Sunday, November 23, 2008

The Name Is Olds

I've reached the final two weeks in the preparation of Robin Olds' memoir. His daughter Christina has done a remarkable job of sorting, organizing, editing and getting the writings of his life into a coherent readable package. We'll get it to St. Martin's Press, the publisher by the end of the month. It will offer readers an insight into a truly remarkable man's life.

Today, I'm working through a chapter on his F-4 experiences at Ubon during Rolling Thunder. He offers comments on what makes a fighter pilot different and in the process offers a quote from John Gillespie Magee that never seems to grow old.

It triggered memories of my childhood when I'd make a special effort to stay up late enough to watch the TV stations sign off. Some would do it with the national anthem, some with America the Beautiful, and some with a reading of the poem coupled with this video of a beautiful airplane in action:

No comments: