March 4, 2014 Peruvian Lights

The Liberty Gazette

March 4, 2014

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Here in Liberty we’re fortunate to have an airport and a couple of helipads. As publicly owned assets they should serve the public – that’s their job – and they do, night and day.

There was a heart-warming story from eastern Peru and we thought you would like to know about it. It makes me think of one local family who shared their story of how the Liberty Airport played a role in the rescue of one of their family members.

It was one night last April when an emergency medical flight needed to depart immediately from Contamana in order to save some lives. Contamana is a remote town in the Rain Forest, and in the deepest darkness of night a take-off from the local landing strip was unsafe. There are no lights on this dirt and grass strip.

The pilot of the airplane, a Cessna Caravan, had to consider the safety of his passengers, and determined they could not take off such a short and unimproved strip in total darkness.

But in that remote little town there’s a local radio station, and I imagine its run by someone much like Bill Buchanan, someone who cares about people and doesn’t stand still and shake his head and say, “Someone ought to do something.” The good folks at the radio station learned of the situation and went without delay to the airwaves, asking listeners for help. I imagine our local station would do the same if the need were there.

But how could the people of this remote town in Peru help their neighbors in need? Their response will warm your heart.

Mike: In less than half an hour after the radio station sent out the plea the count of about 300 taxi drivers and people from across the listening area drove their cars, motorbikes and auto-rickshaws to the air strip, lined up along each side, and turned on their headlights to light the way along the 2624-foot long strip. By comparison, the Liberty Airport is currently 3,801 feet long. That tells you the pilot had no wiggle room for mistakes – they had to get off the ground in a short distance.

Thanks to the goodness of all those people who rushed to the airport that night to give of their time and use of their belongings without any expectation or request for compensation, with nothing to gain but knowing they did the right thing, the pilot was able to take off with three passengers in need of medical treatment. Bystanders cheered, and people knew they’d done what was right at the time it was needed. Some taxi drivers must have sacrificed a great deal, being put out of service and unable to pick up paying customers for that period of time.

There’s a BBC report on file which you can watch online, just search using a word string such as “BBC headlights Peru air strip medical flight” and I bet you’ll find the video.

The airport in Contamana is the lifeline to the outside world, and the passengers who were served that night, a mother and her newborn baby, and a 17-year old boy, can thank the people who dropped everything they were busy doing to drive to the airstrip and light the way to hope and healing.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

February 25, 2014 Orbis

The Liberty Gazette

February 25, 2014

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: When I turned 50 I had to admit there were times when reading glasses would help. It’s been tough on the ego, but then I consider the millions who cannot see well, or at all. Our local Lions Club is one of the strong supporters of eye care and sight restoration – please, be generous in your support of our Liberty Lions Club.

Where the business of aviation meets the business of ophthalmic is in Orbis, a company that has been bringing sight to the world since 1982. It’s a flying hospital, with destinations in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, for two- to three-week missions in-country where volunteer staff train local surgeons and medical personnel. Doctors volunteering with Orbis are preventing and treating blindness in the developing world. Volunteer pilots are getting them there, and volunteer mechanics keep the airplane flying.

Inside the world’s only airborne ophthalmic training facility are 48 seats where trainees attend lectures and watch surgery broadcast live, while they can ask questions directly to the surgeons during the operations. Filling out the rest of the cabin of the DC-10 they’re currently using are a full audio-visual room, a laser room for front and rear cornea and retina repair, a medical simulator, a full operating theater, and recovery area.

Mike: United Airlines donated the first airplane, a DC-8, which served for ten years as doctors taught doctors how to restore sight. But the fuselage didn’t lend itself well to a hospital environment, and by the late 1980’s the DC-8 was being retired (which would soon mean no more qualified pilots), so Orbis executives approached Fed Ex Founder and Chairman Fred Smith for help finding a replacement: a DC-10, which first took off as the new flying hospital in 1992.

The myriad of logistical puzzle pieces require a year’s planning for trips. The airplane hauls tools, equipment, generators, and experts – 22 people go on every trip, including two mechanics. The DC-10 is an out-of-production airplane, so they rely on the aviation community a lot, and Fed Ex has continued their support with donations of parts, labor, and satisfying regulatory requirements.

Upon landing they can set up the hospital in a day and a half. Surgical candidates are selected through a screening process. There’s no telling how many people enjoy restored eyesight because the job is to teach the healers, but Orbis volunteers return and monitor the cases, and provide an e-learning and e-mentoring tele-medicine program for doctors all over the globe. In this way, they’ve reached nearly 300,000 doctors in 77 countries, equipping them to help others.

