My friend Art Leach turns a hundred on May 1. A retired banker, he is one of the last surviving carrier pilots of World War II. He flew Hellcat fighters off the Yorktown in the Pacific. His matter of fact stories to me about the many ways pilots could die in those days that did not involve enemy action have long fascinated me. The term hero is overused, but Art, although he would laugh at the term being applied to him, is one. If you would like to send him a card, his address is 308 East Elk Street, Odell, Il. 60460.
I like heroes, patriots and statesmen.
” I never saw it as a person. I saw it as a plane.” Unfortunately, the opponent did not see himself as a sovereign person either. I am sending prayers and a card.
<3
Hmmm, Mary, what, specifically, do you mean?
Thank you, Art Leach, warrior, hero, fellow Naval Aviator.
“Matter of fact” stories.
When everyone around you is involved in an heroic effort, your own role may not seem unusual.
Yeah. Most of Art’s stories center on what other pilots in his unit did, especially the guys who never came home.
As a Canadian Forces officer I wore air force blue. Naval aviators, flying off flap tops, are a particularly brave bunch. Guts galore. To To Art Leach I say, bravo zulu.
Blue side up.
John the Mad, Major (Ret’d)
“Hmmm, Mary, what, specifically, do you mean?”
Man is created in sovereign personhood in the image and likeness of The Supreme Sovereign Being, God. Spiritual maturity inspires appreciation and acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty and the sovereignty of every individual human being. Individuals who go to war, killing for the appropriation of land or power lose their destiny in heaven and on earth. War mongers literally do not know who they are. They are LOSERS.