ONE MAN'S REFLECTIONS

(Continuation of Captain Charles Estes's War Memoirs)

"I finally, before I left San Antonio, I had signed a
contract with a company to go to South America
and fly C-47s over the Andes to mining camps back
in the sticks, so to speak; they had landing fields
there and I'm sure it would land a C-47 safely.
But I got home and my father was running
Motor Parts Company all by himself, and the
boy that had worked there with him before the
service, before the war, Otto Carter, he had been
killed over in Australia on a mission.  He was a
pilot -- not a pilot but he was a gunner on a
bomber, and this bomber was shot down and
he was killed.

Well, anyway, my father needed my help and I
realized that when I saw the situation as it was
when I got home, so I determined that I would
stay around Yazoo City, and do what I could
to help him, and so I canceled the contract that
I had with these people and let that fly over the
mountain and forgot about it forever.

But, when you stop and look back at your life
and you see how things are now, and you try
to compare it to what they might have been,
you don't know where you would be had you
taken a turn off in the road and gone a
different direction.

So I'm sitting here at home and I'm talking
to you, Elizabeth.  It's hard to argue with
that I took any wrong turns in my life. 
I seem to be ahead of the dogs, even though
the dogs were pretty close at times, but I'm
still ahead of 'em.  I'm 76 years old and my
health is not bad, and I'm very pleased to
be able to sit here and tell you about my
experiences. 

I hope -- this is about as far as I can go
with any war experiences that I had or 
anything that happened to me in my life.
My father, when he retired, turned Motor
Parts Company over to Ben and myself,
and we ran it until my health was such
that I was not being a value to him, so
I decided to retire and I took the money
that I got from the sale of Motor Parts,
my share of Motor Parts Company and
tried to invest it as wisely as I could so
that I wouldn't throw it away.  If I had
not used it and done something worthy
in a constructuve way at the time that 
I got out, I'm sure that it would be long
gone now and not helped anybody.   But
I managed to do some fairly wise things.
Your mother and I each have a burial
policy and we have health insurance
aside from our Medicare, and we have
extended care so that should we get to
a point where we need to go to a
convalescent home then it's taken care
of, so I feel that I've done pretty well
with the money that was given to me
for my share in Motor Parts Company.

I still go down there to get my mail because
my mail still goes to Box 169 and that's
Motor Parts Company.  It makes your
mother a little mad at times to think
about me having to go down there
to get my mail when it could be sent
out here, but I don't know what it
would take to change that,   I'd have to
write too many people.

Anyway, it's been a pleasure talking to 
you.  I hope that you can make something
from what I have said to you, and if 
there is anything in here that is not
clear, let me know and I will be in
touch with you and straighten it out
with you as closely as I can.

Right now Bob Swain and myself are
the only two officers that were on
our original crew that are still
alive.  John Congleton died.  My
flight engineer, Frank Delois, died.
My lower ball turret gunner, Harry
Henry, died.  And my top turret
and radio man, Raphael Gonyea
from New York state, he died.
I found John Norris about a year
or so back, and I'm in touch with
him.  And Don Brown was my
nose turret gunner and he lives
in Emporia, Kansas, and I'm in
touch with him; so I'm in touch
with all of the men that I flew
with including those that were
assigned to me on the flight that
we were shot down over
Yugoslavia.

But if there is anything else that
you need to know, just get in touch
with me.  

Thank you, ma'am and good night...        
Papa"  

                         * * *

  (Papa made his last dictation and mailed the
 cassettes to me February of 1999....he died
 that October of 1999).

I am now in the Reserves

(Continuation of Captain Estes's War Memoirs)

"And I can recall while I was in the Reserves
James Coleman, a boy I had grown up with that
lived out there in Carter, he had flown P-51's and
he was in the Pacific area, and when he came home
he was in the Reserves, and so he and I would go
over to Jackson together and check out an
airplane and sometimes we would check out
two airplanes and we'd fly around together
or else we would fly in the same plane and
do some instrument flying or whatever
and we enjoyed each other's company.


And I remember once there was a P-51
on the airfield in Jackson and he checked
it out and I checked out an AT-6 and we
went up and flew together and he did
barrel rolls all the way around me.
He was -- the ol' 51's were so much
faster than the AT-6 and he gave
me some instructions as to how to
fly a P-51 because he did everything
in the world with it and he was a
fine pilot. But anyway, those days
are gone forever now, and James is
dead. We enjoyed being a part of
the Air Force and flying and took
every advantage they'd give us."


(To be continued.)

Picture of an AT-6

P51 Mustang

Luck Perhaps..But I'd Rather Believe It Was Fate

(Click on letter to enlarge)

I found this letter tucked away among

the many letters that my dad wrote home.

It was a letter from Papa's good friend

and his navigator, Bob Swain.

He had visited my dad in Yazoo and

this was the letter he wrote thanking

them for his visit.

For many, many years my parents

and the Swains' stayed close friends,

attending the 98th Reunions

and visiting each other in their homes.

Now after all these years I have been

able to reconnect with Robin Swain,

Bob's wife, and have enjoyed so much

our telephone calls with one another.

Her girls, Sue and Cathy are now my

Face Book friends.

Perhaps it was just luck that brought

us all together after all these many years...

but I'd rather believe fate had a hand in it too.

Elizabeth Estes Bacher

A Cousin Delivers a Message of Hope to Grateful Parents

(Continuation of Captain Estes's War Memoirs)

"Well, anyway, my mother and father were overjoyed
to see me. By this time they knew that I was okay and
on my way home, but they didn't know where I was or
when I would get there. And the last they heard from
me was a telegram from the Air Force saying I was
missing in action.

I guess right here I should stop and explain something
about my missing in action because there was a boy
in my squadron, the 415th in Italy, who had a sister
that was going to MSCW (Mississippi State College
for Women). Well, it just happened that I had a
cousin, Winky Samples that was going to MSCW
at the same time. So this boy, Fount Hutchinson,
had heard the transmissions we had made and
knew that somehow we were still okay, but he
didn't know where we were, but he knew that my
mother and father would get a telegram saying
that we were missing action. So he told his sister
to tell Winky to get in touch with my family and
let them know that we were last heard from
somewhere over there, but that he felt that we
were safe.

Well, this was all it took to encourage my mother
and father that I was okay, but they still had
no official hearing from the Air Force that I was
okay. I'm in touch with Winky Samples and she
is Winky Allen now and lives in Belzoni. And I
found Winky and I've talked with her several times
on the phone and I have seen her once or twice here
at my house. She stopped by when she was going to
Jackson and she would visit with me, and I can't tell
you how much I appreciate what she did for me and
my family at a time when they were just destitute.

That was just one of the little side things that happened,
and it just seemed so strange that at a time to have
somebody that far away from home to be able to
be that close to certain information and be able
to help so much in a situation where help was so
sorely needed."

(To be continued.)

Missing Air Crew Report

(Click on report to enlarge)