When the work is done, Orbis volunteers leave videos of the surgical demonstrations so they can be used in further training, and an ORBIS ophthalmologist returns within two months of each program to examine patients and review cases with the local doctors.

Since its time to replace the DC-10, Fed Ex has donated an MD-10 to be outfitted with a modular clinic that was built in Vermont, and shipped to Victorville, California for installation. Expected completion is any day now.

They say 90% of the blind live in underdeveloped countries and that 80% are treatable. Thanks to Orbis, Lions Club, and other eye programs, the World Health Organization’s predictions for blindness have finally started a downward trend.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

February 18, 2014 Oversea to Land Down Under by Air

The Liberty Gazette

February 18, 2014

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: Peering through the mirth and heavy rain slapping on his windshield the pilot concentrates on the little green light about 25 feet beyond his wingtip and a little white light 25 feet ahead. The lights on the other airplanes bounce around and the pilot works hard to keep them in the same position relative to his; momentarily they disappear. Lightning flashes and sometimes he wishes he were at home enjoying the comforts of his easy chair while reading a book about adventures like this. That thought evaporates as quickly as the lightning flashes – nothing can compare to being here, doing this.

In the 1970’s Australians developed an appetite for small airplanes to efficiently access the Outback. Their manufacturing industry could not fill their needs so they turned to the United States and the aviation capital of the world, Wichita, Kansas.

The problem was delivery across 7,000 miles of Pacific Ocean. A new airplane would be completely disassembled, packed in a container and carried by ship. The journey to the Land Down Under took about three months. When it finally arrived the airplane had to be reassembled and repainted. Some airplanes could not be disassembled and spent months on deck exposed to the rough elements on the high seas. All the while buyers were paying mortgages on their dream machines. They sought a new solution.

A group of Australian and American pilots figured they could fly the airplanes there, saving time and money, forming Southern Cross Aviation. They stripped the planes down to reduce weight and installed auxiliary fuel cells essentially making them flying gas tanks. On November 21, 1976 the group initiated its first delivery flight departing with seven Cessna 172s from Santa Barbara, California, 2,200 miles to Hawaii on the first leg of their journey. The planes weighed so much it took nearly six hours before they could climb above 6,000 feet. Midway across the group ran into heavy storms that lasted for hours and had to descend to mere hundreds of feet above the frothing ocean swells.

There was no GPS; navigation was mostly by deductive reckoning. The group was blown off course and set behind schedule because of the storm and received help from an airliner high above in recalculating their route.

The pilots fought weather and the monotony of a bare horizon, and fatigue. I can only imagine the relief once the first hint of land was spotted, and forcing oneself to stay alert and not succumb to careless relaxation. These planes made their first stop 23 hours after departing Santa Barbara, the pilots having new stories for the guys back home. But first, they spooled down and headed to a long deserved nap.

The rest of the trip consisted of more open water legs from Hilo to Christmas Island, to Pago Pago, Samoa, Norfolk Island and finally Sydney. Five days and 73 hours of flying time from start to finish, this was the first of many such trips. Southern Cross delivered 40 airplanes that first year, and now make somewhere around 150 deliveries per year. From small single engine airplanes to the largest airliners, these are pilots seeking a front seat in the big adventure.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

February 11, 2014 A barrel of tea - Hoover style

The Liberty Gazette

February 11, 2014

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Happy Valentine’s Day! Let’s talk about something lovely!

In the world of aerobatics we have loops and rolls, tail slides and hammerheads, spins and knife edge, lomcevaks (lomcovak: a Czech word used to describe the rotating motions of one who has had one too many of the alcoholic drink slivovitz) and other G-force producing action fun. Some maneuvers have variations on a theme. Rolls, for example. The barrel roll: where the airplane’s path continues in one direction as it is rolled, looking much like it’s flying with its wheels running around the inside wall of a cylinder, or barrel, it’s path like a horizontal corkscrew.

Mike: Now that you know that, would you believe us if we told you a story about a pilot who performed a barrel roll while pouring iced tea from a pitcher into a glass, even while upside-down, and never spilled a drop? It’s true. You can see it and other of Bob Hoover’s amazing stunts on YouTube.

