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Michael Boulware

Jocko, I am with you my man. Whatever it takes to get the heart pumping, I am certain you will do it. You have always been great to be around and I appreciate your friendship.

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

Sending lots of positive energy your way, Jack!  Keep us posted.

Michael McLeod

Dave: I'm honored. Seriously. It pleases me to write something that recognizes what we owe to sky guys like you,

John Schaeufele

Monica

Thanks for your post. Like you, I also hate confrontation which is why I rarely read the forum.  It is amazing in this country how much hate there is and how an event like 9/11 can erase all that and bring us together.  It is sad that both parties in congress cannot work together for the good of our nation,  We are asked by Jesus to "Love one another as I have loved you."  Too bad many forget this command,

I have just returned for another medical mission to Egypt where I have seen disease and poverty unlike anything in the US.  The people there, both Muslim and Christians, are so grateful for any help.  We have so much here in the USA and still we complain.

Just curious being an OLP alum, did you teach any Schaeufele's while you where there?  I had two nephews who wnet there.

David Mitchell

Monica and John,

One the one hand, I agree with you about arguing on the Forum. Some of it has upset me too. I am as gulty as anyone in the class.

But on the other hand, It's very hard for me to resist a good argument, weather it be in Father O'Rreilly's history class, or in the middle of the night, along the runway at Moc Hoa, with a man who outranked me by a mile. 

I was raised in an ultra Cathoilc household, where my father made it clear that the greater sin was remaining silent when we saw something we could not agree with.

He and Doctor Donnely (the two largest financial donors in OLP parish at the time) along with Kay Litzinger (Tom's mom) and Stella Cox (Jerry's mom) were constantly butting heads with Father Foley, and going over to the rectory to confront him in person. Dad even agrued with Bishop Ready over certain matters, especially with regard to Dad's "Brother Martin's Home" project.

I have tried (and failed a few times) to keep my politial views on the "User Forum" side. And I will try to tone down my criticism in the future.

David Mitchell

Mike,

In your post above you said

"B-17 crews were close — you couldn’t go through such a gut-wrenching, suicidal partnership without bonding like brother."

There is a deeper significance to those words. That is that when they were shot down, it usually meant that all those aboard would perish together. 

My Dad served as flght surgeon with the B-29s in India, then China, and finally the island of Tiinian (from where the Enola Gay took off en route to Hiroshima).

My Dad and a few others organized reunions that my family often attended in the summers. I and another boy my age would sit through their annual "story night" - a time when they all gathered in a conference room to show their old slides and remember their strories. I grew to understand how strong their bond really was.

One of the most unique stories was about a crew that were shot downn over the Malay penninsula on their way back to the base in India (or China?) from a bombing raid over (I think?) Singapore. Some of the crew died in the crash in the jungle. Some were trapped inside the ship. And four made it out of the ship. Those trappped inside were later captured by Japanese troops and endured prison for many months. The other four ran and hid from the Japanese for about 6 or 8 months before the war was over. (One of those four died of malaria in the jungle)

Those crew members were very closely bonded at each of the reunions.

David Mitchell

Sorry to hog the Forum, but that last post prompted me to mention another group that were brought together as close as brothers. And we still are.

I flew in a platoon of eight pilots (and about 16 enlisted men) who risked everything to support, cover, and even rescue one another - if and when we were shot down, or even just shot at. Over my 18 months in Vinh Long, that platoon might have totaled about 15 guys - coming and going as their tour expired and they returned to the states.

In that 18 months, that group was shot down either 21 or 24 times - I have lost count.

Yes, I have described our mission for all it's crazness. We were regularly covering one another's back sides, and often were forced to pick one another up under fire. It was sort of an unwriten rule that we would do anyting to cover, protect, or even rescue one another. This is partly explained by my earlier comments about how utterly arrogant we were. Our own fellow pilots - the Cobra and Huey pilots - considered us absolute fools! We agreed - with a big smile.

Except for one brief period, we did not fly at night. Instead, our nights were usually spent gathering in our own "Hooch" after dinner, drinking beer or sodas, and watching Laugh In, or Star Trek (religiously), and retelling the events of the day.

We always applied heavy doses of sarcasm and humor to stories about how frightened we actually were. There was often (not always) a lot of laughter as we spent those nights teasing ourselves. I would go so far as to say that there were incidences of a few guys who were not so secure as to admit any fear. A couple of those turned out to be unable to perfom the mission and were eventually weeded out of the platoon.

Below is a photo of some of that group in our "Club Room" (one slightly larger cubicle than the other sleeping cubicles - where we had a bar and a 12 inch TV).

You might recognize the 12 year-old in the lower forefront.

Some of that same group standing outside our Hooch back door. Yes, Cavarly hats for special ceremonies. Me, second from left in back.

Together again 45 years later (2014 reunion on Hilton Head)

Me on the right end - next to me a guy shot down 5 times!  (He was "guilty" of the craziest wildest, bravest act I ever saw - another story to come later)

John Maxwell

John Jackson

Dave, I agree with you about the need to speak up.  These are not normal times – not even close to anything we have seen in our lifetimes.  Bad things happen when we stay silent.

David Mitchell

Jack,

Not so fast there buddy. I think my reputation for breaking things - from my nose on our stairway at age 3, to my mothers precious french wax figure of the baby Jesus in his manger at abpout age 5. 

And though I've never had a lamp forced down my throat, I did have my other end "violated" with a tiny light bulb in a hospital in Viet Nam.

Take care - even if this means you won't be singing balads to us at the reunion next summer.

David Mitchell

HELP!

Is it just me, or are any of you geting a small black window superimposed in front of the right side of your posts? and with the words in the title strip  "Top Videos Paris prosecutor's cybercrime unit searches X offic 

I can't get rid of it.

John Jackson

Yes, Dave, I'm getting the same box.  Kind of sinister - is this malware placed on the Watterson site to track our posts and forward ones deemed "unpatriotic" to ICE/DHS or the Justice Department for what is euphemistically called "followup"? 

You can't be too careful (or paranoid) these days.

Actually I'm only kidding - or am I? 

Gotta go now -  someone's pounding on my front door...

Deborah Alexander (Rogers)

I'm getting the exact black box on the posts as well, and I can't get rid of it either.

Monica Haban (Brown)

Janie-

Can you remove remove this malware?  We've been hacked.

Monica

Monica Haban (Brown)

Sorry, two removes.....

Joseph Gentilini

I have the black box also and can't get rid of it.  joe

David Mitchell

Meanwhile,

It occurs to me that Monica and Johnnie S. could both share interesting posts with us all - especially John's missionary trips to Egypt.

Michael McLeod

wow. that box is creepy.  there's gotta be a techie out there somewhere who can help. i'll do search - a black box search... to see if there is an antidote. antedote?

Mark Schweickart

I'm also seeing the black box. 

John Maxwell

Janie Albright (Blank)

Monica just informed me of this creepy black box appearing on our forum. I just send an urgent message to admin. and will see what they say to do. I have no experience with this so bear with me.
 

I wonder if it could be some kind of link someone posted then when it was clicked on it infected our site? 
 

Monica Haban (Brown)

NEVER click on a link especially if you don't know the source or the sender.  Never.

Michael McLeod

Jocko:

lol!

Joseph D. McCarthy

To paraphrase.

Litte black box, little black box.  Begone.  And it came to be, thanks.

David Mitchell

Black box all gone.

Thank you Janie (or whoever?)