Vern Horton enlisted in the military at age 17, as soon as he graduated high school. He wanted to be a pilot, and initially signed up for the Army Air Corps, but after a long wait to in-process, he visited a Marine recruiter. He was promised a pilot slot, but while he was in boot camp, the pilot training program he was to be enrolled in was canceled. He was offered navigator/bombardier and accepted, but while he was waiting to attend, that program was canceled also.

Finally, he was accepted into waist-gunner training, and graduated first in his class. After training, he shipped out to the South Pacific, where he flew combat missions in the B25 PBJ. On one mission, he fired so many rounds at the enemy he overheated the barrels of his 50-caliber machine gun!

This 93-years-young combat veteran now shares his story with aviation aficionados as he accompanies the one-of-a-kind restored Marine PBJ.