In addition to his popular iced-tea-pouring act, Bob is well known for his amazing demonstration of energy management, flying and landing an airplane after killing the engines. I first saw his airshow routine at the Mojave Air Races in 1976 as he thrilled the crowd with loops and rolls after shutting down the engines, then landing and rolling to a stop in front of the crowd stopping in exactly the same place he started.

A decorated airman with 59 combat missions, Bob escaped from a German POW camp, stole a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and flew it to the Netherlands in World War II. He flew the chase plane when Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947 (he was Yeager’s pick for his backup pilot but I personally think of Hoover as head and shoulders above Yeager).

The cream of the aerospace crop is coming together to pay tribute to living legend R.A. "Bob" Hoover on February 21 at a dinner at Paramount Studios. Tickets are $950, which goes to scholarships. But that’s not all. Apollo astronauts Jim Lovell and Gene Cernan, "Miracle on the Hudson" captain Chesley Sullenberger, airshow star Sean D. Tucker, actor and pilot Harrison Ford, Tom Poberezny, son of Experimental Aircraft Association founder, the late Paul Poberezny, and others will host the premiere of a new documentary about Bob Hoover’s life. Clips from other films about Hoover are part of it because, as Tom Poberezny says, it takes more than one movie to tell about Bob. They will also unveil the Bob Hoover Hall of Honor, to be housed at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Daytona Beach campus, to honor Hoover and a select few others who stand apart with their accomplishments, passion, and commitment to aviation.

Linda: A couple of years ago after Yasmina Platt and I finished the AirVenture Cup race (Mitchell, South Dakota to Waupaca, Wisconsin) we spent the week in Oshkosh at the largest fly-in in the world. One day that week there happened to be terrible weather forming, heading our direction. There in Warbird Alley, amongst WWII bombers and fighters, I saw the black sky lurching toward us. I ran for cover in a nearby building and quickly discovered that I was sharing shelter with none other than The Legend himself – Mr. Hoover. We chatted and I took a picture, a moment that will long live in my treasure chest of memories.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

February 4, 2014 Mexico mission flying

The Liberty Gazette

February 4, 2014

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: A few years ago our friend David Slack, a local missionary serving in Mexico, asked if I would fill for him in on a special flight. "Sure, where to?" I asked, excited. The medical mission would serve the small town of Xicoténcatl well south of Cuidad Victoria in the state of Tamaulipas.

The most visible part of any of these mission trips, the tip of the iceberg, is the doctors and dentists who use their medical skills to help those who would never have such an opportunity otherwise. But beneath the surface are the volunteers, both in Mexico and here, who are the backbone of the operation and provide the grease and prayers that things will keep moving. They are the blessings of God for these people.

I was honored to be part of this but mostly I was humbled by witnessing how hard all these folks worked and how much they cared and loved the people they were helping. I received far more than I gave through the minor role I played.

Tensions were high when two Houston area doctors and I departed from RWJ Airpark for our first stop, Reynosa, to clear Mexican customs. David had already prepared all the required documents, making for a quick stop and on to Cuidad Victoria. From there we traveled by ground via two lane highways and small country roads to Xicoténcatl.

My main job over until our return flight, I was able to participate in other ways. When people hear a doctor is coming, word spreads quickly. They began to show up and volunteers started the check-in process, finding out their ailments, writing them down on cards and then guide them to where they need to go next.

They see a doctor and/or dentist and they also have a chance to get a pair of glasses. One of the most fun parts for me was sitting at the glasses table. People would be brought to us and we would have them try several pairs and read cards. Seeing smiles because maybe for the first time they can clearly see enough to read something is rewarding beyond measure.

Perhaps you read before about this mission, Sus Manos Extendidas, which means "His Hands Extended" when we wrote about it a few years ago. It is a non-denominational Christian mission and thus part of the mission is to spread the Word of God. Volunteers from churches in Mexico will share the Good News of Jesus Christ with those who come and they are given an opportunity to ask Him into their heart. It is never a requirement that they do so and some don’t. However, there are many who do. We saw hundreds of patients the few days we were there.

It’s an experience we hated to end, but we broke down the tents, packed up the old bus and the trailer full of equipment and headed back to Cuidad Victoria for a night in the church compound. In the morning the doctors and I were taken to the airport and the other volunteers continued north to the border.

David is now putting his energies into an orphanage in Mexico and still seeks to serve God with everything he does.


www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

January 28, 2014 From Paris, With Love

The Liberty Gazette

January 28, 2014

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: I wasn’t really surprised when my students handed me the bottle-sized box with "Mamont" emblazoned in gold lettering down the side. I was, however, kind of surprised by the caviar.
Working with foreign clients one becomes accustomed to the exercise of tradition and frequent offers of respect in the form of gifts; especially student-to-teacher gifts. It doesn’t really matter all that much what the gift is, but the gesture is an important part of many cultures, and it seems to me the significance and meaning reach beyond our notion of bringing an apple to class.

