Obituaries

[buffnut453]

Fair winds and following seas brave aviator!

 

[fubar57]

 

[Airframes]

 

[Snautzer01]

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

I just found out that an acquaintance of mine passed away on Christmas day, 2016.
Jack Goad was 95 years young at the time of his passing and some may recall my mentioning him in a few threads regarding D-Day, as he was with the 82nd Airborn.
He was also attached to General Eisenhower's security detail as well as being tasked with standing guard over General Patton during the preperations for his funeral.

He was easy to talk to and one of his recollections about D-Day and the weeks following, was that any German armored vehicle they encountered was assumed to be a Tiger - it's reputation was that great.
He also mentioned that of all the Allied aircraft he observed attacking German positions, the Typhoon and P-47 were the ones that impressed him the most.

It's a shame, that in this age of instant information, we still get left in the dark.

Rest easy, Jack (and you still owe me a beer for fixing your truck's radio!)

Goodbye to WWII pilot Dean "Diz" Laird, the only U.S. Navy ace to have air combat victories in both the Pacific and European theaters, flying 138 fighter missions during that war. The recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross (and the 2015 Congressional Gold Medal), Laird also served in the Korean War and the Vietnam War, and was the lead stunt pilot for the 1969 film Tora! Tora! Tora! He retired from the Navy in 1971 as a Commander, and still holds the record for the most arrested landings on a straight-deck aircraft carrier. He died August 10 at 101.

An Ace in the Hole: "Diz" Laird

U.S. Navy Commander Dean “Diz” Laird went from shooting down Japanese airplanes to flying replicas of them over Pearl Harbor

www.historynet.com

The Diz Laird Collection - USS Hornet Museum

uss-hornet.org

Dean S. Laird - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[ARTESH]

May their souls rest in Peace!

 

[buffnut453]

Mikhail Gorbachev, last Premier of the Soviet Union, has died aged 91. Seen in the West as the architect of the end of the Cold War, and of Russia joining the rest of the world through his policy of Glasnost, he was, unsurprisingly, viewed rather differently in Russia as the instigator of the chaos that came after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Regardless of your viewpoint, he was a brave man who acted on his principles. Oh, that we had a few more like him in Russia today.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

 

[Admiral Beez]

Many of Russia's best combat aircraft arrived under Gorbachev's watch.

 

[Dash119]

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

This is such a weird feeling today. As a kid living in Germany in the 80s and 90s, experiencing the end of the Cold War first hand, and the fall of the Berlin Wall left a permanent impact on my life. I may have been young, but I remember it clearly. I remember the "Tear Down This Wall" Speech, and I remember watching the Berlin Wall fall. Maybe it is because up until that point I lived on the front lines of potential WW3. The Soviet Army was only several hundred kilometers away. At the time there were two level headed leaders leading the United States and the Soviet Union, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. Despite their differences they found a way to seek peace and to meet common ground (something our leaders today, and their blind cult like followers are incapable of).

With Gorbachev's passing today, the two leaders who probably impacted my life the most are gone. Its just a litteral surreal feeling I cannot explain.

 

[buffnut453]

Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II died today after a lifetime of service. She counts as a WW2 veteran since she wore uniform during that conflict:

Despite her oft-dysfunctional offspring (who wouldn't be a little warped being raised in that pressure-cooker environment), she embodied service before self, and was a bedrock of stability through her many tumultuous decades.

Farewell Auntie Betty....may your successors continue in the mould you created.

 

[fubar57]

 

[Wurger]

 

[FLYBOYJ]

 

[vikingBerserker]

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

 

[Dash119]

 

[Gnomey]

 

[Vic Balshaw]

I was in the dentist chair when she came to the thrown back in Feb 52, a day I will forever remember. RIP Liz.