There was only one interviewee I remember vividly from this stories on the series. And he was a pilot. It was Quentin. R.I.P.
Posted on 12/29/2008 6:17:26 PM PST by Borges
BETHESDA, Md. – Quentin C. Aanenson, a fighter pilot whose wartime experiences helped millions of television viewers understand World War II, has died.
A subject of Ken Burns' documentary "The War" and the producer of his own film a decade earlier, Aanenson died Sunday of cancer at his home in Bethesda, his son, Jerry said. He was 87.
"He lived a magnificent life," Jerry Aanenson said. "He said if he had a chance to be 15 again, he wouldn't take it."
The native of Luverne, Minn., flew 75 combat missions in Europe as a captain in P-47 Thunderbolt fighters. His first was a bombing run on German positions in France on D-Day, before Allied troops landed there, according to a biography posted on the PBS Web site.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
R.I.P.
R.I.P. And thank you, sir.
“A Fighter Pilot’s Story” is one of the best personal memoir’s I’ve ever seen. It’s been in and out of production. I highly recommend it if you can find it.
God Bless this patriot!
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air....
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark nor even eagle flew—
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
There was only one interviewee I remember vividly from this stories on the series. And he was a pilot. It was Quentin. R.I.P.
I liked the woman whose brother was overseas. She was a looker in her day.
Thank you, sir.
I hope God lets you fly anything you want in the wild blue!
Her name was Katherine and her brother's name was Sydney, she was a terrific story teller.
God Bless Mr. Quentin and his wife, Jackie. I own the series and watch it frequently. He had his ghosts.
Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
Killed 11 December 1941
He was a Spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain.
Good idea. Thanks.
One of the photos today was of Mr. Aanenson. I had never seen the "The War" so I didn't know who he was; there was no mention of his military service in the notice other than mentioning he will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full honors.
We have lost another of our Greatest Generation. My prayers go out to his family, and may God Bless him as he is a true American patriot and hero.
I was/am lukewarm about Ken Burn’s “The War”.
But the segments about the transformation the war worked on this pilot
were the best the series had to offer (IHMO).
Although I always take a “verify, then trust” approach to Wikipedia,
they do have a decent review on this departed warrior:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quentin_C._Aanenson
We will not see men like these again.
Our country is poorer for this loss.
RIP
I salute you sir, and all the men and women you served with. Rest in peace.
That pretty much says it all. He paid his dues.
Just the sort of understated approach "the real deals" usually take.
Amen!
Yes. Quentin’s intentionally unmailed letter to his future wife brought me to tears.
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