My father died when I was 10 years old. Either we were traveling from state to state or he was flying overseas. I wish I had known him. He had to be special because of his strong sense of patriotism.

He wanted to fly. He tried entering the Army Air Corp to get trained to fly and they wouldn't accept him. Then, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force because they had already were involved with the war. He trained at the base in Prince Edward Island) Nova Scotia and learned to fly. Upon the entry of the USA into the war in 1941, he joined the Air Corps and they gladly accepted a trained pilot.

He met my mother and they had 3 children, me being the oldest. My mother didn't like being a military wife and longed to have roots. They divorced after about 9 years and remarried about 3 years later. I'm sure they loved each other but, couldn't live with each other.

I have a lot of medals he was awarded and am working on identifying them. We need more people like my Dad! The world lost a great patriot!

Lynn Balshaw Anderson

Francis E Balshaw