Happy Birthday, Wayne!

A while back, I asked my niece to provide some info on her Dad [my brother] for a spotlight I was doing. When I read this, I thought it was so impressive, I wanted to share it here on his birthday. We all love you, Wayne ~ You truly are AWESOME!!

Dad was a bomber pilot in WWII. He was stationed in the Aleutian Islands southwest of Alaska from whence he sortied against the Japanese naval fleet and air forces. He was shot down on Sept 11, 1943, and managed to land with his crew in China where the Russian forces gained custody of them. They were taken into Russia and for the next year were shuttled around until repatriated by the diplomatic efforts of the USA. He and his crew, for many more months, were then routed home through Turkey and North Africa. It took many decades before the USA would publicly recognize and award medals to these Russian-detained MIAs. The secrecy was maintained as part of the agreement with the USSR in order to obtain their release.

Dad bellied in a P-51 Mustang at HAFB, when the landing gear failed to engage. It happened between wars, so to speak. WWII was over and the Korean Conflict had not fully ignited yet. He was flying with the Guard at the time.

In 1951, he reactivated with the newly formed US Air Force because of Korea. He was sent to New Mexico to train and then his unit was shipped to France in '52 to hold against the incursion of the USSR into Europe and to help build up the USA presence in western Europe after WWII.

During the war in Viet Nam he was assigned to fly C-130 aircraft based in the Philippines into the conflict areas of Nam. He has many great (?) stories of that year 1967 - 1968 of flying payrolls in, flying bodies out, landing in blinding gunfire, and taking off in the same.

He has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Force medal among many awards that he has. You have seen the medals showcased on his living room wall. His grandson, Miles, made that beautiful life story on DVD of Dad and he is a WWII buff of the highest order.

Hope that this helps a little bit and that maybe you have picked up more info from other sources, too. I love talking about my dad but every time I do I realize how very little I know about him. He is a great man and a great father. I am very lucky.

Love,

Vicky