Thanks, Bill Van. Amazing how they change history, huh? And I agree with you and Wayne: Politicians fought that war from their desks, and lost it. I’ve got to tell you, though, I have such admiration and love for fighter jocks like your brother. Being in Life Support, I had coffee ready for them when they came in all bleary eyed in the morning, and was the last to see them before they headed back to the hooch after a mission. I hung out in the pilot’s lounge with them and watched mission films, took their abuse, and gave them abuse. They were so fearless and so much fun. I lost a couple while I was there. One, a little 1st Lt. we nicknamed “Frenchie” completed all his missions and was on a C-130 to Cam Ranh Bay to catch his flight back to “The World,” and the C-130 got shot down. Broke out hearts. Another, a major, got shot down during a mission, and his parachute got hung up on a tall tree. The tree lowering device (part of the parachute harness), either didn’t work, or the enemy was near, so he popped the clips on the harness, fell , and broke his neck. That broke our hearts, too. I lost a pilot in Iceland, as well, but we never knew why. He went up on a mission, chasing Russians, and never came back; crashed or punched out over the North Atlantic somewhere, but we never found him. Anyway, with all that sad stuff, it was great to hear from you, Bill Van. Dad thought you were, in his words, “The Cat’s ***.”
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