Meeting history face to face

So I was looking over a pot roast at my local Safeway the other day when I overheard someone say, “I was shot down twice.” Well that's something you don't hear every day. Needless to say, my interest in the pot roast evaporated as I turned to see who spoke those words. It was the butcher, the kindly old gentleman I’ve seen countless times at the meat counter. It turns out that he was a former carrier pilot who fought in the Pacific during WWII. Imagine that. And it gets better. He was at the famous Battle of Midway, the pivotal naval action that helped turn the tide against the Imperial Japanese Navy. Flying off the USS Hornet in a Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber, it was during this battle that my butcher was shot down the first time. He managed to ditch in the sea. Both he and his backseat gunner were unharmed (which means he was a helluva pilot, too). Later in the war, he flew the gull-winged F4U-4 Corsair. He was again shot down. “In both cases, I never knew which Japanese plane got me” he said with a twinkle in his clear blue eyes. “That I survived was sheer bullshit-blind luck.” I’m writing up the WWII adventures of my butcher for print publication, so I’ve left out the details (stay tuned). This story is yet another reason why I so love history. And there is nothing more exhilarating than meeting it face to face.