re: Have you ever known a fighter pilot that was shot down….

a divorcee coworker of mine started having her boyfriend come by for lunch. upon first meeting, just seemed like a cool old hippie. he was retired and she was a teacher that moved up to administration. since he was retired, he came up for lunch a good bit. really cool guy and we got to know each other pretty well.

after i got to know him, i noticed that he mentioned military in the past and then working for the state department, but avoided specifics. one time she got pulled into a meeting and it was just him and i. asked for specifics and pressed a bit and he was a spook in SE Asia working to topple communism as it spread. he was a pilot for a lot of it but also an on ground saboteur. he got shot down once over Vietnam and parachuted into a tree and hung out there for 3 days while the vietcong searched for him. he designed his dream house. after they got married, we went over there for a christmas party and he still had his design from the 60s. if you met him, you'd just think he was a 5'5 hippie with a ponytail, but he was genuinely just a badass nice guy.

not exactly a fighter pilot, but close enough.

after they got married, he accidentally forgot to unpack his gun from his bag and went through TSA. His wife said, "oh no, he's going to get arrested." After they called it in, they said "Sorry sir. We'll hold on to your gun and give it back to you when you come back through. Thank you for your service to the country."


sadly, he was working on his airplane one day and something slipped and the wheel fell and crushed his head.

Here's to you Karl. American badass and genuinely nice dude.