How I Saved the Country Last Weekend

Last weekend I attended the Wings Over Houston air show at Ellington Field in Houston.  I went as representative of the H.E.A.R.T.S. Veterans Museum of Texas where I am volunteer.  We took two of our area veterans, M. B. Ethredge and John Fuchs, to appear at the Legends and Heroes autograph tent.  Mr. Ethredge was an infantry officer and said to be the second most highly decorated soldier of the war next to his good friend Audie Murphy.  Mr. Fuchs was a B-17 crewman who was shot down over Germany on his first mission and spent 8 months in a prison camp.

Others of note in the tent were Dick Cole, Jimmy Doolittle's copilot on his raid on Tokyo, and Glenn McDuffie, the man in the famous "kissing sailor" photograph taken in New York on VE Day.

The show featured flights by World War two aircraft like the P-51 Mustang and B-17 Flying Fortress.  Most of the famous warbirds of WWII were there except the B-29 bomber.  The world's only flying B-29 bomber, known as "Fifi" is out of commission having new engines installed.  There were several fantastic aerobatic demonstrations as well as demonstrations of current aircraft such as the FA-18 Navy fighter, the C-17 cargo aircraft and the Apache helicopter.  The show ended with a flight by the Air Force Thunderbirds team.

The highlight of my day is illustrated in the photo above.  The photo is very poor quality since it was taken from a movie --  I had my camera on the wrong setting.  I know the Navy cap looks goofy, but it was way too small for my head, and I know nothing about how to wear Navy gear. 

So here's the story.

The Commemorative Air Force (formerly Confederate Air Force) stages a Tora! Tora! Tora! reenactment at air shows.  They use WWII trainers reconfigured to look remarkably like Japanese Zeros and other aircraft to simulate the Pearl Harbor attack.  The aircraft zoom in and "bomb" the area while pyrotechnicials on the ground set off a series of explosions that create a lot of fire, smoke and noise.  Several American aircraft also get involved.  In the past I have seen a B-17 bomber do a one wheel down touch and go landing in the midst of the bombing as actually happened at the fateful day.

The attack is preceded by a number of American Jeeps and military vehicles filled with soldiers and sailor milling around near the attack zone.  The vehicles are owned by members of a WWII reenactment group in Houston known as the 6th Cav.  When the airplanes arrive, the men initially wave but then quickly realize their error and start to shoot back using machine guns on the vehicles.  Some are wounded and fall to the ground.

That's where I come in.  The man who runs the Legends and Heroes tent got me a slot on one of  the Jeeps to participate as one of the men on the ground.  They gave me a navy cap and shirt and away I went in the rear seat of the Jeep.  I got to simulate shooting the 50 caliber machine gun while the aircraft ware attacking.  I also treated a wounded colleague, but for the most part I crouched behind the Jeep.  We were very close to the explosions, and I could feel the heat every time a charge went off.  It was also very noisy with propeller driven aircraft buzzing all around, though not directly over us, and charges exploding.  Fortunately someone had given me a set of ear plugs.

It was a once-in a-lifetime experience for me...unless I can find a WWII Jeep to buy and restore so I can be a regular part of the action.  I also need a WWII uniform.

Catching Up

I have not posted for several months, for which I apologize.  The blog was established primarily to keep everyone informed about he progress on construction of our house, and we have now finished it and moved in.  In addition, Cec became ill this summer.   I won't go into details here, but it was a scary situation.  Thank God, she is OK now.  

Some of my readers have requested more posts. So here goes.