Pt.
5
Speaking
of “strange and wonderful” occurrences in the midst of a storm, hands down the
most bizarre thing to which I was ever exposed was, well, I will get to it in a
bit. At any rate, as with the previous story, the storm in question was none
other than Hurricane Andrew, circa August 1992.
My
late supervisor, Sergeant First Class Robert Hoehne, and I had been mobilized,
along with 35,000 other active and reserve troops, to assist the citizens of
Homestead, Cutler Ridge and Perrine, Florida; who had just experienced the 180
mph, Category 5 winds of one of two or three “hurricanes of the (20th)
century.”
Sergeant
Hoehne was an elementary teacher and I, a UPS man, in our “real lives.” But as
members of the Florida Army National Guard we were subject to mobilization in
the case of both state and national emergencies. (And this particular event
represented all of the above).
The
primary mission of our four man section, over the course of the first several
weeks, was to guard a heavily damaged subdivision called “Country Walk.” There
was nothing to learn, and nothing especially technical about our roles there.
We
stood at the main entrance of the upscale community, and checked the ID’s of anyone
who wished to enter. If the address on their driver’s licenses matched one of
the streets in Country Walk, they were admitted; no questions asked. Otherwise,
they were turned away. A couple of times a day Bob designated another team
member to guard the gate, and he and I jumped into our jeep and drove through
what was left of the place.
The
$300,000 - $500,000 homes were in absolute shambles. As we drove along the
vacant streets we noticed what seemed to be an over- abundance of plywood.
There was simply too much of it, and we mused that perhaps after all this was
over the state might revisit its building codes. (And indeed, it did).
Pt.
6
On
one memorable day as I stood guard duty, I happened to look to my right and
slightly behind me, and there, out sitting in a field in all its glory, was a
vintage WWII C-47 “Gooney Bird” airplane. (I told you I would get to it).
I
think I must have rubbed my eyes before speaking.
“Bob,
(though military, we didn’t stand on formalities) what in the world is that aircraft
doing in the field?”
To
which my supervisor (and good friend) pointed, smiled broadly, and responded.
“You
mean that airplane?”
An
involuntary chuckle escaped my lips.
“Yes,
that old Gooney Bird. You know, like in the ‘Sky King’ series.”
And
with this my boss unraveled the momentary mystery.
“Well,
believe it or not, Bill that old C-47 was in an aircraft museum about a mile
from here when the hurricane came through, and it flew its last flight …without
a pilot.”
(and)
“I’ve
been told one of those embedded tornadoes in the hurricane picked it up, and set
it down gently in that field; all without a pilot and without any damage.”
Of
course, I was flabbergasted. I had never heard of, nor seen anything like it.
It
is a rare thing for a storm of this nature to do anything remotely benevolent
to people or property, but in this case the little airplane which flew its last
flight without a pilot survived to be loved and enjoyed by future generations
of museum goers.
by William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from (Mc)Donald's Daily Diary. Vol. 67. Copyright pending
If you wish to copy, share or 'save' please include the credit line, above
by William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from (Mc)Donald's Daily Diary. Vol. 67. Copyright pending
If you wish to copy, share or 'save' please include the credit line, above
No comments:
Post a Comment