Wednesday, March 25, 2015



Today is the 70th anniversary of the final strategic mission flown by the 15th Air Force stationed in Italy. “ 650 bombers hit Prague and Cheb, Czechoslovakia.  Can you imagine seeing that many bombers in the sky overhead and the devastation they would cause?
My uncle Ben Wetta was part of this group.  He was lead pilot on 16 of 34 missions, each of which was made up of 24---42 planes. When we watch movies etc., the pilots all seem so confident and gung ho. However, after his first mission, Ben wrote my dad that it was so horrible that he would give either leg if he never had to fly another.

Ben is in bottom row, 2nd from the right
This is his crew.

Watching the national news Monday evening, I saw a group of veterans who survived the battle of Iwo Jima, returning to visit the island. Among them was one of the few Japanese survivors.  All were “friends” now, and agreed that war is hell, and they had hoped their efforts would prevent wars in the future.
We don’t seem to have come far in learning that we are all people who mostly want to live in peace and enjoy the beauty of God’s earth.

Many thanks to Sarah Sundin for posting events of this day in WW II.   If interested in the war, check out her blog http://www.sarahsundin.com/today-in-world-war-ii-history-march-25-1940-1945 and her two series of books about pilots and nurses of the War.

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