RELIVING HISTORY
Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 8:58 pm
Bill Knight, USN Retired is both a WWII US Army Air Force Veteran and Retired Navy Chief. He is the organizer of the Maine Troop Greeters, and has personally supervised the greeting of over 4000 flights of troops associated with the Middle East Conflict.
Bill is tireless and has a new mission in life, and that is to see that all Military Troop flights passing thru Bangor have a welcoming party no matter the time of day or night. (Remember Army Sgt Kevin Tillman who grabbed a Sax from a high school band and played the Star spangled Banner?) Bill's association with Dow Field in Bangor dates back to June 1941 when he was assigned to the Army Quartermaster Corps out of Virginia. Bill drove a CCKW to Dow from Virginia as it was in the construction stage to deliver a load of munitions for the Bombers that were soon to come. The war was no surprise to the planners.
I plan to have Bill, age 87 take another CCKW ride into old Dow Field next June for old time's sake. Bill served in North Africa after the US involvement in WWII. Bill is my mentor in the American Legion and is past Grande Chef de Gare in the 40/8 and sponcered my membership into the 40/8, a veterans organization that sponsers Child Welfare and Nurses Training Scholarships. If snow holds off, I may give Bill a little test drive in a few days.
Stay tuned for the rest of the story. Maybe I can get Bill to say a few words on what the trip was like.
Bill is tireless and has a new mission in life, and that is to see that all Military Troop flights passing thru Bangor have a welcoming party no matter the time of day or night. (Remember Army Sgt Kevin Tillman who grabbed a Sax from a high school band and played the Star spangled Banner?) Bill's association with Dow Field in Bangor dates back to June 1941 when he was assigned to the Army Quartermaster Corps out of Virginia. Bill drove a CCKW to Dow from Virginia as it was in the construction stage to deliver a load of munitions for the Bombers that were soon to come. The war was no surprise to the planners.
I plan to have Bill, age 87 take another CCKW ride into old Dow Field next June for old time's sake. Bill served in North Africa after the US involvement in WWII. Bill is my mentor in the American Legion and is past Grande Chef de Gare in the 40/8 and sponcered my membership into the 40/8, a veterans organization that sponsers Child Welfare and Nurses Training Scholarships. If snow holds off, I may give Bill a little test drive in a few days.
Stay tuned for the rest of the story. Maybe I can get Bill to say a few words on what the trip was like.