As promised here are a few pictures from my trip to Iwo Jima and other WWII sites in the Pacific. I took hundreds of picutres, so this is only a brief sampling. If anyone wants to see more all you have to do is visit my facebook page.
Tinian
Tinianwas without a doubt the most amazing place I visited and certainly had the most history. Here is a shot of me on Runway Able in North Field - this is the runway that the Enola Gay and Bockscar took off from to drop the Atomic Bombs. We also go to see where they were assembled. In 1945 North Field was the largest and busiest airport in the world. They had 4 8500 ft runways that would see a B-29 take off every miniute for nearly two hours during bombin missions. The trail of bombers in the air would stretch for 500 miles.
Iwo Jima
There was lots of ceromony surround the Iwo part of my trip. I met a Navajo Code Talker, the only suriving CMOF recipient from Iwo Jima, John Basilone's niece, and several others. On Iwo I got to raise an American Flag that belonged to my best friend Aaron who died March 1 of this year (you may recall a few threads about him on here). We used to go to the races at Talladega every year and he'd always bring an American flag to fly and this is the flag I took to Iwo. I also got to explore a Japanese cave.
This is a picture of me with CMOH Recipient Hershel "Woody" Williams. He is 91 and is still going strong - very strong.
And finally the best for last. This is Hamley (sorry, never got a name or rank from him), but he graduated Tech in 1943 with a degree in Engineering and then went on to fly B-29s out of North Field on Tinian. He is actually being honored in Lubbock by Tech next month as being a distinguished alumni (and he honestly has no idea why Tech has interest in him for this). This picture was taken around 3AM in the hotel lobby while we wait to board buses for the airport. Hamley is 95 years old.
Tinian
Tinianwas without a doubt the most amazing place I visited and certainly had the most history. Here is a shot of me on Runway Able in North Field - this is the runway that the Enola Gay and Bockscar took off from to drop the Atomic Bombs. We also go to see where they were assembled. In 1945 North Field was the largest and busiest airport in the world. They had 4 8500 ft runways that would see a B-29 take off every miniute for nearly two hours during bombin missions. The trail of bombers in the air would stretch for 500 miles.
Iwo Jima
There was lots of ceromony surround the Iwo part of my trip. I met a Navajo Code Talker, the only suriving CMOF recipient from Iwo Jima, John Basilone's niece, and several others. On Iwo I got to raise an American Flag that belonged to my best friend Aaron who died March 1 of this year (you may recall a few threads about him on here). We used to go to the races at Talladega every year and he'd always bring an American flag to fly and this is the flag I took to Iwo. I also got to explore a Japanese cave.
This is a picture of me with CMOH Recipient Hershel "Woody" Williams. He is 91 and is still going strong - very strong.
And finally the best for last. This is Hamley (sorry, never got a name or rank from him), but he graduated Tech in 1943 with a degree in Engineering and then went on to fly B-29s out of North Field on Tinian. He is actually being honored in Lubbock by Tech next month as being a distinguished alumni (and he honestly has no idea why Tech has interest in him for this). This picture was taken around 3AM in the hotel lobby while we wait to board buses for the airport. Hamley is 95 years old.
