When we were kids we all wanted to be a soldier fighting an enemy in war or an Astronaut in space. As kids, we played outside with sticks for rifles; used sound effects for bullets and bombs. We would even pretend to be wounded. War to us then was a fictional place where you could be a hero then go home for dinner.

Like my friends, our fathers before us served in World War II and Korea. They knew the truth of war because they lived it but rarely ever talked about it. We grew up watching actors like John Wayne, Audie Murphy, and so many others as heroes fighting Germans and Japanese during World War II. I was especially drawn to the aviators like Chuck Yeager, Jimmy Doolittle, and astronauts of the Gemini and Apollo era. They seemed larger than life, and I wanted to be like them.

I have lived a purpose driven life since I was eighteen. My childhood was wonderful. In May of 1968 we moved into our new home. I grew up on a street called Cool Brook in Louisville, Kentucky in a small town called Fern Creek or at least it was back then. My family consists of myself and two older brothers. Summer of that year I went with a friend and his family to see 2001 A Space Odyssey at a drive-in theater. That was the year the movie was released. When I was a little boy my mom and dad took me to a local carnival where they were giving helicopter rides. I got a ride in one which was the first time I had left the Earth since I was born. It sure was fun and it gave me my first taste of flying. Two close friends of my mother were Billy Davis and his wife. Billy was an aerial photographer for the Courier Journal newspaper in Louisville. He owned his own plane. When I was a young teenager, he took us flying in his plane. This would be the second time I flew, and it was far more thrilling. Little did I know then that I would fly again during my service in the Air Force, and become part of an elite combat fighter squadron called the 72nd Tactical Fighter Squadron originally created after Pearl Harbor in April of 1942.

In the military, I was in charge of not just machinery but airmen as well. My civilian life was quite different. In civilian life I was never the boss of anything, save raising my three kids on my own. I never held a public office. I never made much money. I never chased any of the contemporary definitions of success—popularity, power or position.

Yet, despite my humble life, my kids, grand kids, and great-grandchildren will know about me. I hope that through this book my family and future generations will know who I was, and what I did. I hope that my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren who read my autobiography will come to know me, and have a better understanding of the sacrifices made by Cold War veterans as well as veterans in any conflict.

Maybe it will make up for not being able to spend time with them while they grew up. Most importantly, I want to share my memories in the hope that my experiences will serve as an example for future generations who must make difficult decisions, and possibly put their lives on the line for the preservation of liberty. To date, the Cold War was the longest and one of the most misunderstood wars in American history. It lasted 46 years.

I am the grandson of a World War I veteran and the son of a World War II Veteran. I am an American Airman and a Cold War Veteran. 

This is my story.