F111Driver

On this Veterans’s Day, let me retell one of my favorite stories because it really touched me and made me proud to be an American airman. “Returning Home.” When I was an Air Force C-141 pilot based in Northern California, we flew a lot of missions that involved “island hopping.” Flying from one to another of the many US military installations around the Pacific. Really good flying, lots of fun, and this was all pre-GPS. Just a couple pilots with dual Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) to point the way. No navigator and nothing between the islands except the Pacific Ocean. On one particular trip in the mid-90s, I was tasked with flying the body of a WWII veteran who’d fought in the Battle of Kwajalein. Immediately upon his return from the war, this veteran told his family that, upon his death, he wanted to be buried on Kwajalein. It’s a touching one. Grab a beverage and a tissue, and lean in close. That night, my crew and I “crew rested” (laid over) and grabbed a bite to eat at their dining facility. After dinner, a couple of us grabbed beers and headed to the ocean. It was a glorious night. Gentle warm ocean breezes, flags flapping in the wind, and the stars were incredible. Absolutely spectacular. The other guys finished their beers and turned in. I stayed and sat on a concrete pillar, my feet dangling right over the waves, and stared at an almost full moon, an occasional shooting star, sucking on a beer. The only sounds were the waves, the only lights sparsely populated the island behind me.  I thought about the Marine I’d brought with me. Why, of all places, would he want to be laid to rest here? I thought about the battles that must’ve been fought right where I was sitting. And I thought about the man’s military service and what it must’ve meant to him. To be so committed to a time and a place, that he told his family his plans more than 50 years ago. Incredible.  Under the stars in a sky that seemed to go forever, I thought about how small and trivial I was in God’s plan. Yet, here I was, firmly implanted in the life and experience of this stranger. A man so driven, that he was being buried 7,000 miles away from home. But I felt like I knew him and understood him. And I was humbled to have been blessed with the opportunity to bring him “home.” 🫡🇺🇸