A veteran's Story
A VETERAN’S STORY: Dustoff in Burma?
By Pete Mecca A ‘dustoff’ in Burma? Pete, you mean Vietnam, right? Yes and no. It’s true that I’ve been home bound for a few weeks, but no, the Corona quarantine has not warped my […]
A VETERAN’S STORY
Aircraft Restoration
A Veteran’s Story: Kilroy Was Here!
‘Kilroy Was Here’ – this iconic doodle with its accompanying phrase became popular graffiti the world over during WWII. While its true origins remain a mystery, and are likely an amalgam of many different caricatures which emerged in various […]
A veteran's Story
A Veteran’s Story: Caribou to Santabou
By Pete Mecca Born and raised in Cajun country, Alan Gravel received a degree in Civil Engineering from Louisiana Tech before obtaining a Master’s Degree in Environmental Health Engineering at the University of Texas.February of […]
A veteran's Story
A VETERAN’S STORY: The Invaders Finally Come Home
By Pete Mecca An airfield in northeast Thailand designated as NKP (Nakhon Phanom) during the Vietnam War is actually a Royal Thai Naval Base. The Thais utilize NKP as a home base for river patrols […]
A veteran's Story
A VETERAN’S STORY: The Story of One Huey
By Pete Mecca In the year 1427, celebrated Vietnamese patriot Le Loi defeated the occupying Chinese soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. Considered God-like by the Vietnamese, Le Loi’s birthplace village of Lam Son is regarded […]
A veteran's Story
A VETERAN’S STORY: “Hitting The Silk” Over Burma
By Pete Mecca From a special article in the New York Times on December 15, 1944: “Big strike on railroad marshaling yards in Rangoon by B-29 bombers cause devastating results. No B-29s were lost.” The […]
A veteran's Story
A VETERAN’S STORY: Targeting the Big Apple
According to legend, in the year 1307 the bailiff/agent of the Hapsburg Duke of Austria placed a Hapsburg hat on a pole in the town square of the small village of Altdorf, Switzerland. Once the […]
A veteran's Story
A VETERAN’S STORY: Avoiding Cobras and Flying Cobras
Carl “Skip” Bell was born at Emory Hospital on August 6, 1945, the same day the B-29 Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. He said of the coincidence, “How about that, two man-made […]
A veteran's Story
A VETERAN’S STORY: Battle of the Heavyweights
By Pete Mecca Analogous to Mohammad Ali and Joe Frazier, Richard Ira “Dick” Bong and Thomas Buchanan McGuire were the heavyweight fighter jocks of World War II. Unlike Ali and Frazier, the two fighter aces […]
A veteran's Story
A VETERAN’S STORY: The Men of Evans
By Pete Mecca Evans Tool and Die has set a new standard for honoring veterans in Rockdale, Newton and surrounding counties. Going far beyond a brief but appreciated “Thank you for your service,” Evans chose […]