Dutch Van Kirk Cavanaugh Flight Museum 9/15/13

On Saturday Sept 14^th, I was working.  I spent about 2 hours in the office and then rushed down to Love Field where Dutch Van Kirk was going to sign his book, MyTrue Course.  When I got there they were sold out.  The people in the museum were nice enough to tell me that Dutch was scheduled to appear at the Cavanaugh Museum the next day.

Frustrated, I left and rushed back to work. I did stop off at the Cavanaugh first to buy a copy of the book.   I was told I couldn’t do that because the book wasn’t in the system yet.  They assured me if I got there Sunday morning when the museum opened, I would get a book.

Sunday, I was again at work.  I left at 11AM and drove the 5 blocks to the museum.  Bought my book and went back to the office and slaved away for a while.  A few hours later I left again for the signing.  I wasn’t interested in the speech, only the autograph.  Even though I came late, he was still speaking and I must admit I enjoyed it.

He talked about the mission.  He spoke about other crew members’ remembrances and details that didn’t match his account.  He reminisced about a trip to the cities he bombed not long after the explosions.

He sat in a wheelchair but his thoughts were lucid.  He spoke clearly and was very interesting.  After he finished speaking he signed. He chatted with everyone. He allowed people to pose with him.  He was extremely friendly.

He and the co-author signed on different pages.  I thought was odd at first but it was a great sign of respect.

And yes, I then went back to work.

AH