THe Last Flight-wonderful read for warbirders!

[Jerry O'Neill]

A friend just sent me this link and though it may have found it's way to WIX, I thought it should be read by everyone. It was posted on thecommunitypaper.com website on September 9, 2010 and was written by Kent Ballard. It's about a Navy Veteran visiting Geneseo with his sons.
Very moving.
Jerry

http://thecommunitypaper.com/archive/20 ... /index.php

[TAdan]

Fantastic read. Thanks for posting it Jerry.

[corsair166b]

That is....a phenomenal read. Incredibly well done by the writer. I sent it around to some folks.

Mark

[planenutti]

I doubt that many of us that have been showing warbirds for more then a moment have not seen this to some degree. My personal best was seeing a retired flag officer that lived in VA Beach meet up with the Dixie Wing SBD shortly after it completed its restoration and came up to NAS Norfolk for the yearly show. He was an old man leaning heavily on his cane when he arrived, then he crawled all over the SBD and chatted with the crew, when his wife honked the horn in the car I could sworn I heard him cuss, but he listened to ComFAIRHousing (we all do) and headed off after thanking everyone involved but if you noticed the cane was nothing more then a stage prop as the old bomber pilot walked away.

[Cherrybomber13]

Jerry,
Wonderful story. Thanks for sharing it. I'm sure I speak for more than a few of us here that well, thats what it's all about.

[D Hansen]

I truely loved this story...GREAT READ! The aircraft pictured is however not the one involved in this story. I believe that honor would be to the aircraft of the AMHF, "Hot Stuff", and it's fine crew. The one pictured is "Attu Warrior" and I'm still looking for the same oportunity to fly with some of these great heros.
Congrates to Hot Stuff and her crew
Dave
PV-2 "AW"

[Richard Woods]

Reading that just now caused my stiff upper lip to waver just a bit.

Its always an honour when you meet a veteran, a few years ago I had the pleasure of the company of an RCAF pilot, who had flown Lancasters during the second world war. I'm sure something funny happened with time as it seemed I'd spent no more than half an hour talking with him, yet the whole afternoon had passed.

[RareBear]

I spent a while on board the USS Yorktown this past Friday with a former sailor who had been a plane captain on one of the Panthers on board the Yorktown shortly after the Korean War. He came on board with a whole envelope of photos of his plane and his shipmates. One thing he wanted to do was show his wife where he had bunked, but unfortunately that area was not open. I showed him another berthing area close to where his was, and he seemed happy with that. He had a lot of stories to tell, and enjoyed having a willing ear. He spent about 4 hours on the ship, and when he left, thanked me profusely. I told him that he was the one that needed to be thanked, and that his service was one of the reasons we enjoy the freedom we have today. I thought as he walked down the pier that this may be the last time he laid eyes on his former home.

Walt