Years ago a political friend of mine introduced me to her father-in-law, Colonel Charles Stewart. As a young man he was the pilot on a B-24 named "Utah Man" and flew in the first Polesti raid. If you know of that raid, Polesti, Romania...Nazi oil fields. It was a mess. Three groups, bad navigation, bad timing, bad target acquisition, a large number of B-24s lost. Truly an "NOE" raid, at least the egress.
I wanted to interview him though I just learned that he has dementia. He is 97-years old, great physical health but unable to carry on a conversation. Another walking history marker, essentially lost.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Tidal_Wavehttp://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/ploesti.htmhttp://www.military.com/video/operations-and-strategy/second-world-war/vintage-footage-of-ploesti-air-raid/658281410001/ (This is a newsreel of that mission.)
One of my classics military stories comes from him, really simple. He went into the military Army Air Corp, retired as a Colonel in the Air Force. I asked him,"So Army or Air Force?" He didn't even miss a beat: "Army all the way!"