My non-U.S. clients come from Russia, Korea, Nigeria, Australia and South Africa. Each culture is unique and I notice a social expectation of respect I rarely see here in the United States anymore.

Mamont is Siberian vodka. Inside the snow-white box with bold lettering is a glass bottle fashioned in a tusk-like shape, inspired by the Yikagir Mammoth. We don’t drink vodka but the uniqueness of the bottle makes it fun to look at and, after all, we can appreciate the intent. Mamont, known as "The Spirit of Siberia," is filtered through Siberian rock and distilled six times from white winter wheat at the Itkul distillery, one of Russia’s oldest. I gratefully received it and two tins of caviar while standing in a frosty Paris parking lot, but pondered how these gifts would fare with U.S Customs.

The Paris-Houston direct flight brought me to Bush Intercontinental, where upon disembarking and entering Customs the agent examined my basket of treats and much to my surprise took no issue with the vodka, but scratched his head, looking for some sort of brand recognition on the cans of caviar. The words printed on the label are in the Russian Cyrillic language, which neither the agent nor I could decipher to compare to his "items approved" checklist. Resigned to the fact that he lacked the tools to make a decision based on knowledge, and using common sense instead, he looked up from his computer screen, then back at the cans again, roughly weighing them in his hands, then handed them back saying, "You’re cleared to go."

Now, since my diet doesn’t allow me to eat fish eggs, what to do with the caviar?

Linda: With a Christmas party to go to and needing something fun for the white elephant gift exchange I suggested the caviar paired with a classical music CD would make a pleasant and unusual gift. No, we did not include the vodka. While the novelty inspired chatter, it appeared that not everyone at the party likes classical music or is willing to indulge in caviar labeled with inscriptions they can’t read. No adventuresome Russians here!

Mike: Vodka seems to be a favorite gift from Russian crews. I recently received yet another bottle of a different label. Over the years Linda has made some delicious pie crusts from a recipe that includes vodka, but the collection is outpacing her baking.

I’ve also received "Mosaic" Babooshka dolls from a pilot from Mongolia, a set of four elephants carved from stone from a Nigerian pilot, and a hand-painted plate of the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed in Moscow’s Red Square from another Russian crew. I respect the traditions of these people and appreciate the unique treasures and the meaning in the giving.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

January 21, 2014 Magic Carpet Ride

The Liberty Gazette

January 14, 2014

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: A couple Sundays ago the Elyminator sprang up into a stiff headwind, eager to help a friend begin the journey into the joys of airplane ownership. Dean with his newly minted private pilot certificate had just ended his search for a plane of his own. Though he is building an RV-9, that airplane is at least a couple years away from taking flight So Dean bought a Grumman Cheetah to maintain his flying skills while he custom-builds his new steed. Finding one at an airport near San Antonio he struck a deal with its owner. Since he had learned to fly in a Cessna and was not familiar with the handling differences of a Grumman we flew out to help him bring his prize home.

Mike: When I think of a small 3,000 foot long grass airstrip I think of something like the crop duster strip at Gum Island next to Highway 146 south of Dayton, or the airstrip called Dunham Field near Crosby that has around 20 hangars along its 2,800 feet of turf. Another example is the West Liberty Airport located west of Dayton north of 1960 near the county line. These two privately owned airports are open to the general aviation public. Private runways like the ag-strip are not. So as we flew westbound into the late afternoon sun we expected to find something similar to Dunham, but we were surprised.

Zuehl Field takes its name from a small ghost town nearby. Its 3,000’ long by 200’ wide grass runway is so close to Randolph Air Force Base that the traffic pattern for Zuehl is restricted to the east side. At first sight I would not have guessed it to be an airport if I hadn’t spied the four-engine Douglas DC-4 sitting next to a hangar at the north end. That was my first clue this place was different. The four engine transport is just one of over 100 airplanes based here. The Zuehl Airport Flying Community Owners Association maintains the 230-acre airport. The runway seems to offer a lot of elbow room compared to most private landing zones that are hemmed in by trees on most sides. The taxiway-street layout lends to the feeling of openness.

