A young lady I know from my days on a NASCAR website wrote a short story about her Dad. She lost her mother to cancer in 1991 when she was only 11yrs old and then her Dad died in a plance crash 10 yrs later just a few days before her graduation from Texas Tech University. With her permission, I'm going to post what she wrote several years ago in a tribute to her Dad.
My Dad served 5 years in the U.S. Army as a helicopter pilot in the 101st Air Mobile, 7th Cavalry during the Viet Nam war. I really don't know much about his time in the military other than what my Mother told me because Daddy wouldn't talk about it very much. And I was born long after he returned home and got out of the service. He tried joining the Air Force, but without a college degree he couldn't be a pilot which was his dream. So he enlisted in the Army, knowing full well he would probably wind up in Viet Nam. With hard work and his passion for flying, he did get to be a FWO and a helicopter pilot....and sent to Viet Nam. Eventually, he served 2 tours of duty there, the first as a pilot of a Huey "slick", a troop transport helicopter with no armament other than two 30 cal. machine guns mounted in the doors. His second tour he flew a Huey "dustoff" med-evac helicopter. He was shot down 3 times, and once the only survivor of the crash. He had no brothers and only one sister. But he had a cousin that he grew up with. They were almost the same age, only a few months apart. On their first day of school in the first grade, they rode the school bus together. They smoked their first cigarette together out behind the barn when they were 12 years old. And my Grandpa busted both their butts when he found out about it! When they were 16, my Dad and his cousin hauled hay and used the money to buy their first car together, a 1959 Ford station wagon. My Dad's first date with my mother was a double date with his cousin and his girlfriend in that old Ford. Later on, my Dad and his cousin graduated from the same high school class together. When Daddy joined the Army, his cousin was there too. They went through boot camp together, AIT (advanced infantry training) together, OCS (Officer Candidate School) together and through helicopter pilot training at various camps and forts together. Eventually, they wound up in Viet Nam together. And on one paticular mission to pick up some ground troops, my Dad's helicopter was shot down by Viet Cong small arms fire. His cousin, in another helicopter, turned around to try and pick up my Dad and his co-pilot. And my Dad saw his cousin die when a VC rocket exploded in his cousin's helicopter about 50 yards from where my Dad was. A few weeks ago, I went to the cemetary to visit Mama on Mother's Day. Tomorrow, I'm going back to put another yellow rose on her grave and put a small flag on Daddy's grave. And about a 100 feet from them, l'm going to put a flag on cousin Billy Wayne's grave too.
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Today's Featured Article - The Tractor Parade: Story of a Case SC - by Bernie DeLon. On a early fall morning back in 1994, I opened the newspaper and happened to spy an article about a local antique tractor club having their annual show that weekend.
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