Retired Vietnam veteran sees his dream realized

I love stories like this one! Via the Newport News Daily Press:

LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE – Retired Air Force Col. Donald Smith slowly inched his way into the cockpit of an F-22A Raptor sitting in the 94th Fighter Squadron hangar at Langley Air Force Base Thursday.

He did it quietly, solemnly.

After a few moments of taking it all in, Smith finally cracked a smile, looking out to the dozen or so airmen and family members circled around the jet.

“I’m not telling you how to start it,” said Lt. Col. Mike Hoepfner, a Raptor pilot and operations officer for the squadron, as he returned Smith’s smile.

While Smith would have jumped at the chance to feel the vibration of the jet fighter, just seeing the jet was already more than he could ask for.

Thursday’s visit to the Hampton base was a Second Wind Dream made possible by a Georgia-based, nonprofit organization that aims to fulfill the dreams of elderly men and women living in retirement communities.

Smith, a 78-year-old resident of the Warwick Forest retirement community in Newport News, had wanted to meet a Raptor pilot and see the Air Force’s newest and most stealthy plane up close. Langley was the perfect place to make the dream come true not only because it’s close to his home, but also because it was home to the first operational squadron of Raptors.

Make sure to read the rest of it to find out Smith’s distinguished military history.

My two best friends have fathers who are both WWII vets. While I haven’t met one of them, my friend has told me the story of how he was too young to serve, but managed to get enlisted anyway because he wanted to serve. I have met the other one’s dad – at a Marine reunion in SC a few years ago, and the stories he tells! He was supposedly too underweight to serve, by just a few pounds, but ate like crazy so he could go back and re-attempt to enlist … and was accepted. I just don’t feel worthy enough to even be in the same room with honorable people like them sometimes, you know?

Veterans like retired Air Force Col. Donald Smith, and my friends’ dads are a big part of what makes this country and our military so great, not idiots like Scott Thomas Beauchamp and others like him who the left grabs onto in an effort to somehow ‘prove’ that our military is supposedly so rotten to the core.

Thanks to ST reader Lorica for sending along the story.

NC Cop says:

September 14, 2007 at 4:54 pm

Great story!!!!!

Thank you Col. Smith, you were already a hero, I’m glad to see you get to do something that meant so much to you.

Lorica says:

September 14, 2007 at 6:07 pm

I love listening to the old vets talk. They are just so cool. When I was growning up, the Dad of a friend of mine was in WWII, made 3 of 4 landings in the war against against the Nazis. He was 17 when he went into the Army and had just turned 18 when he was landing in Sicily. He use to be so much fun to talk to. He once told me a story about how after the war he got to know the wine keeper of the city they were stationed at in Germany. He would sit around after duty hours and drink wine with this old guy. Well when they were ordered back to the states, that old wine keeper gave him a key to the city’s wine cellar, and told him when he came back he would have his own key. Just funny how fast things can change in the hearts and minds of people. Thanks for posting this Dear. It is a very good story, and good to see this Vet get his dream filled. – Lorica

Severian says:

September 14, 2007 at 8:52 pm

A very moving story, it’s wonderful to see him get his dream wish fulfilled. It reminds me of a similar story about Jack Northrup of Northrup aircraft fame.

Back in the day, he was a strong proponent of the flying wing design of aircraft. In fact, the B49 was selected as a strategic bomber for the Air Force. Unfortunately, then Secretary of the AF Stuart Symington owned a lot of Convair stock. He told Jack Northrup in no uncertain terms to merge his company with Convair. When Northrup talked with Convair, he was treated like crap, offered way below what the company was worth, as they knew they had him by the short hairs. He refused, and got a call from Symington the next week saying his bomber contract was canceled. So, Jack Northrup’s dream about a flying wing was killed.

Fast forward a few decades, and the B2 stealth bomber, a flying wing, was under development at Northrup in the “black” world. Jack had long since retired, was wheelchair bound, very old and weak. They got special permission to bring him into the black area and show him a model of the impending new bomber. He held the model in his old, shaking hands and tears welled up in his eyes. Finally, after all the abuse he took, and had to keep secret out of fear of reprisals against his company, after all the negative, and false, discrediting of his ideas, his dream was coming true as the most advanced manned bomber ever built.

As I said, I am a sucker for such stories.

Drewsmom says:

September 15, 2007 at 6:41 am

Wonderful moment for this great man and hero.
Hope this memory lasts him the rest of his most valuable life — military men and women, MY HEROES.

Tango says:

September 15, 2007 at 9:46 am

This old pilot is thrilled for THAT old pilot! Lemme tell you folks, something like this really raises your spirits. I remember years ago during the Carter regime, I had the opportunity to visit the cockpit of (then) one of two B-1 bomber prototypes. It had been flown in to NAS Miramar, where I happened to be working one weekend. Now, some of you might remember that Carter “killed” the B-1 bomber program. I thought (at the time) I was privileged to be one of very few who’d ever get to caress the B-1 up close and personal. But then along came RONALDUS MAXIMUS! And the B-1 program was resurrected and put into production! The rest is history! I still think the B-1 bomber is one of the most lethal-looking warbirds ever produced!

September 15, 2007 at 1:20 pm

Sev, What an AWESOME Moment for Jack Northrop.

Awesome Story Tango!!

Man I just miss yakin’ with old veterans. – Lorica