This article was originally written and published on SuccessNet.org in 1998.
WHEN I WAS FOUR, I remember sitting at the dining room table with my mother and brothers when we heard a loud—and to me—unfamiliar noise. Mom whisked us all outside just in time to see the fighter jet make another low pass over the house, doing barrel rolls as it streaked across the sky—afterburners aglow. It was my dad.
In honor of my dad’s 75th birthday, I pay tribute to the man who has had the most positive and lasting impact upon my life. Not only is he MY hero, but he’s also a war hero—a true patriot.
My father was also four years old when he saw his first airplane fly overhead. In 1927 Vermont, that was a rare occurrence. Lindbergh had yet to make his famous solo across the Atlantic. Jet planes weren’t to be seen for another 20 years.
Ever since that first encounter with one of those flying machines, my father has had a passionate obsession with planes and aviation. His aeronautical career spanned over five decades, stretching from open-cockpit biplanes to supersonic jets. His love of flying is overshadowed only by his love of family and country.
Recently, my youngest son Will asked his grandfather to speak to his first-grade class about how he “won the war” against Germany. He’s very proud of his father’s father. So am I.
During the last few years of World War II, the Eighth Air Force pounded the German manufacturing plants, railroads and atomic labs, which brought an end to the evil Nazi war machine that so threatened the world’s freedom. My father was with the 457th Bomb Group based in East Anglia, England.
As a young pilot of B-17s (The Flying Fortress), he flew 32-and-a-half missions over northern Europe during the late summer and fall of 1944. The half mission resulted from his plane and his crew being shot out of the sky by German anti-aircraft batteries. After his capture, he spent six months as a POW in several prison camps with serious and untreated injuries. He weighed less than 100 pounds when he was liberated.
In a sense, my father DID “win the war,” as my six-year-old described it—he and the thousands of others who gave their blood and their lives in order that the rest of the world might live free. We owe all of them an eternal debt of gratitude. Few people know how close we came to the annihilation of freedom and democracy. Had Germany gotten the Atomic Bomb before we did, it would have been all over. The world would not be the same.
My dad’s war stories of valor and courage in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds have always been fascinating and inspiring. Of all his accomplishments, I think those months as a pilot and crew leader were his pinnacle. To paraphrase Churchill, it was “his finest hour.”
Dad has never fully recovered from his war injuries. As recently as a few years ago, he dug a piece of shrapnel from his skin after it had spent fifty years traveling through his body. In spite of his many ailments, he married, farmed for over forty years, raised five boys and flew in the Air and Army Guard on weekends.
It was kind of ironic, actually. He’d climb down from his Farmall F-30 tractor, drive to Burlington, strap an F-89 Scorpion to his butt and in 30 minutes be somewhere out over the Great Lakes. Two very different worlds indeed.
My father instilled in me and my brothers a sense of responsibility and a commitment to what’s right that hasn’t always been easy to live up to. I think that everyone, deep down, wants to make a lasting difference in the world. My father did that in many ways and continues to be an inspiration to me to do something good with my life.
Once, during a discussion about epitaphs on tombstones, I asked Dad what he would want on his. He said that he would like it to be very simple. He said that he wanted it to read, “Farmer and Patriot.” I hope that sad day is a long way off, but when it comes, I plan to see to it that he’s honored with those simple words.
Happy 75th birthday, Dad!
Editor’s Note: Dad’s ashes were interred in a cemetery in Bristol, Vermont in June of 2022. “Farmer and Patriot” are inscribed on his headstone.
Recommended Reading
Ready or Not: Into the Wild Blue
J. Francis Angier’s fascinating story of his preparation for the air war over Europe in WWII, his missions, and his shoot-down and capture is told in this entertaining and inspiring book. Major Angier passed away in 2020 at the age of 97, but his story lives on. Available in Kindle, paperback and Audible.
