The Now Softer Sig Harder

                                                                      By Colonel Ronald L. Albers, USAF, retired

It was February 25, 1945, at a remote airfield in eastern Bavaria near the small village of Pocking.  Nazi warplanes were well hidden in areas cleared into the forest, then covered with netting and other camouflage. These were special aircraft at this particular airdrome that no other field possessed. The field also held some of…

My Perception of Today’s Heroes

By Ron Albers, Colonel, USAF, retired

   It appears to me that the heroes of the average American today are sports figures.  Our Air Force members are a professional team, so let’s compare them to professional athletes. Airmen are often criticized for occasionally missing targets, perhaps causing “collateral damage.”  True, sometimes they are off-target; but certainly more than…

Tuskegee Airman Returns to Spot in France Where He Was Shot down in 1944

(This trip took place in May of 2008)

by Ronald L. Albers, Colonel, USAF, retired

     On August 12, 1944, 22-year-old 2^nd Lt Alexander Jefferson of the famed Tuskegee Airmen 332^nd Fighter Group was flying his “red tail” P-51 Mustang (named Margo, after his girlfriend at the time) on his 19^th combat mission over Europe. His formation’s mission…

Two months ago, I was returning from an RV trip out east, when I saw a sign for the National D Day Memorial. It seems to me that it was about 30 miles off I-81. (Bedford is east of Roanoke and half way to Lynchburg.) Anyway, the previous month I spent an entire week on Normandy Beach visiting all the museums there, and I recalled reading that the small town of Bedford had lost more young men per capita during Operation Overlord than any other town in the US. I expected to see a nice monument…