Veterans Day- All Day, Every Day
2016 Veterans Day has come and gone and many of you may be wondering where my standard Veterans Day post is. The fact of the matter is that November 11th is most certainly a day worth celebrating but I can’t help but feel that every day there are veterans deserving of a celebration, recognition and […]
Snippets From A Squadron’s Diary
I am supposed to be working on my next post, researching the 111(F) squadrons initial flight up to Elmendorf Air Force base in July of 1942 but easily got myself sidetracked and enthralled with reading every darn day of the Squadron diary up to their arrival in Alaska. Here are a couple of diary entries […]
2017 Aleutian Tour Dates!
I am so excited to tell you that the dates for Valor Tours- 2017 Battle of the Aleutians trip has just been announced! Next year is a very special year as it marks the 75th Anniversary of the bombing of Dutch Harbor, Unalaksa which began the Aleutian Campaign. We would love for you to join […]
Where Do I Possibly Start?
Where do I possibly start with a trip that held so much sentiment as this one did for me? At the beginning? Nah… Way to predictable. View from atop a hill over looking Umnak’s two WW2, still functioning, airstrips. I had held it together until this point. The second last stop of the trip- Umnak […]
One Hell Of A Layover…
How fitting as I finish the last post of my first trip to Anchorage on the first day of my second trip…. I left Kodiak the next morning with contentment and excited to one day return, for there are still things left to be done there. As I sat in the airport I wondered where […]
Memorial Day- What does it mean to you?
As this much needed long weekend approaches I have been reflecting back on several discussions I have had over the last month. It is apparent, that in this overstimulated, rat raced, narcissistic, disconnected world we now live in (well, isn’t that a positive way to start a post…), many of us have forgotten the reason […]
Runway Talk
One of my main objectives while I was on Kodiak was to make it to one of the old WW2 Airfields that, according to my grandfather, was only used by the R.C.A.F. while in Kodiak. Although I had previously been advised, that it may not be worth my trip, I was going anyways. Glad I […]
A Daugher & Her War Hero
A few weeks ago, the Commemorative Air Force held an event here in our area. The timing was perfect as my parents had just arrived from Canada making this, the first stop of their trip. I was excited to show my mom, in person, one of the planes her father used to fly while in […]
Hello Kodiak..
Ahem.. where was I…. Without ever having been there, I saw Kodiak as a special place. I have not quite figured out why exactly besides the fact that my grandfather spent much of his WW2 time on this awe inspiring island. I could not wait to get my feet planted on that majestic soil. First […]
Mission of Honor
I started writing this blog a few years ago with the grand vision and hope of going to the Aleutian Islands one day to pay a tribute to my grandfather for his service during the second world war. And on this Memorial week, as we remember and honor those who sacrificed themselves for our who […]