A Rambling Wreck (but not from Georgia Tech)

.....I don't know what all the excitement is about. I got three comments welcoming me back. I'm not really back. I don't have plans at this moment to write a blog every day--or every other day. But of course, plans do change as Robert Burns has so brilliantly stated in his poem "To a Mouse" (pronounced 'moose') "...the best laid plans o' mice and men oft gang agley" They even made a movie called "Of Mice and Men" adapted from the book by John Steinbeck. I remember seeing the movie in 1939 and being very impressed by it. George was played by Burgess Meredith and Lennie by Lon Chaney, Jr. It got four stars and four Oscars. There has been another movie with Gary Sinise, I believe. But nobody I know has seen it.

.....Helen Herbstman actually won money on th 2 cent machines at The Isles casino she reminded me on the phone today. When I asked her who told her I wrote a blog, she said she had a dream about it. Ellen Jaeger, a beloved student of mine said that she just happened to check it out by accident. Son Joel welcomed me back excitedly. Jon Tessler (Rho's son) welcomed back the Baron with a bow. I don't know how he happened to come suddenly on the blog. But even with the bow, I am unable to dub him a knight.

.....I replied to Gerard O'Regan's letter to me from Ireland in which he said he is conducting research work on behalf of the Dunkeswell Memorial Museum. The Museum, of course, collects artifacts from my squadron, Fleet Airwing 7. Apparently, he is collecting information about any crew members and the next of kin of those lost in action while based in Dnnkeswell. He wrote in his letter that "Email is not an option." I wrote back that my cursive writing is illegible because my hand has tremors and that the computer and email is a blessing. He particularly wanted information about the crews of Lt. Joseph Kennedy who perished in operation "Aphrodite". The following is all I have.

.....World War II service
During World War II, he left before his final year of law school to begin officer training and flight training in the U.S. Navy. Kennedy earned his wings as a Naval Aviator in May 1942, and was sent to England in September 1943. He piloted land-based PB4Y Liberator patrol bombers on anti-submarine during two tours of duty in the winter of 1943-1944. Kennedy had completed twenty-five combat missions and was eligible to return home. However, he volunteered for an Operation Aphrodite mission instead.

Operation Aphrodite
Operation Aphrodite was a series of bombing runs by explosive-laden aircraft piloted by a skeleton crew who would parachute from the aircraft before detonation. After U.S. Army Air Forces Operation missions were drawn up on July 23, 1944, Kennedy and Lieutenant Wilford John Willy were designated as the first Navy flight crew. Willy had pulled rank over Ensign "FNU" Simpson (who was Kennedy's regular co-pilot) to be on the mission.
They flew a modified version of the B-24 Liberator (code named "Anvil") for the U.S. Navy's first Aphrodite mission. Two Lockheed Ventura mother planes and a navigation plane took off from RAF Fersfield. Next the BQ-8 "robot" aircraft loaded with 21,170 pounds (9,600 kg) of Torpex took off. It was to be used as a guided missile against the V-3 cannon site in Mimoyecques, France.[3]
Following 300 feet behind them was Colonel Elliott Roosevelt — son of the U.S. President, Franklin D. Roosevelt — in a de Havilland Mosquito to film the mission. Kennedy and Willy were aboard as the BQ-8 completed its first remote-control turn. Two minutes later and ten minutes before the planned crew bailout, the Torpex detonated prematurely and destroyed the Liberator. Wreckage landed near the village of Blythburgh in Suffolk, England. (from Wikipedia)

.....And now, his brother, Ted.