The day started at 5:30 a.m. Saturday at the Dayton Airport as the veterans chosen for the Honor Flight assembled for instructions and boarding preparation for the 7:00 a.m. departure of their Airtran Flight to Baltimore-Washington International Airport. When they arrived at BWI, they had a few minutes for a break and then boarded a tour bus to take them into Washington, D.C., to the World War II Memorial.
The group reached the WWII Memorial about 10 a.m., and there was a flag ceremony and group photo and tours of the Memorial. Although I've not visited the Memorial, the pictures show pillars with the names of each state as part of the structure. Dad sent me this picture of Kilroy, the lovable and popular master of doodles and graffiti during the war. If you follow the link here to Wikipedia, you will see a picture that looks just like the one here in the blog that Dad sent to me. However, the part you WON'T see on the wiki is the exact location of the doodle. It is . . . around the 
Pennsylvania and the Ohio pillars! Nor will you note that Kilroy often appeared on bombs that were dropped on targets all across Europe. You have to remember that the planes didn't fly very fast in the 40's; and the crew was often on oxygen at high altitudes for several hours just to REACH the target depending on where the mission directed them. I guess it was pretty boring until you got over enemy territory, and these barely 20-something guys needed SOMETHING to occupy their time. The part that is tough to figure is how they drew anything with those flight gloves on their hands. Have you ever seen those things? They were not made of Thinsulate! Anyway, here is your personal picture of Kilroy.
Pennsylvania and the Ohio pillars! Nor will you note that Kilroy often appeared on bombs that were dropped on targets all across Europe. You have to remember that the planes didn't fly very fast in the 40's; and the crew was often on oxygen at high altitudes for several hours just to REACH the target depending on where the mission directed them. I guess it was pretty boring until you got over enemy territory, and these barely 20-something guys needed SOMETHING to occupy their time. The part that is tough to figure is how they drew anything with those flight gloves on their hands. Have you ever seen those things? They were not made of Thinsulate! Anyway, here is your personal picture of Kilroy. 
After Dad's tour of the World War II Memorial, he found Freddie waiting at the chow line. They got their lunches and found a place out on the grass to eat because the tent or shelter was already full. Since Vivianne knows my mom, she sent along a really lovely beaded bag that is pictured here. I looks like she hand decorated this . . . and the design is called "Tuskan Confetti." I like the bag AND the design name. I will end this post with a Freddie story that Dad shared with me (he said it was okay to post.)
"Freddie is about 6 months older than Garl and they were the youngest on the B-24 Bomber crew during WWII. Freddie was sort of the crew activity organizer & clown because he had the crew laughing all the time. On 2 occasions during our first few missions, Freddie 
flew in the nose gunnery turret on the airplane. When he went to get out of the turret to drop the bombs, the turret door jammed and let minus 70 degree air into the turret until someone rescued him from the nose wheel compartment. In trying to get out with the door jammed, Freddie exposed the skin on his face to the cold air between his oxygen mask, helmet and goggles. This caused about a 1 inch triangle on his upper right cheek to frost bite. Freddie applied for the Purple Heart causing all of us to get a good laugh because he was probably the only one in the 8th Air Force to apply for the purple heart from getting frost bite. Needless to say he did not get the purple heart.
flew in the nose gunnery turret on the airplane. When he went to get out of the turret to drop the bombs, the turret door jammed and let minus 70 degree air into the turret until someone rescued him from the nose wheel compartment. In trying to get out with the door jammed, Freddie exposed the skin on his face to the cold air between his oxygen mask, helmet and goggles. This caused about a 1 inch triangle on his upper right cheek to frost bite. Freddie applied for the Purple Heart causing all of us to get a good laugh because he was probably the only one in the 8th Air Force to apply for the purple heart from getting frost bite. Needless to say he did not get the purple heart. The Becchetti’s are retired now but they have led an interesting life. Freddie has been a teacher, Mayor/Manager of several housing projects and spent time in the Peace Corp with high ranking political assignments in South America."
I'm sure there is a special bond with somebody that you risk your life with 31 times in a prop plane flying on oxygen over Germany. I'm sure this time was really great for Dad and Freddie and made the trip even more special. Around 1:00 p.m., the Honor Flight vets boarded their bus for the next part of the day. I'll write some more about the Honor Flight and tell you some more Freddie stories in a few days. Hope you enjoyed today's post. (Did I get it right this time, Dad?)
1 comment:
You almost aced it. We had a heated liner in the gloves and could take them off momentarily to write in log books, turn code book pages, deal with jammed guns, arm bombs and shake the frost out of our oxygen masks. At no time were we bored. You had to scan the sky constantly to prevent mid air collisions and identify fighter planes. You trained the guns on every target to let them know you knew they were there. They would even follow you home and shot you down in the landing pattern.
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