Last Monday, St. Patrick's Day, Matt Pelishek and I joined other media folks from Bakersfield and took a ride in the historic bomber "Liberty Belle."
I have walked through static displays of B-17s before, but this was my first time to ride one. The Liberty Foundation is the non-profit organization that is currently on a 50 city tour with the plane. If you'd like info on the "Liberty Belle" the website is http://www.libertyfoundation.org/.
The experience is something that I'll never forget. My Uncle Gerry was a tail gunner during World War II. His plane was shot down near the end of the war. He spent the last six weeks in a POW camp. The deck is a very uneven surface for walking. I looked at the tail-gunner's section, and looked at the area that he had to crawl through to get to the door so he could bail out. I'm sure the plane was tumbling as it fell, so he had to fight the force of gravity trying to keep him in the plane.
The men who fought the air war over Europe from 1939 through 1945 have my utmost respect. The terror that they must have faced each day they went up must have been tremendous. They didn't know at the time they took off whether or not they'd return . They were young men in their late teens and twenties, for the most part. The bomber crews had a mission of delivering high explosives onto targets deep inside Germany and Nazi-held territory. They were up against young men on the other side who were fighting to defend their homeland. Never having faced combat, I can't even imagine what it must have been like to be twenty-five to thirty thousand feet in the air fighting for my life. I'm sure that everyone who did that job experienced great fear at times. "War is Hell" is the oft-quoted statement from General Sherman. I thank God, though, that during times when we have had to go to war, there have been young men and women willing to put their lives on the line for us. This current generation of young folks also has my respect. I thank my Uncle Gerry Dickerson, and the men like him who did that job, to bring down Hitler.
The job done by those bomber crews during WWII helped to bring an end to a terribly devastating time in our history. Only when Christ returns, will we as a people never have to go to war with each other again. I look forward to that day.
We continue to tell the story of the B-17, B-24, B-29 (in the Pacific T/O) crews. We do it, not to glorify war, but to remember the sacrifice made by a generation, who saw fit to pay whatever it cost to stop Hitler and the Axis powers. It is something that MUST always be remembered. They weren't just a bunch of slow moving old men. They were young, and so alive. Men who had so much to live for. Many never came home. They are heroes. Gentlemen, thank you. God bless you.
