IN MEMORIAMAli Van Zee11/10/2010

On this Veteran’s Day, a simple

Thank you to my father

Who taught me the value of Service,

Honor

Duty

Thank You, all Veterans, for your Service, Honor, Duty

My Dad was only 25 in 1939. The United States had not yet entered the War,

(that would be another two years off) but my father felt a growing sense of

outrage at what everyone was seeing on the MovieTone News and knew he had

to do something. And he wanted to fly, to soar in the clouds, touching perhaps

the hand of God......

There was no active Air Force here at that time, so he secretly (like many

others) went to Canada and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, got his

training and was shipped to Britain for attachment to the RAF. That he left a

promising job, many friends and a wife and child (my half-sister) was of

concern for him and yet, he felt had no choice. The call to serve was a call he

had to answer.

First arriving at Prestwick Air Base in Scotland, Dad was subsequently selected

to join the Eagle Squadrons (American pilots who flew for Britain, most notably

during the Battle of Britain) at Martlesham Heath in Suffolk. He became part of

No.121, the second of the three Eagle Squadrons (71, 121 and 133). By

December 1941, following Pearl Harbor and America’s decision to join in the

war both in Europe and the Pacific, all the Eagle Squadron members were

assimilated back into the U.S. Army Air Force.

Dad was sent to the prestigious Officers Candidate School back in Florida and

returned to Europe in mid-1942 as Military Attache to our Embassy in Lisbon

where he remained until June 1945. There he headed many undercover missions

to locate and capture Nazi officers trying to escape to Africa and South America.

I was born well past the end of WWII, but have early memories of watching it

played out in stark, gritty, black and white in such programs as the brilliant

Victory at Sea. It was something we did together, watching and talking about

the war and I was just so proud of my father. He exhibited a sense of courage,

yes and honor and duty, surely - but also a terrific sense of adventure. I’d like

to think his strength of character informs mine as I have answered my own calls

to adventure and service to the world at large. Though he passed away in

August 2000, he walks with me still whenever courage is called for.

Thank you, Dad. I miss you more than ever and am so proud to be your

daughter.