Flying Back

These are photos of an exhibit at Chicago O'Hare airport. The exhibit is a Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat fighter painted to represent the aircraft flown by Butch O'Hare when he won his Medal of Honor early in 1942. I used to know the exact details of the engagement but suffice to say, a number of Japanese bombers went to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and some American ships didn't.

It is very well done and presents the aircraft as it would look about to touch down on a carrier deck. The exhibit is located on the pedestrian route between the United terminal and the rest of the airport.

The trip back to Africa was very pleasant in spite of its' 30 hour duration. During a long layover in Chicago I was able to see some of my old airline pilot friends, one of whom made a special trip out visit with me.

Over the Atlantic I was looking at the moon and contemplating all the visiting I had done during my stay in the U.S. I remembered a good book I read once called "A Soldier In The Great War". At the end of the book, the protagonist, an old man, alone in the world, is sitting on a hillside; thinking. He was thinking that regardless of all the great things he'd done, the wonders he'd seen and the perils he'd survived, the only things that mattered at all were his family, and his friends.

He was right.