{"id":317,"date":"2009-09-28T14:22:20","date_gmt":"2009-09-28T19:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kaybuena.com\/blog\/?p=317"},"modified":"2010-04-02T17:58:17","modified_gmt":"2010-04-02T22:58:17","slug":"the-day-i-got-some-credit-for-being-my-fathers-daughter-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/the-day-i-got-some-credit-for-being-my-fathers-daughter-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The day I got some credit for being my father's daughter"},"content":{"rendered":"

One fine day last spring in 2009, when the day was way too hot to be cabin fevered at home, I decided to set out on my own, as The Collingsworth Foundation <\/span>from our British allies, a society worthy of\u00a0quite a bit of\u00a0praise and attention, as they had\u00a0sent three planes to the Austin (used to be Bergstrom AFB) Airport that year, while I was very ill from stress related trauma.<\/p>\n

I went to forget my own problems, and still managed to see a WWII B-17, and a B-24 (the only operational airplane of its kind\u00a0today) and a P-51\u00a0Mustang fighter. \u00a0I was able to tour the interior of that last B-24 unaided by constraints, as I had my father\u2019s autobiography with me. I showed them my info and was allowed (just as the plane was preparing to take off), to\u00a0stand in\u00a0what would have been my father\u2019s place, between the pilot and the co-pilot, as the navigator would have done\u2013when he did\u00a0 just that on a \u00a0June day back when many young American servicemen lost their lives in WWII.<\/p>\n

I am a 62 year-old woman. As I crawled in severe pain (\u00a0to what used to be the opening that my Dad grabbed and hopped up with his strong upper body strength, and agile young body )\u00a0up a stairway provided for us \u2018civilians\u2019 to enter and be given a tour by a kind but befuddled crew member.\u00a0 I was allowed free access there in his stead, and quite strangely\u00a0enough began to envision what he might have experienced. \u00a0As tears filled my eyes and I was unable to suppress the sob that shocked even me (and believe me I\u2019ve had my own trails and tribulations) — I stood in silence and\u00a0 great pain for some 10 minutes while the possibilities of the stories that I had heard and read about filled my mind and memory. That very amiable, and puzzled crew member was seemingly amazed that I, who had been limping into the exhibit, my metal hip and knee starting off the usual ear shattering alarm upon my entrance ,was able to make it through the side tunnels of that old beautiful airplane, that had been carefully restored and was kindly offered in view to the public.<\/p>\n

I was filled with pride at what my father and his crew members had done back in WWII, as I will always be so. I hold that day in my heart of hearts, as one of my finest memories.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0I only hope that\u00a0all service brats\u00a0have a similar experience\u00a0that evokes that kind of emotional epiphany, that brings appreciation of what their father’s or mother’s\u00a0participation in a War Torn World can do to a person, and to his or her\u00a0family. As\u00a0I sat in my old Volvo\u00a0with tears pouring down my checks and on my shaking legs for quitesome time.\u00a0 I finally gathering up\u00a0what was left of my dignity and drove out of the parking lot, into the highway headed for home.<\/p>\n

\u00a0When I was a youngster, I remember playing with my\u00a0brother, and his friends as my father\u00a0looked on with a bemused smile, as we ever so\u00a0innocently cavorted and giggled, completely unaware of the history and significance of such a plane to him.\u00a0 But still as we played beside and inside of\u00a0an old B-17, I remember how patiently and calmly he handled us\u00a0all. \u00a0Even though this was one of the planes that he had so\u00a0expertly guided as a navigator, with\u00a0his own flock of brave servicemen through the more than\u00a0perilous, impossible days when the 408 delivered supplies, reinforcements, and the very incendiary gasoline\u00a0needed to fuel\u00a0Patton’s army,\u00a0not having the time to wait for assistance, as he and his crew members carried those 5 gallons tanks from the fuselage to the storing place.\u00a0 Yet some of those few soldiers somehow managed to survive and make it back home. I am forever grateful that one of them was my father (at the time Captain Charles Webb Abbitt, VMI graduate 1941).<\/p>\n

Though I may be known for my humour and imagination, there is nothing that can take the place of that day inside the last B-24, when the tears that fed my heart and soul which\u00a0began\u00a0leaking out of my eyes, like salt water onto the burning face\u00a0of this newly enlightened old lady, who had awkwardly made her way into her aging and still heroic father\u2019s place so many years ago.<\/p>\n

