This is Jim's first thread....YIPPEE..It worked!!!

[JIM PIBURN]

Blinky..it worked!! Thanks..Now, the reason I wanted to post my own thread..Today is 11 DECEMBER 2014..I enlisted in the AIR FORCE 64 years ago today 11 DECEMBER 1950...I went to the recruiting office and was waiting outside when they opened at 9 AM..I was sworn in at 11 AM and at 3 PM I was on a train headed for someplace called Texas...Lackland, then Sheppard at Wichita Falls, then Lowery, Denver then Randolph then Ent at Camp Carson Colorado Springs, then Forbes, Topeka KS then Lake Charles, LA then to Yokota ,then to Hunter, Savannah, then TDY to Sidi Slimane,North Africa, back to Hunter then discharged 22 October 1953. I gotta' tell you it was a real adventure and a ride I wouldn't trade for anything...Can you imagine you United States of America Taxpayers let me fly all over the world in one of your B-29 Air planes and paid me to do it...What a deal... It was a good day today..I sold a Xylophone on ebay for 500 bucks that I bought at an auction..That's a good day...G'nite all..Regards, JIM

[Annelie]

Thanks Jim for sharing. It was an pleasure to read how you viewed
and experienced your time during the war. Not many will concede
that it was a opportunity and something never to forget but you did
serve your country but can I ask please?

"did you do it as I read constantly over and over again how everyone
fought for the freedoms enjoyed today" I realize in battle you are
fighting not with anything in mind but your comrades and yourself.

Trying to understand.

[blinky]

Happy anniversary Jim! I guess you must have been good at your job as a member of the lead crew since I don't see Greenland or Alaska listed here

All of that in three years.....what a ride. Several years ago I met an A-10 pilot who said "Can you believe they pay me to fly this thing? Suckers."

[JIM PIBURN]

Thanks Jim for sharing. It was an pleasure to read how you viewed
and experienced your time during the war. Not many will concede
that it was a opportunity and something never to forget but you did
serve your country but can I ask please?

"did you do it as I read constantly over and over again how everyone
fought for the freedoms enjoyed today" I realize in battle you are
fighting not with anything in mind but your comrades and yourself.

Trying to understand.

HI, ANNELIN, Nice to meet you...It may sound Korney but as youngsters we were so innocent compared to the kids of the current generation...We had a different mindset. We were 'Depression Babys' and learned very early in life to appreciate what we had.( My Dad was a skilled machinest and worked for $.50 a day and was lucky to have any job).We would never say a cuss word in the presence of a 'lady' (of any age). We would never question authority. If I would ever have disrespected my Mother my Dad (a retired Navy CPO) would have knocked my block off..and Teachers..if my teacher would have called my parents and I would have embarrassed them it would have been the end of me..Now, it may not have been but I was raised to think it would have been... To your question...When Korea broke out in June, 1950 I had a friend, Walter Duffet, who had enlisted in the MC Reserve, 11th Tank Battalion, that was on his way there in about 5 minutes..I was in college, now San Diego State University, so I waited until the end of the semester in Dec and enlisted so I could go over and help Walt... I wanted to help Walt..That was my mind set. I chose the Air Force because my older brother, George had been a B-17 and B-24 Pilot in WWII and the recruiting Officer was a Reserve Officer friend of my brother's.. Walt was wounded twice, later Commissioned in the AF and ended his career as a Lt. Col. professor at the AF academy. My point is we had a different way of looking at life and duty.. I guess because we had lived through WWII when everyone, even the little children, contributed to the war effort. We were so young we didn't think much about the analytical reasoning behind what we were doing..It was just our duty. In talking with young people now they do not have the foggiest idea of the events of either WWII or Korea or Respect or Duty..It's a shame... Ask any one of them if they know the significance of 7 December, 1941 or 6 June 1945 and I'd be surprised if you get any answer let alone the correct one...Oh, well...I'm rambling..Regards, JIM

[JIM PIBURN]

Happy anniversary Jim! I guess you must have been good at your job as a member of the lead crew since I don't see Greenland or Alaska listed here

All of that in three years.....what a ride. Several years ago I met an A-10 pilot who said "Can you believe they pay me to fly this thing? Suckers."

Thanks Eric...We did get shot up once and had to land in Korea at K-13 where it was knee deep in frozen mud...Thats as close as I got to Iceland weather...JIM

[Darrell]

Thanks Eric...We did get shot up once and had to land in Korea at K-13 where it was knee deep in frozen mud...Thats as close as I got to Iceland weather...JIM

Come on up to Canada in the next couple months and enjoy our lovely weather

[herrzark]

Happy new year sir Jims.it is a honor fro the foroum to have a koreanwar vet with us