DELAYED LEGACY
This past Christmas I was in the Chicago area I had lunch with an old Air Force friend. He retired as a Lt. Colonel from the Air Force, but he started out as an Army Air Force, P51 Mustang pilot in WWII. The P51 was considered the best single seat fighter aircraft used by the Allies in the war.
When we were stationed in Mississippi I went to a number of military functions where two other P51 Mustang pilots, both retired Air Force Lt. Colonels were also attending. These pilots were former members of the famous Tuskegee Airmen. The common factor with all three of the veterans, besides they all flew P51s, is that they got to come home from their war. They all married, had families, stayed in the military as career officers, and just got on with their successful lives.
I had a book sent to me which is about another P51 Mustang pilot, Delayed Legacy by Conrad John Netting IV (www.maverickpub.com). The author Conrad J. Netting IV is the son of Lt. Conrad J. Netting III, US Army Air Force. Lt. Netting was killed when his P51 Mustang crashed in a small French village in Normandy on 10 June 1944. He was flying combat missions in support of the D-Day invasion of France. While strafing a German truck convoy he failed to pull up in time and crashed his aircraft.
The author was born a month after his father was killed. Needless to say the only thing he remembers about is father is what he has been told or shown to him by family and friends. When he was a teenager he went to France with his mother to see his father's grave at a US Military cemetery in Normandy. Years later he returned to the cemetery with his own teenage son (Conrad Netting V). When the author's mother died in the 1990s a foot locker was discovered and opened. It was full of letters, uniforms, flight logs and other military items that had belonged to Lt. Netting.
The name of a fellow pilot was found and the author was able to make contact. This fellow pilot had trained with Lt. Netting, was shipped to England at the same time and they were room mates at their assigned airbase, Debden Airfield. The fellow pilot was also there when the last combat mission was flow by Lt. Netting. He saw Lt. Netting's crashed plane burning on the ground. In the French village where the P51 crashed there was a carpenter who had spent the last four years living under German occupation. This carpenter had also spent three years as a prisoner of the Germans during WWI. While defying the Germans and risking his safety he built a coffin for Lt. Netting. He then recovered the body from the crash site and buried the pilot in a secret funeral at night. Not too secret because half the village showed up to bring flowers. After the war Lt. Netting was removed from the village cemetery and placed in a US Military cemetery in Normandy. The young son of the carpenter witnessed all this and never forgot.
Using the internet and the American Freedom of Information Act the now middle aged French son was able to amass a large dossier on Lt. Netting. In 2002 the carpenter's son made contact with the pilot's son in reference to a memorial to be built in the French village of Saint-Michel-des-Andaines, the crash site of Lt. Netting. Eventually the author, his wife and all his children flew to France to visit the village and meet the family of the carpenter's son. All attended the memorial dedication.
Delayed Legacy is a sad story about a young veteran who never came home. Who never saw his new baby son and never got to build a life after the war like the other three P51 pilots I knew did. One major point that the book makes without even trying is the lesson of good documentation. Most veterans return from their active duty service, but not all. If you have a family member in the military keep a record. Take as many photos as you can. Protect and save all letters. With e-mail print out all messages that are sent and most importantly received from a deployed G.I. Save and remember so you can share with your veteran when they come home. And if they do not come home, you can remember, you must remember.