• last year
The B26 Marauder Historical Society is holding its annual reunion in North Canton, Ohio. On Monday, two special guests landed at the event.
Transcript
00:00 The B-26 had a personality all its own.
00:03 And that's why 100-year-old Stan Walsh came from California.
00:07 We nosed down to get below the clouds just in time
00:11 to see it hit and explode.
00:14 And Jerry Reschke, who turns 99 next week,
00:17 came from Illinois.
00:18 You remember the exciting things.
00:20 To experience that personality one more time,
00:24 remembering a time when they were crew members
00:27 so many years ago on planes just like this one.
00:31 I love it.
00:32 I get very excited when I see a B-26.
00:35 Mr. Walsh even signed his name on the belly of this plane
00:38 right by the bomb bay, this day bringing
00:41 both men a flood of incredibly vivid wartime memories.
00:46 Of course, if the bombs got hung up,
00:48 I'd have to come back here and kick them free.
00:52 Yeah, this is my 61 missions.
00:55 And this is the one, ME-109, it came in on me,
00:59 and I caught him, got him.
01:03 So this thing has been around a long time.
01:05 Boy, this is an 80-year-old jacket.
01:07 Speaking with other guests about their service,
01:10 seeing this plane that for years existed only
01:13 in their memories up close once again, man and machine
01:17 reunited, proud to have done their part all those years ago.
01:22 What can you say about your service to your country?
01:24 Oh, well, I would not have missed it.
01:26 No, I would not.
01:28 You think of the joy, not of the horror.

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