Christopher Snow
03-17-09, 04:20 AM
...to the finest man I ever knew.
--------------------
To: Lt. Lynn Daker (USAAF, WW2) One time President of the 500th bomb squadron (US).
Married for 67 years. Never took a drink in his life. Nor a puff from a cigarette (or anything else! And even though he was something of a "biker" in his later years).
Most people who know him would say he never had an unkind word for anyone. Not strictly true, perhaps, but we are all just human.....
I'm sure he still had his faults, but I can hardly presume to judge, and I will certainly not do so tonight.
I can safely say, Lynn was the finest gentleman I have ever been privileged to meet, and to be able to get to know.
---------------
Lynn flew a B25 "gunship" in the Pacific theater, during WW2. Real low level stuff, for the most part. Right on the wave tops all the time (as he told it).
Lynn called it the "greatest adventure of his life," and I'm sure, for him, it would be safe to say it was.
He flew 36 combat missions in the Pacific theater against the Japanese, and his plane was hit 28 times.
He was shot down, (or forced down) twice, and the last time with loss of life to one of his crewmembers--Lynn's best friend: SSGT Desire Wilfred Chatigny Jr (age 21).
Lynn was recently part of an expedtion back to the Phillipines to find his lost airplane (and, it was hoped, by some, the remains of SSGT Chatigny). Sadly, it was not to be: the island natives had gradually stripped the wreck over the years, and so the plane, itself, was largely lost. Only the two engines remain (lying, I understand, like a pair of parked VW beetles on the seabed, under 175' of water).
The salvage crew DID present Lynn with a rum bottle...filled with seabed silt taken from the site of the wreck. Lynn (as I understand) broke up...and said it was worth more to him "than a million dollars"...and asked if it would be ok to share it with the other, surviving members of that same flightcrew....
-------
I was VERY privileged, earlier today (Monday, March 16, 2009), to be able to attend Lynn's funeral here in Boulder, Colorado (US). It was the first time I've ever witnessed a full, 21 gun salute in person...and by the time the bugler finished playing "taps" I was a complete wreck (I know the bugler stood somewhere off to my left, but I never really saw him--I was simply too torn up to see much of anything).
"Taps" always rips me up.
I like to think Lynn would simply pat me on the shoulder, in a moment like that, and say "chin up, young man!"
Regardless...Lt. Lynn Daker certainly earned the full honors of his (very grateful) nation this day. He earned EVERY BIT of the services rendered to him today. No question about it.
------------
Lynn, for his part (so I am told) never took a drink in his life.
So I'm sure, wherever he is, he'll view my "silly little offering" here tonight with some amusement.
Nonetheless, it's all I have left to give him. And I'm sure he'll understand that too.
So: <hoisting beer>
Here's to you, sir! And thank you...for everything!
Christopher Snow
--------------------
To: Lt. Lynn Daker (USAAF, WW2) One time President of the 500th bomb squadron (US).
Married for 67 years. Never took a drink in his life. Nor a puff from a cigarette (or anything else! And even though he was something of a "biker" in his later years).
Most people who know him would say he never had an unkind word for anyone. Not strictly true, perhaps, but we are all just human.....
I'm sure he still had his faults, but I can hardly presume to judge, and I will certainly not do so tonight.
I can safely say, Lynn was the finest gentleman I have ever been privileged to meet, and to be able to get to know.
---------------
Lynn flew a B25 "gunship" in the Pacific theater, during WW2. Real low level stuff, for the most part. Right on the wave tops all the time (as he told it).
Lynn called it the "greatest adventure of his life," and I'm sure, for him, it would be safe to say it was.
He flew 36 combat missions in the Pacific theater against the Japanese, and his plane was hit 28 times.
He was shot down, (or forced down) twice, and the last time with loss of life to one of his crewmembers--Lynn's best friend: SSGT Desire Wilfred Chatigny Jr (age 21).
Lynn was recently part of an expedtion back to the Phillipines to find his lost airplane (and, it was hoped, by some, the remains of SSGT Chatigny). Sadly, it was not to be: the island natives had gradually stripped the wreck over the years, and so the plane, itself, was largely lost. Only the two engines remain (lying, I understand, like a pair of parked VW beetles on the seabed, under 175' of water).
The salvage crew DID present Lynn with a rum bottle...filled with seabed silt taken from the site of the wreck. Lynn (as I understand) broke up...and said it was worth more to him "than a million dollars"...and asked if it would be ok to share it with the other, surviving members of that same flightcrew....
-------
I was VERY privileged, earlier today (Monday, March 16, 2009), to be able to attend Lynn's funeral here in Boulder, Colorado (US). It was the first time I've ever witnessed a full, 21 gun salute in person...and by the time the bugler finished playing "taps" I was a complete wreck (I know the bugler stood somewhere off to my left, but I never really saw him--I was simply too torn up to see much of anything).
"Taps" always rips me up.
I like to think Lynn would simply pat me on the shoulder, in a moment like that, and say "chin up, young man!"
Regardless...Lt. Lynn Daker certainly earned the full honors of his (very grateful) nation this day. He earned EVERY BIT of the services rendered to him today. No question about it.
------------
Lynn, for his part (so I am told) never took a drink in his life.
So I'm sure, wherever he is, he'll view my "silly little offering" here tonight with some amusement.
Nonetheless, it's all I have left to give him. And I'm sure he'll understand that too.
So: <hoisting beer>
Here's to you, sir! And thank you...for everything!
Christopher Snow