Espola's newest neighborhood

Looking into the background of a news story today about the VA cleaning up its computer and administrative errors by deleting over 200,000 applications for VA medical care, I discovered that I might be classified by the VA as a "combat veteran" even though the closest I ever got to anything like combat was flashes on the western night horizon that might actually have been lightning. While on the USS Enterprise 1974-75 WestPac cruise, we all received 2 months pay exempt from Federal income taxes because we were in the combat zone off Vietnam (the 1973 cease-fire agreement notwithstanding) and all who participated in Operation Frequent Wind (evacuation of Saigon) were deemed eligible for an Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (although I never got mine because I transferred out of the squadron too soon after).
 
Lot of waste during that operation !

operation_frequent_wind_07.jpg
 
My great-uncle (father's father's brother) Wagoner Ralph Henry of Fayston, Vt. who was killed in July 1918 in France when the truck he was driving to move his unit, the 101 Machine Gun Battalion, between sites where they were covering an infantry attack, was shelled by German artillery.

61052310_2216707168405489_6864862914591850496_n.jpg
 
My father's cousin Lt (jg) Melvin Clyde Phillips, Naval Academy graduate, lost with the sinking of the USS Grayback (SS-208) on or about Feb 26, 1944, sunk by Japanese air attack near Taiwan.

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How I found out about Peanut's death - in spring of 1970 I was attending US Navy C-school classes on F4-J radios at NAS Miramar, near San Diego. I was killing time in the base library and picked up an old copy of Life magazine - the June 26, 1969 issue. An article in that issue was "One week's dead" with photos and names of all 242 deaths "released by the Pentagon during the week of May 28 to June 3, a span of no special significance except that it includes Memorial Day". Peanut's name and photo were on page 29.

https://books.google.com/books?id=p...5nEvG87pQaRfA8s9RpjLyhwso#v=onepage&q&f=false
 
espola said:
How I found out about Peanut's death - in spring of 1970 I was attending US Navy C-school classes on F4-J radios at NAS Miramar, near San Diego. I was killing time in the base library and picked up an old copy of Life magazine - the June 26, 1969 issue. An article in that issue was "One week's dead" with photos and names of all 242 deaths "released by the Pentagon during the week of May 28 to June 3, a span of no special significance except that it includes Memorial Day". Peanut's name and photo were on page 29.

https://books.google.com/books?id=p...5nEvG87pQaRfA8s9RpjLyhwso#v=onepage&q&f=false
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Thank those of your family, your friends, people you have known and all of those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for this country and democracy as a whole. Those are the people that made America great.
 
Hüsker Dü said:
Thank those of your family, your friends, people you have known and all of those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for this country and democracy as a whole. Those are the people that made America great.
Click to expand...
Most of us have family who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
They deserve gratitude and respect.

My great uncle "Bubs" while stationed with the 35th fighter group in the south pacific, corresponded with his sister, (my grandmother) from remote and primitive places with drawings and letters of those far off villages and exotic natives.
He and my grandmother (Billy), through their wartime correspondence, were putting a book together for children called, "The Adventures of Captain Billy and Admiral Bubs".
He flew a p-38 lightning, which was a beautiful aircraft.

Bubs wrote the story through his letters and Billy created illustrations for the book they were to finish when Bubs returned after the war ended.
The war ended, but Uncle Bubs never made it home. He was shot down after the official end of the war while flying toward one of the stops on the way home.
The book was never finished.
I have all the illustrations framed, but sadly all the letters from the south pacific were lost. They were in a shoe box in my mom's closet that disappeared.

RIP uncle Bubs and thank you.
 
Ricky Fandango said:
Most of us have family who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
They deserve gratitude and respect.

My great uncle "Bubs" while stationed with the 35th fighter group in the south pacific, corresponded with his sister, (my grandmother) from remote and primitive places with drawings and letters of those far off villages and exotic natives.
He and my grandmother (Billy), through their wartime correspondence, were putting a book together for children called, "The Adventures of Captain Billy and Admiral Bubs".
He flew a p-38 lightning, which was a beautiful aircraft.

Bubs wrote the story through his letters and Billy created illustrations for the book they were to finish when Bubs returned after the war ended.
The war ended, but Uncle Bubs never made it home. He was shot down after the official end of the war while flying toward one of the stops on the way home.
The book was never finished.
I have all the illustrations framed, but sadly all the letters from the south pacific were lost. They were in a shoe box in my mom's closet that disappeared.

RIP uncle Bubs and thank you.
Click to expand...
After doing some research this morning, I learned that much of this story is incorrect.
This was the story I remember as a kid, but a few details are wrong.
"Bubs" was in the 35th fighter group, but he flew a p-39 Aero cobra and was actually declared MIA in 1943. He was not officially declared dead until december 1945, which may have led to the misunderstanding that he was shot down after the war.
In any event, RIP Frederick "Bubs" Voorhis, and thank you for your sacrifice.
 
Besides being Memorial Day Monday Holiday, today is my wife's 65th birthday. As she was getting ready to go help out at her friend's restaurant, she asked me what I thought of her outfit. I told her she could pass for 40.

That may be the first time in the history of the world that a woman took that was a compliment.
 
Ricky Fandango said:
After doing some research this morning, I learned that much of this story is incorrect.
This was the story I remember as a kid, but a few details are wrong.
"Bubs" was in the 35th fighter group, but he flew a p-39 Aero cobra and was actually declared MIA in 1943. He was not officially declared dead until december 1945, which may have led to the misunderstanding that he was shot down after the war.
In any event, RIP Frederick "Bubs" Voorhis, and thank you for your sacrifice.
Click to expand...



P-39N_Airacobra_of_the_357th_Fighter_Group_at_Hamilton_Field_in_July_1943.jpg
 
Not one of your more " Talked About " Air frame platforms, it was
unique.....just not what was needed at the time..

The P-38 and eventually P-51 were much much better
high altitude platforms...

Although pilots who flew P-39's gained much respect for their
ability to fly low altitude sorties....ceiling was limited due to
no production of the prototypes engine capabilities....

They became a favorite at Air Races after the War....

Bell%20P-39%20Airacobra%20-%20Mr%20Mennen%20%282%29-L.jpg


Mid engine design with exhaust exit at fuselage center....
Note: exhaust stains at just below rear of canopy....

 
RIP Leon Redbone. I saw him perform live at a small theater in Pacific Beach sometime in the 70's. The "band" backing him was a tuba player. At one point he made a comment that because of the lights he couldn't see the audience. Then he picked a small Polaroid camera out of his case and took a picture of us.

 
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