D IF YOU DO AND D IF YOU DON'T. Pt. 1

I collect autographs

I got started when my father asked Gus Grissom, one of the NASA Mercury 7 program astronauts, to sign a dollar bill at a Masonic meeting on the east coast of Florida. When he returned from his trip he gave the dollar to his oldest son. (Yours truly). Sadly, I have long since misplaced that particular piece of currency and the signature thereon.

But I admit it. I have some great autographs.

Jimmy Doolittle. John Glenn. Teddy Kennedy. Mrs. Douglas MacArthur. Chuck Yeager. Hillary Clinton. 

Neil Armstrong 

There are three, however, which I value almost as much as the latter of the previous autographs.

Theodore Van Kirk 

Tom Ferebee 

Paul Tibbets

And if these names ‘don’t ring a bell’ you can be forgiven. They’re much better known for what they ‘accomplished’ than for the syllables which make up their monikers. 

They were, (because they’re all gone now) the navigator, the bombardier, and the pilot of the Enola Gay; the airplane which dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. 

The bulk of my signatures were gleaned as the result of mailing solicitations to mailing addresses which I’d procured in one fashion or the other. I always included a dollar bill and a return envelope; (which geometrically increased the likelihood I would receive a favorable response, or any response at all).

Several years ago I discovered the ‘Atomic Trio’ would be appearing at the former Wendover Air Force Base at an event commemorating the 509th Composite Group, and the air crews which trained on the base; leading up to the first use of nuclear weapons in WWII, (or any other war for that matter).

I mailed my request for the trio’s autographs c/o of the Wendover post office, and waited. My patience was duly rewarded, as ten or twelve days later I received my SSARE (stamped, self-addressed return envelope) in the mail; along with that old and wrinkled dollar bill bearing three of the most infamous names in the history of this planet.

(to be continued)


 By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from (Mc)Donald's Daily Diary. Vol. 46. Copyright pending
 
 If you wish to copy, share or save this blog, please include the credit line, above
*************
 If you would like to see the titles and access hundreds of my blogs from 2015, do the following:  

Click on 2015 in the index to the right of this blog. When my December 31st blog, "The Shot Must Choose You" appears, click on the title. All my 2015 blog titles will come up in the right margin