My Favorite Wartime Memory: Lt LDO B. A. WALTRIP, Austin, Texas Munisicipal
Air****t
7 December 1941 was my younger brother's 11th birthday. I had hit 13 in
May that
year. My brother, a cousin and I rode our bicycles out to the air****t to
look at
airplanes. An Army Air Corps O-47 was parked in the grassy tie-down area
and we
rode out to it for a closer look. A few minutes later, an automobile drove
out
onto the grass and a young Army officer, his wife and parents emerged.
They
approached the plane and we stood aside as the officer, the plane's pilot,
showed his folks around it. His parents returned to the car and we kids
returned
to scrutinizing the O-47 while young adults said their private goodbyes.
The
father called from the auto, Come listen to this, quick!. He'd heard the
radio
announcement of the attack on Pearl. All of us ran to the car and heard
the
terrible preliminary news. The pilot kissed and hugged his mother, shook
hands
with and embraced his dad, then tried to comfort his weeping wife as they
walked
out to his plane. He climbed up into the cockpit, blew his wife another
kiss,
hollered, Get back, boys, and started his engine. Waving as he taxied out
to the
runway, he impressed three proud boys a dramatic and lasting memory. I
couldn't
help thinking, over and over, It will be over before I can get in it!
However, I
did manage to complete high school, turn 17 and enlist in the Navy before
Japan
surrendered - the battle for Okinawa was raging as I was sworn in - but it
was
January 1946 before I got to Pearl Harbor. So, it was indeed over before I
got
in. In 1950 my ****p, a Light Cruiser, went to Korea wihtin days of my
transfer
to shore duty I tried, but could not get a transfer back aboardand, by the
time
Vietnam came along, I had advanced to a point where there were no
sea-going
billets in my rate and rating. This life-long eager-to-be-a warrior never
heard
a shot fired in anger, blast it!. I've been retired from active duty 32
years,
as of the 10th of this month, still regret I missed WWII action and
continue to
miss the Navy.)
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-- Otis Willie (Ret.)
Military News and Information Editor (http://www.13105320634.com)
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