[mustangdriver]

Yesterday morning my long time friend and old neighbor passed away. He was a PBJ pilot in VMB-413, and was a close friend. I grew up in his house as I was best friends with both of his grandsons. He and his wife always treated you like you were family. Through out the years I learned many lessons from him, and he and his stories of flying will be missed. It is his signature that graces the wing of my Corgi PBJ, and I later gave hime one as well. He kept it on the top of his TV. His photo is one of the many I have in my gameroom. The loss of my dear friend makes the shrinking numbers of WWII vets really strike home.

[STARMAN 352ND]

Sorry to hear of the loss of your friend...
My Condolences to you and his family.
JP

[Cardinal]

My condolences MD - his memory (and legacy) will undoubtedly live on ...

[SKUNKY]

Sorry to hear of the passing of your friend,Chris....I'm sure he appreciated your genuine interest in his stories as much as you enjoyed hearing them...

Something that I have found rather interesting..A lot of these guys who came home from the war, went back into the world and chose to try and forget their experiences by clamming up and not ever talking to anyone about them...In recent years many of them, perhaps realizing that they are the very end of the living history of WWII, have begun spilling out their stories..

I now have a much better understanding why some of my older relatives were always such enigmas to me...My whole life they were quiet,withdrawn and remote...A few years ago one of them, at the urging of another family member, wrote out his WWII memoirs..When I read it I was stunned..I never even knew he was in the war, let alone the extent of just how much he was in it...And apparently he felt relieved that he had finally purged himself of the long pent-up memories, and passed his experiences along to the rest of us.

Yes, soon they'll all be gone and all that will be left to tell us what it was all about is books, old photographs and film...So if any of you guys know any WWII vets, now's the time...

[Captain Eddie]

So sorry to hear about the loss of your good friend, MD. My condolences to you, and to his family.

[swoop]

Sorry MD, would have loved to hear his stories.

[mustangdriver]

There were some great ones of flying homw with only one vertical stabilizer and rudder, flying home with the brakes shot out, and having to land on that small runway, and then one of his friend's last missions when his buddy was told by the C.O. not to buzz the field after his last mission, so instead he came over the field and did a slow roll!

[aeroeng]

Sorry to hear that mustangdriver.

[hworth18]

Sorry to hear that the nation has lost another valuable veteran..

[jim]

Originally Posted by hworth18

Sorry to hear that the nation has lost another valuable veteran..

Well said hworth, very sad news MD. At least you had the honour of knowing him and can pass on his experiences to others.