As our reunion group gathered outside the Chapel of the Fallen Eagles at the National Museum of the Mighty 8th Air Force, the empty space reserved to remember the men from the 100th Bomb Group was strikingly evident. A single plot of green grass remained in the Memorial Garden. The spot was perfectly framed by a picket of American flags and left open for us to honor the last of 26,000 young men who never came home from World War II.
With a few instructions from the museum’s volunteers, we responded as one to carefully install a final allotment of flags – one for each of “our” 757 who were Killed in Action. Members of the US Air Force contingent from the 100th Air Refueling Wing simultaneously began the solemn duty of reading each man’s name aloud, passing the responsibility on to the next person in line after speaking the names of 15 men into the still evening air. The magnitude of the service and sacrifice of those who paid the ultimate price for our freedoms was evident on the faces of everyone who participated.
Our reunion was underway, and the reason we had come together was spread out in front of us in a sea of red, white and blue. The view itself was stunning. Reflecting on what it all meant was utterly humbling. With a pervasive sense of gratitude, our time together in Savannah was spent as a family. We ate and learned together. We laughed and even wept together. We recognized faces in the crowd, and introduced ourselves to family we hadn’t yet met. We embraced as we left. That is the power – and the reality – of a 100th BG Foundation reunion. It is an enormous family gathering.
Nearly 350 individuals who arrived from far-flung homes around the US and Europe left as family. Veterans James Rasmussen, 99, and John “Lucky” Luckadoo, 101, held sway with third-and-fourth generation attendees, many of whom are still in their twenties or teens with several even younger. Old and young – Americans, Brits, Danes, Czechs – all family.
Somehow it all seemed absolutely normal to have speakers beam in from Los Angeles (Kirk Saduski) and a movie set in Morocco (Stuart Heath), just to talk about an epic made-for-television series (Masters of the Air) that’s being finalized by Hollywood legends Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg as if it were merely a home movie about our family … because it is. Or to have a young Canadian (Andrew Spearin) representing an Australian company (MicroProse) preview a state-of-the-art video game experience built around our young American Airmen of WWII (B-17 Flying Fortress: The Bloody Hundredth). The future is here.
What we did together over the course of a few days in Savannah is all rather mind-boggling when you think about it. While health problems kept a few our Foundation’s key members at home, the rest of our team soldiered on and accomplished our mission. Isn’t that what we learned from our fathers and grandfathers? We remember and honor the lessons of history that they have already taught us and can still teach ensuing generations. We gather because it is important. We lean on one another for support. We think deeply about what we must do next to honor that incredible legacy, and we look ahead to the next time we’ll gather as a family.
