 crew at the rank of Major.

I wish he were here now to see this memorial.

It is an awesome sight in person:thumbup:

My old man is retired USAF too...very nice memorial to all who have served and who continue to serve.

JV

You should be very proud indeed.:thumbup:

Yes you should. Thank you for your Dad's service. We don't have a salute smilie so I'll use this :bow:

...and WagnerX5 saves the day! A salute smilie! (Way to go Wagner! :2thumbs: )

I didn't really expect anyone to read all of this, much less reply. (That's why I put the link to the memorial page at the top) I just found out about the memorial yesterday from a close cousin that lives in the area and it struck a nerve that brought up a lot of memories and realizations about my fathers' life. I guess I used this forum as a way to honor him in my own semi-private way. He made a lot of personal sacrifices that not only affected him, but his family, to ensure our freedom and way of life just as the men and women serving in Iraq are doing today.

My personal thanks go out to everyone that took the time to read this very short and somewhat incomplete synopsis of one mans effort to preserve the American way of life. It's also people like YOU that make this such a great country. Because you care.

Thankyou for your story Ishniknork, you should be proud of what your father did for your country and the world over! http://forums.filefront.com/gallery/...ley-German.gif