Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Dec. 27 and 28, 2017--American Heritage merit badge interviews

 A scout has to interview to war veterans for the American Heritage badge.  That sounded awesome to me so I arranged for Cowen and Nick (our neighbor/other son) to interview Timothy's grandpa, Wilford Young, who served as a captain of a minesweeper during WWII.  That shadow box on the wall has the first American flag in Japan after the dropping of the bomb.  I need to get more details since I'm forgetful, but I love listening to Grandpa talking about his time in the Navy.  He's an amazing man.

 Grandpa did a bunch of family history, including writing his autobiography.  He included pictures of the boat he captained and other military stuff and Cowen loves looking at it.
 Cowen and his great-grandpa.
The other veteran the boys interviewed is Brother West (I think his first name is Roy, but I'll have to check the ward directory).  I love him!!!  He was a career military pilot and flew in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam.  He flew one of the planes that is at the Hill Air Force Museum.  He is also funny and sweet and he and his wife are some of my favorite people.  Cowen loved all of his hair-raising stories. Because Cowen had such a good time talking to Brother West, I asked Brother West if he would take up on a tour of the Hill Air Force Base Museum, as he flew so many different types of planes enshrined there.  He agreed, despite his getting tired quite easily, and he and his daughter met me and my friend, Marilyn, and her family, there.  I WISH I had taken a video camera and no kids.  He told the BEST stories, but I was trying to listen and keep Clover and Annabel corralled so I missed too much of what he said.  It was still such an amazing day and I am so glad we all made the effort to make it happen.

2 comments:

Kami said...

Leo and I want to go with him and without kids too! sounds fascinating!

Andrea said...

Kami, you would have LOVED his story about flying to Germany (from England) to drop bombs and getting his plane shot on the way back so he had to fly a zigzag pattern to keep enough air flow to keep his engine going, and it stalled right as he reached the air field so he had to coast down and then turn a tight circle until it finally stopped on its own. Crazy!