This post was originally published as Memory Monday, Week 81, in August 2018. This week I’m wrapping up my series of Korean War photos; I know a lot of you have been enjoying it, and I very much appreciate all your likes and shares. I think my final group of photos really encapsulates what my dad’s experience at Johnson Air Base was like. As before, I’ve put double quotes around any explanatory notes written on the back of the photos.
This post was originally published as Memory Monday, Week 80, in August 2018. The pilots and ground crews worked very hard at keeping the planes in the air; but every once in awhile things didn’t go as planned. Two views of a B-24 Liberator after a hard landing:
You might not think that onions and redwood trees have much to do with each other, and ordinarily you would be correct. But in Vacaville, California, a beautiful grove of redwoods exists very much as a result of a lot of onions. As a kid, I never gave much thought to Vacaville except for those occasions in the 1960s and […]
This post was originally published as Memory Monday, Week 79, in August 2018.
This post was originally published as Memory Monday, Week 78, in July 2018. This week I have a gallery of some of the Mustangs based at Johnson Air Base in 1950.
This post was originally published as Memory Monday, Week 77, in July 2018. I’ve found plenty of photos of P-51 Mustangs in my dad’s collection; some of them, like The Trio, appear over and over. I’m sure there are great stories behind every one of these ships, and someone familiar with the marks and insignias might be able to read some of them. Note the World War 2 “kill” decals and the Cobra in the Clouds insignia on one of the planes below.
Although I can’t recall ever actually stopping there, the Milk Farm Restaurant was a familiar landmark alongside Interstate 80 in Dixon, California, all during my childhood. The restaurant complex shut down in 1986, and the buildings are long gone now; but the sign remains — at least for the time being. Fearing its eventual demise, I’ve been wanting to stop […]
This post was original published as Memory Monday, Week 76, on July 23, 2018. Typing “39th Fighter Squadron” into Google gets me a lot of information about the squadron’s history in World War 2 and Korea, mostly focused on the pilots who flew missions over hostile territory. But I don’t find too much about the hard-working ground crews who maintained the planes so they would return safely to base after the day’s job was done. My dad’s photo collection focuses mainly on his fellow flight mechanics, and of course the planes they constantly took apart and put back together.
This post was original published as Memory Monday, Week 75, on July 16, 2018. This week, I’m starting in on the photos of my dad’s fellow servicemen — although unfortunately he didn’t record their names anywhere. And some of the prints are really tiny, like 2 x 2.75 inches. The majority though are 3.25 x 2.75 inches or 4.25 x 3 inches in size. Makes me remember how far print photography has come even during my lifetime! It’s great seeing images of the servicemen interacting with very happy local kids, especially considering that a mere 5 years earlier, our countries were at war with each other. Next week, I’ll have more posed photos like the ones below; again, I can’t identify these guys, but I’m sure they were excellent young servicemen!