[stand watie]

this day reminds me to tell every foxholer about USAAF T-SGT Houston F. Burkhart, who was a bottom turret AND tail-gunner during WW2.

he was one of two survivors of his class of over 500 students in ariel gunnery and literally had more air combat medals than his chest would hold!

we called him the REAR ADMIRAL (lower half), when all of us were in high school LONG ago, since he said he spent "all of his time on the bottom & in the rear".

despite the fact that he was just 63 inches tall and weighed 118 pounds, he was a GIANT, a good Christian layman, a great father of 3 girls (NOTE: his oldest daughter was not only my high school girlfriend, but a near genius in math and is now a retired COL,USAF) & a real HERO for a kid to look UP to.

we lost the Rear Admiral,at just about this time of year, 20 years ago, when he was finally PROMOTED to GLORY & i was thinking about him this evening.

i still miss him.

free dixie,sw

[U S Army EOD]

That crowd saw some sites you will never see again. Imagine a formation of over 500 heavy bombers.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks for sharing T-SGT Houston F. Burkhart with us, stand watie.