My Dad was ANTIFA

He joined the Army Air Corps when WWII broke out. He flew B17s and later B29s in the Paccific with missions over Iwo Jima and then Japan. He flew transports into and around Korea during that ‘police action’. He did the same during the Vietnam War. He retired as a colonel.

Though often gone for long periods, he was a great dad. He didn’t talk much about his war experiences. However, we were station at an Air Force base that had an active rod and gun club. After shooting skeet, my Dad and his shooter pals would sit around drinking beers and telling stories at the club’s bar. My brothers and I and the sons of other Dad’s would sit quietly drinking our Cokes at nearby tables listening, sometimes looking at each other with wide, shocked eyes from what we heard. About two thirds of the stories ended in laughter. The other third ended with all the men getting quiet and staring off into the distance.

My Dad was a an Eisenhower Republican who voted for Carter because he said that submarine guys were nuts, but you could always trust them to be cool and do the right thing. I believe he voted for the first Bush because of his service record. He called the second Bush “a dumb son of a bitch’, the worst thing my Dad could say about anyone.

He’s buried at the National Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl in Hawaii.