By Pete Mecca Arranging an interview quickly turns into something even more exciting when the veteran suggests, “Let’s just fire up the old Stearman and fly down to Peach State Aerodrome for lunch at Barnstormer’s […]
A dismal 25% of B-17 and B-24 bomber crews completed their 25 required missions during the initial phase of the Allied air war over Europe. The mean average was 15 missions before being shot down, […]
Job description from a WWII B-17 training manual, “The inflight Armorer-Gunner inspects, repairs, maintains machine guns, cannons, bomb release mechanisms, bomb racks, aerial gun sites, the auxiliary equipment and chemical carrying release mechanisms, and flare […]
Shot down in enemy-held territory while on a bombing run in Vietnam near An Loc, 1st Lt. Michael Blassie was listed as MIA (Missing in Action) and the body said to be unrecoverable. In reality, […]
One of our frequent writers, Pete Mecca, has been offered his own radio show. The program is called “A Veteran’s Story”, the same as his weekly newspaper articles. Pete will be interviewing veterans and active […]
By Pete Mecca On Dec 6, 1941 a flight of thirteen B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers lifted off at 15 minute intervals from Hamilton Field near San Francisco. Ahead lay a monotonous fifteen hour flight […]
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 […]
‘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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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