Posted on 05/22/2009 6:47:27 PM PDT by smokingfrog
This Monday, while the VFW is holding its 10 a.m. Memorial Day ceremony at the Cody Prosser Veteran’s Memorial in Frazier Mountain Park, Gary and Lois Lee of Lockwood Valey will be remembering Gary's father, Lt. Bert Lee.
Lee was in the first plane to be shot down in the surprise attack of December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor. He lived to tell the tale. The phone rang this spring with an amazing message for his family.
The well-known turkey rancher and apple grower, who passed away in 2006, had many tales to share around the dinner table about fighting for his country in the great battles of the Pacific during World War II. Now, suddenly, their surprise caller has brought them news that means the memories of their dad’s accomplishments will be far less abstract.
As Lois Lee tells the first part of the family story, “Gary’s father was a counselor during the summers at the Boy Scout Camp built in 1936. He met the Plush family’s cute daughter Louella at the turkey ranch next door, but then he went off to war.” He joined the United States Army Air Corps.
In 1941 Lee was a gunner assigned to a B-17 stationed near San Francisco. Their squadron was to fly to Hawaii where they would prepare the planes to continue on to the Philippines.
On December 6 they began the flight. Almost 12 hours later they were approaching their destination when three Japanese planes zipped by. The B-17’s guns were packed up in cargo crates. The plan was to install them in Hawaii. The crew couldn’t fight back and they couldn’t raise the flight tower. Lee was shot in the leg. Then they were on fire and going down.
(Excerpt) Read more at mountainenterprise.com ...
Nice story. Thanks for posting.
After the war, he went to OCS and transferred over to armor. During the Korean War his jeep struck a landmine and he lost his left leg and damaged his heart and lungs by inhaling the fireball. Despite all of this, he returned to active duty and lived for another fifty years.
Wow, great story!
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