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Gossett Crew 708 |
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Roscoe Harris Crew 612 |
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Folded Wings - Tom Nelson |
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Folded Wings - Phyllis Brunelle |
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Deadly Decision - Now Available in our webStore |
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Word from the Nerd - Look for the Green Arrows |
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Word from the Nerd — A Facelift for our WWII Links |
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| Folded Wings - Bernie Harding |
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| Although Bernie told me his health wasn't doing too well, I thought he looked pretty good as I watched him on a TV news video taking his last flight in a B-24 around the end of September. So I was both shocked and sad when I learned he had passed away on Tuesday afternoon, 3 November 2009. Being shocked was my fault for not listening to him. My being sad was his fault for he was such a great man and good friend. |
| I will say he went out on top of his game. His final two months were quite exciting. Last September he went to Germany to look for his pilot wings he buried in the basement of a house where he was held prisoner after getting shot down. The Associated Press picked up on his quest and ran a few stories on him which ran in just about every newspaper in the country. He became a national sensation and beloved hero. For more on this story, see my blog two down from this one. |
| I talked to Bernie before he went to Germany. He told me he had been putting off this trip for a couple of years for health reasons, but decided if he were to go... it would have to be "now or never." He called me when he got back and confided that while he loved the whole experience, it just about done him in. |
| Not fully recovered from his European trip, the Collings Foundation's B-24 came to his area and he was back out at. Again, this was something he felt he had to do. He took his last flight in a B-24 (first time as a passenger). The pilot told him he was sorry he didn't find his wings in Germany and gave him his. I talked to Collings Foundation last week and they told me they credited Bernie (and the media buzz) for setting new attendance records in the New England area. I got an e-mail from them today and they are just as sad as I am in learning about Bernie's death. They too fell in love with him. |
| Calling hours are Monday, Nov. 9, from 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. in the Smith & Heald Funeral Home, 63 Elm St., Milford, NH. A mass of Christian burial will be celebrated on Tuesday at 11 a.m. in St. Patrick’s Church, 34 Amherst St., Milford, NH. Burial with military honors will follow in Riverside Cemetery, Milford. In lieu of flowers, please send a donation to his wife Ruth and she'll give it to one of Bernie's many charities. |
Ruth Harding
18 Johnson Street
Milford, NH 03055 |
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Folded Wings - Odis Waggoner |
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Buried Wings - Bernie Harding |
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Folded Wings - Roger Leister |
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Folded Wings - Virgil Shoger |
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Folded Wings - Bill Beasley |
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Folded Wings - Thomas Graham |
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Folded Wings - George Robb |
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Folded Wings - Ernie Gavitt |
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Folded Wings - Louis DeZarlo |
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Folded Wings - Charles Arnett |
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Folded Wings - Charles Herman, Jacob Mink |
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Hyman Stiglitz Laid to Rest After 63 Years |
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McMurray Crew to be Laid to Rest |
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Folded Wings - Seymour Spivack, Robert Downes |
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