Ms. Cotton's Summer Adventure
Thursday, July 18, 2019
The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI
National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio
Today we headed to the Air Force Museum outside of Dayton, Ohio. This is the oldest and largest military aviation museum in the world. It is right near the area wherethe Wright Brothers flew some of their planes. The museum is huge so we decided to focus on the World War II and Presidential hangers. There were so many amazing planes and displays. Of note was the B-17F Memphis Belle, an iconic symbol of the air attacks made over Europe, memorialized by one of my favorite WWII movies by the same name. As I looked at the plane, I thought of my friend Bob Keatley who was a radio operator on a B-17. I thought about his 30 successful missions and of all those who did not return. Another amazing moment was having the opportunity to see Bocks Car, the B-29 Superfotress that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan ending WWII. On July 9,1945, Bockscar, piloted by Major Charles L. Sweeney, dropped Fat Man, a plutonium based bomb on Nagasaki killing approximately 35,000 people and injuring over 60,000. As I looked at the plane and the replica of the Fat Man bomb, I thought of my friend Gerry Jones, Marines First Division, who was on Okinawa preparing for the invasion of the Japanese homeland. The devestation of the atomic bombs was terrible, and I pray that we never need to use atomic weapons again in this way, but I am grateful that those who served like Gerry, and my friends Jim, Sol, and Herman who were in the Pacific because the end of the war meant they could come home.
Finally, I was able to see a Catalina. This year I was honored to meet WAVE Carolyn Scott. Carolyn became an aviation gunnery instructor at Pensacola Naval Air Station. Carolyn was one of over 80,000 women who joined the WAVES in World War II. She taught sailors how to shoot and as I looked at the .50-caliber machine gun mounted on the side of the plane I thought about Carolyn muscling the 84 pound gun as she taught sailors how to hit a target towed behind a plane with her paint tipped bullets, prooving her accuracy when the target was checked back on the ground. Those sailors learned from the best!
Our last stop was the presidential hangerwhich houses planes that carried FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy. I was able to board the plane that carried Kennedy's body back to D.C. after he was assassinated. Such a sad moment in our country's history. JFK is a personal hero so I was honored to be on this plane and touch this part of our history.
I am thankful to my World War II friends and all those who served and continue to serve. So happy that this trip took me in this direction.
Tuesday, June 25, 2019
Pecos National Historical Park in Pecos, New Mexico
Monday, June 24, 2019
Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library Abilene, Kansas
I admire Eisenhower's dedication to the country, the soldiers under his command, his love of family, and his leadership style. On his desk in the Oval Office he kept a plate in Latin that translated to, "Gently in manner, strongly in deed." President Eisenhower lived a life that demonstrated this. May we all learn from his leadership.
Sunday, June 23, 2019
Mark Twain's Boyhood Home, Hannibal, Missouri
Saturday, June 22, 2019
Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan
Greenfield Village is a living history museum that is a part of the Henry Ford Museum. It contains over one hundred historic buildings that have been moved to the property and reassembled. There are craft buildings where visitors can pull glass and run metal lathes. I enjoyed making a brass candlestick on a lathe. I also enjoyed touring Thomas Edison's Menlo Park lab. This is where he perfected the incandescent bulb. It was fun to listen to an actor portraying Edison talk about his inventions. When Mr. Ford had the lab rebuilt, Mr. Edison actually visited to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the incandescent bulb. The chair he sat in is still in the building! As Mr. Edison said, "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration." I also got to visit the reassembled Wright Brothers Bicycle Shop, and I heard two actors portray the brothers and talk about their first flights. So cool! This type of museum is fun because I was able to live history through riding a carousel, playing lawn games, eating food based on historic recipes, and walk through homes and shops people would have once used. My absolutely favorite part was getting to ride around the village in two different Model T Fords. One was a classic from 1914 and the other was a Woody from 1923 that had been used as a cab to carry passengers and luggage from the train to hotels. We spent the whole day at the village and had such a great time and learned some amazing living history.
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Niagara Falls, New York
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