Washing DC and the East Wing

 

I was around 14 or 15 when my Boy Scout Troop went for a weekend trip to Washington DC. We had a couple of highlights, one was a tour of the White House and the other a fight on an Air Force DC-3. For those of you not familiar with aircraft the DC-3 was the cargo and paratrooper work horse of WWII. On D-Day the sky was filled with DC-3s dropping paratroopers into France. So flying on of those antique aircraft would have a lasting effect many years later as would the tour of the White House. So let’s fast forward first to 1966 when I graduated with a degree in engineering and wound up at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio in the Aerial Delivery and Air Cargo Branch designing equipment for the Air Force. On one of my first efforts I had to include the specs of the DC-3 in the development of a system to move US Mail to combat troops in Vietnam. Now let’s jump forward a number of years to President Reagan in the White House. By this time I was working on the staff of the Chief Engineer of the Air Force. He was to be awarded the one of the highest honors to a civil servant. I had written the documents for the award and he had planned to have his father and wife to go with him to the White House. His father was ills so he asked me if I would like to go. Why ask when you know the answer.

 

His wife and I were ushered into the East Wing for the ceremony. A few other high ranking civil servants were also to get the award. As the President started his speech, of all things he quoted my write-up on my boss in his opening line. It’s nice to be quoted by the President of the United States. It is not nice to see the hallowed halls of the East Wing being torn down now by a President who could care less about the foundations of our government. Who lied that his gold-plated ballroom would not result in any harm to the White House. Just like his remake of the oval office from one of dignity to a trashy gold plated dump.

 

So my two most favorable memories, one led me without realizing it into aviation where I served my nation for 30 years. The other was demolished by a dictator who wants to build a glory onto himself.