Paul Sawtelle
Quincy, MA

On August 23, 2003 I went for a ride in the B-17. It was quite a treat! My brother, also a WWII veteran, and I had a tough job finding the Lawrence, MA airport…good thing we left early. I wore my D.A.V. Commanders uniform & hat and my brother wore his American Legion hat.

There was about 7 or 8 people to check us in and act as our guides. I assume they were volunteers from EAA. They are very nice people and deserve a lot of credit for doing their jobs so well and in such a nice manner…God bless them!

The woman who did the briefing told me she took my picture and said if it wasn’t for people like me (and, of course, thousands of others) she wouldn’t be living in freedom. I started to cry because it meant so much to me. I said thank you and told her very few people have ever said anything like that to me…all these years! God bless her. She said she would send me the picture. I asked her if my brother could come inside with us to take pictures of me going aboard, taking off, etc. She said she was sorry but it wasn’t allowed.

Our co-pilot said he flew F-15 or 16’s in Iraq. The pilot, an older man, had apparently flown B-17’s before. The man who checked me in said he flew B-25’s for 10 years. I said very good and told him after trying for about 2 years to get a plane ride, I finally go a ride on a B-25 out of Pisa, Italy. I was an Infantry soldier before I was flown to a big hospital on the outskirts of Rome from North Italy where I stayed almost 3 months.

There was an 80-year old man who went up before me and he flew the B-17’s in WWII. He had his original flight jacket on…God bless him!

It was quite a day! I’ve been an EAA member since 1998.