Linda: The approach in gusty winds presented some challenges but the landing was uneventful and we found Dean and his wife Marilyn standing out in the brisk wind waiting for our arrival. Dean had already done the walk-around preflight inspection twice before we arrived and a ground run to warm up the engine. Mike completed his own inspection and he and Dean climbed in and started up. I took off in the Elyminator ahead of them. Climbing out I turned east over I-10, Dean and Mike only a mile behind. However since Dean was still learning his new machine Mike took some time to help him settle in and I continued on keeping in radio contact with them. They were not far behind when I landed back at Ellington.

Mike: Soon Dean and Marilyn will say good-bye to long car trips and long airport security lines as they travel the country in their ‘new’ magic carpet.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

January 14, 2014 Gypsy Week

The Liberty Gazette

January 14, 2014

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: The week from Christmas to New Year's offered some time to get away. With weather in some parts behaving wretchedly, we pledged to go where the sun was shining - westward ho!

First order of business was to make good on a promise to a young niece and nephew in Pflugerville who were eager to take a flight. The children enjoyed their aerial sight-seeing tour, a first for them, after which we headed west with no particular plans. The afternoon spread across the West Texas plains, the last hour of the flight extending past sunset, with residual light shining upon Guadalupe Peak for 50 miles. We ended our day in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where fellow air racer Seth Baker gave us a warm welcome, a couple of meals, and a pleasant send-off in the morning.

Along the playa just west of Lordsburg, New Mexico some areas were still soggy from recent rains, but the Peloncillo Mountains stood proudly along the Arizona-New Mexico line. There, in Skeleton Canyon, Geronimo surrendered to the United States Cavalry. While it was rainy and cloudy back in Liberty, we were soaking in the sunshine, and my own personal historian and geographer offered thoughtful narratives about the areas below as we took turns flying.

Mike: The Chiricahua Mountains, like others in the Southwestern U.S., are surrounded by arid deserts. I’ve climbed these mountains and find their nickname, "Sky Islands," appropriate because with gains in elevation the temperatures decrease and vegetation turns green. Near the top stand pine trees up to 70 feet tall. Flying over the foothills at 8,500’ those pines at their highest point were still higher than we were.

Pushing into the headwind, further west we discussed Cochise Stronghold in the Dragoon Mountains to our left, then crossing a ridge into the Tucson area we turned toward Phoenix.

After a night in the Valley of the Sun, Flagstaff seemed to be calling. Our friends the Strayers welcomed us with warm hearts and homes and good food. Driving out to their remote property I realized how much I missed mountain air. After joining them for worship services Sunday morning we headed for Boulder City, Nevada, past the southern end of the Grand Canyon for a quick visit with my brother and his family.

Benson, Arizona, a place familiar to us, offered a good stop for the next night. With the airplane tied down we took the courtesy shuttle to the hotel, while unbeknownst to us Seth had flown to Benson too. His text message early next morn admitted the only reason he didn’t hide our plane in a hangar and leave a treasure map on the ground was because he wouldn’t be there to witness our surprise.

Roy Jones runs the Benson Airport and sets a great example. With his wife, he’s raising five kids on the airport, managing the business, giving flight lessons, helping people. And he offers a fuel discount for a clean joke he can tell his kids.

The next morning’s flight took us over Reserve, New Mexico, to Albuquerque for lunch, and into Santa Fe in time for New Year’s Eve.

The first day of the new year we reluctantly headed back to the real world. The 57-knot tailwinds across the Rockies created up and down drafts we felt over 160 miles downwind, but shot us quickly home. We agreed, Gypsy Week should happen again.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

January 7, 2014 Boyhood dreams

The Liberty Gazette

January 7, 2014

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: Standing high upon a rocking and swaying platform leaning into the strong winds the boy holds fast to the mast. He shades his eyes to the blazing sun with his other hand looking out on deep blue swelling waters as their tops curl into waves. The black flag is flapping behind him and he thinks he sees another ship or possibly a tree on an island in the distance when his concentration is interrupted by a shout from below. Down through the branches Mother is hollering for him – its time to go and he has to come down now.

Arduously climbing down through interlocking brambles of branches, he voices a protest he knows will not prevail, "Awe Mom, now?" Even then he is imagining sliding down the fasting rope from the Jolly Roger’s crow’s nest, back into reality.

Norman Rockwell’s "Boyhood Dreams" was one of a four-painting series covering the four seasons. In the summer painting a young boy has set his garden hoe aside and sits on a split rail fence as he and his dog watch a train chug down the tracks in the distance. How many boys and girls daydream of places just over the hill? How about acting these out as they scurry up to their fort precariously built among the tallest branches of a large tree? Think of the thrill of building that hide-a-way and the adventures to be had there.

