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| Joined: | Fri Jan 25th, 2008 |
| Location: | Fort Worth |
| Posts: | 165 |
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My father-in-law was a navigator for the first two years of the War ferrying aircraft over to Europe, the Pacific islands and eventually China. The last year of the war he spent in a supply base in Western China that supplied the Flying Tigers.
After much urging from his daughters (and me) he recorded his WWII memoirs - which he calls his memories. My wife just finished retyping the latest version. The first time I read it, it sounded like a travel log. Navigators doing what he did had a lot of free time at their destinations. So he had stories about visiting the Pyramids, the Taj Mahal, Africa, South America, etc. Very little about what he actually did. I asked him why he told the stories about where he had been. His answer was that he didn't think people would be interested in the details of his flying experiences. I told him that is EXACTLY what people are interested in. He still has a great memory and was able to give lots of valuable information.
He is 86. I am thankful that he took the time to recount his experiences. It would be a great service to give other WWII vets the same opportunity. As Tom Brokaw said these men and women are truly "our greatest generation."