USAF Col Richard L Alley: Two Years Gone

My father passed away on this day, February 11th, 2009.

I find it difficult to believe that his passing occurred two years ago.

My wife and I received the call from my brother a short time after 3:30 in the morning -- when my father had died.

I thought that the pain would gradually go away and, to a degree, it has.

Yet, on the other hand, his passing is as fresh to me now as then.

He was a member of The Greatest Generation. Those who made so many major sacrifices for our great nation, kept us safe in our beds, and kept the country uninvaded. Their incredible sacrifices. Though they didn't necessarily want to do so. He fought in B-17s. He trained in B-25s. It was almost the perfect triumvirate: his brother Jim signed up for the Army; his youngest brother Bill enlisted in the Navy (and had the USS Yorktown sink underneath him). My father went for the Army Air Force.

If you want to digest the quintessential document of sacrifice, read "With The Old Breed" by Eugene B. Sledge. Astounding. Simply astounding. Or perhaps the superior (but lesser read) Bert Stiles book: "Serenade To The Big Bird."

They didn't want to be there, they feared, they wanted to run away. And yet they persevered.

God bless you, Dad.

I think about you every day.

And I write this post through a film of tears. My throat constricts. I still miss you terribly.

You would have been 91 this year.

BZ


[Both photos are not prototypical; they are of my father as an instructor, and in flight school. Click photos to expand. -BZ]