The other day I was having lunch with Dean Doolittle, EAA Chapter 12’s Young Eagles coordinator. He told me of a Boy Scout troop in Houston that has over 200 scouts. I was shocked to hear that Dean approached the group several times to offer Young Eagles flights – a highly successful program now in its 24the year, having introduced nearly two million children to the wonders of flight - yet not one of the boys in that particular troop has participated.

We learned that it isn't the scouts’ lack of interest stopping them, but their parents’ fears.

Do parents listen to their children’s hopes and encourage their dreams throughout early development continuing on into adolescence and young adulthood? Or do they quash them or try and replace those dreams with their own? Are we creating future leaders that are scared of their own shadows by holding them back?

I don’t advocate reckless behavior but I do encourage young people to develop their imaginations and expand their boundaries. I can appreciate and sympathize with parents wanting to protect their young ones, remembering my mother’s similar desires, but she finally let me loose and in doing so, encouraged me to soar.

Being dangerous is part of a boy’s (and some girls’) DNA. What do boys do when they go camping? They hunt up snakes, lizards and all sorts of gruesome and terrifying creatures. They'll do that anyway given half a chance. But if they are never allowed the freedom to roam, raised as risk-averse, they likely will become fear-driven and never stand up when it matters most. Perhaps we should send those scout parents "The Dangerous Book for Boys."

Slipping the bonds of earth and overcoming gravity is just one adventure that awaits. Searching for far-off lands, being a sheriff in an old west town or just sailing on the open seas are all worthy dreams. Happy trails – and let your boys be boys.

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December 31, 2013 Plages Sombres - Known but to God

The Liberty Gazette

December 31, 2013

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: I stand in quiet survey of the scene, cold water crashing on the shore before me. A faint murmur accents the air, its sound emerging quickly into a crackling roar. In seconds a French Mirage fighter jet dressed in camouflage screams past me, a hundred feet above the churning English Channel. The pilot banks hard north and disappears in the distance. Silence returns.

Turning from the overlook a lush green carpet of grass spotted by immaculately maintained trees unfolds behind me. There, in perfect symmetry, ten thousand white marble crosses declare the war is over. Winter may be the time to visit this place as there are neither crowds nor chaos to compete with contemplation except for an occasional military jet flying by to pay respects to the soldiers buried here.

I learned of the D-Day invasion in school, history books, and movies, but standing here in the American Military Cemetery and Memorial at Normandy, the realization sinks much deeper. Touching the sand of Omaha Beach one can know of yet not quite fathom the terror and dedication those who took part in this colossal undertaking must have felt. I step with humble reverence around the headstones, reading names; many Known But to God. More than 1,500 names of sons who were never recovered or identified are etched in a circular stone wall. If they could, they’d speak of family, of going home.

During my flying career I have been afforded some grand opportunities. For the first two weeks of December my job required a return to Paris, France. I wasn’t interested in spending my free time in Paris so one weekend I rented a car, took on the challenge of Paris traffic circles and got the heck out of Dodge.

June 6th, 2014 will mark 70 years since these brave souls and others spilled their blood so that we might remain free. The price paid during the D-Day campaign was 50,000 Allied lives, with another 150,000 wounded.

As I drive around Normandy it is difficult to imagine war ever touching this landscape of low rolling terrain graced with long rock walls and hedgerows, quaint farms, cottages and stone chapels. Yet, if I looked, I’d see the evidence, a rusting cannon sitting on its side at a field’s edge, ruins of buildings left for the memory. Museums and historical markers populate the villages.

At Pointe Du Hoc is a moonscape of massive craters from bombs dropped to secure the planned offensive, shattering some of the fortifications that once overlooked both Omaha and Utah beaches. Here the cold winter wind seems to cut into me as the rain begins to fall while I enter preserved bunkers, thinking hard on the fate of those once inside them. Look, out on the beaches, where U.S. Army Rangers climbed these 100-foot cliffs taking this ground in the early morning hours of the invasion. Their losses were heavy as they stood off several counter-attacks until relief came the next day.

Near the memorial two flagpoles champion United States flags hung at half-mast. At sunset life in the cemetery pauses, the flags are lowered and all who are breathing salute or place their hand over their heart for the playing of Taps. I behold what is about me and I whisper "Thank you."

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