\u00a0And today, I am remembering all\u00a0of us\u00a0old \u201cmilitary-brats\u201d of those heroes of what was truly the war to end all wars<\/strong>. Compared to\u00a0those sacrifices made way back then with these that I have made in my life to entertain and amuse, and try to cling to the hope you might be amused too; find in comparison, mine are down to 0.01.<\/p>\n

I am glad that I have survived to tell you this story today. As for all the funny stuff that had me linked to \u2018comedy land\u2019; it can remain out there as everything on this Internet can do. I only hope we in the US of A continue to havethe trust and nerve to continue in the spirit of fighting the forces of evil \u2013 that, as Jakob Dylan said \u201cEvil is alive and well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One fine day last spring in 2009, when the day was way too hot to be cabin fevered at home, I decided to set out on my own, as The Collingsworth Foundation from our British allies, a society worthy of\u00a0quite a bit of\u00a0praise and attention, as they had\u00a0sent three planes to the Austin (used to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-true-and-unusual-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8R4qt-57","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":285,"url":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/the-day-i-got-some-credit-for-being-my-fathers-daughter\/","url_meta":{"origin":317,"position":0},"title":"The Day I got some credit for being my Father's daughter.","author":"Kay Buena","date":"June 18, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Unusual Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Unusual Stories","link":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/category\/true-and-unusual-stories\/unusual-stories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1009,"url":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/surface-pro\/","url_meta":{"origin":317,"position":1},"title":"Surface Pro II","author":"KayBuena","date":"December 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Christmas Then & Now Santa, in case it's break time.\u00a0 Perchance you are surfing the web, please take a gander on that with which we've opened.\u00a0 It's not as if we have a shortage of computers. Well, I just thought maybe if you're in the market. Or maybe Rudolf's a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Truly Strange and Unusual Adventures of Kay Buena's Youth"","block_context":{"text":"The Truly Strange and Unusual Adventures of Kay Buena's Youth","link":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/category\/true-and-unusual-stories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/SP2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/SP2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/SP2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/SP2.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8,"url":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/my-mom-may-god-rest-her-soul-had-one-of-the-best-eitherial-additudes-ever-alsothis-did-not-go-unnoticed\/","url_meta":{"origin":317,"position":2},"title":"My Mom, (May God rest her soul) had one of the best ethereal attitudes ever; also, this did not go unnoticed","author":"Kay Buena","date":"August 8, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the problems of having an unusual historical background, as many military brats and\/or (as in my case)\"Space Kids\" did, is the necessity for being discrete, which is learned from experience, as well as taught and repeatedly reminded by one's parents to keep your little smart-assed mouth shut on\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26,"url":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/tribute-to-bill-ducker-gone-but-never-forgotten\/","url_meta":{"origin":317,"position":3},"title":"Tribute to Bill Ducker, Gone but Never Forgotten","author":"Kay Buena","date":"October 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I first became acquainted with Mr. Bill Ducker back in the early 70's when times were not exactly prosperous or even ironically amusing for me and his then girl friend (later to become his wife), Claire.\u00a0 We were House mates at the time.\u00a0 She had divorced her husband and\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":662,"url":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/the-intro-for-a-new-catagory-the-truly-strange-and-unusual-adventures-of-kay-buenas-youth\/","url_meta":{"origin":317,"position":4},"title":"The Intro for a new category: The Truly Strange and Unusual Adventures of Kay Buena’s Youth","author":"Kay Buena","date":"May 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0As a \"Military Brat\", a positive term used to describe children of parents in the Armed Forces of the United States of America, I have a strange but (I\u00a0think) interesting point of view of what is considered normal. (Well, it is certainly a \u00a0different normal than most.) I went to\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/C03S49-ClinewithCup320x480.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5,"url":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/the-critics-are-everywhere\/","url_meta":{"origin":317,"position":5},"title":"The Critics are everywhere.","author":"Kay Buena","date":"August 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Yawls- \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Not that this matters a whole lot, but I generally have my home page set for Googling and a variety of news and other subjects that are strange and usual.\u00a0 I also keep Kevin Smith's My Boring Ass Life available for serious\u00a0meditation at hand,\u00a0when the press is so\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":386,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317\/revisions\/386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}