Days 10-11: NEW ORLEANS
The morning sessions included a business meeting and a presentation on the "Legacy of the 100th Bomb Group and Today's USAF, which its Air Refueling Wing in Middenhall, England. At this reunion, I met a photographer who works there, Karen Abeyaskere, who was one of the people taking photos the night before of us "Next Gen" kids wearing our dad's jackets.
I am wearing Dad's "Brass Hat," which his pilot Bob Ellis gave to him (and the whole crew) years ago at one of the reunions. Jack O'Leary, a Next Gen "Kid," sort of organizes those, and I harrassed to make sure women were included in the photo, so he got quite a laugh out of me blabbing away during the shoot, proving I am my mother's daughter as much as my dad's.
At lunch, I met up with another Next Gen "kid" Bob and Mary Jo Stropp, a union lawyer and a first grade teacher lifelong Democrats, retired in Florida.
At lunch, I met up with another Next Gen "kid" Bob and Mary Jo Stropp, a union lawyer and a first grade teacher lifelong Democrats, retired in Florida.
AND THEN, the very most important, moving presentation of the whole conference for me, on “The Nuremberg War Crimes Trials and ‘Rosie’ Rosenthal.” It led with the history of the camps, outlined by Kirk Saduski again, whose underlying point was that the concentration camps with crematoriums did not happen overnight but were slowly developed alongside POW camps and slave labor camps. He spoke brilliantly on the creation and escalation of the Holocaust.
The last event was the final banquet. I have dozens of my mom and dad at this event throughout the years in other cities, other 100 BG conventions, but I got none of my own. There were several short speeches by young and old and a presentation by Matt Mabe on the making of props for Masters of the Air. Recognition and celebration of living veterans:
When I arrived back at the hotel, Paul was soon back from seeing Chickie Wah Wah performed and we packed for our last three days on the road.
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