He was just a boy of 10. It was 1933.

He was sitting on a stone

wall looking out at the wheat field of his family farm. All he knew
up to this point in his life was living and working on the farm and
he didn’t have a problem with that. His name was Tom. His full
name was Thomas B. Fuller. The “B” stood for Bennett, his
mother’s maiden name. Nobody called him Thomas except his
mother and that was only when she wanted his attention or when
he was in some kind of trouble, which wasn’t very often. He
wasn’t called Tommy either, just Tom. Tom realized the country
was in the depths of a depression but his family was getting by.
The Fuller Family had lived on and ran this farm in Nebraska for
over 80 years. Even though they would have been considered poor
Tom didn’t think so. He had a family that loved him, had a roof
over his head and clothes on his back. Since he lived on a farm,
they had wheat, vegetables, cows, pigs, and chickens so he never
wanted for food.

On that day sitting on the stone wall Tom heard a sound overhead,
looked up and saw an airplane. He had never seen one before. He
had heard about airplanes from Pete Smith when he went to town.
Pete was known as ‘Ole Pete’ but Tom didn’t know why because
Pete didn’t seem that old. Pete had served as a Fighter Pilot in
WWI, but didn’t like to talk about the war. When Tom would ask
Pete what it was like to fly an airplane Pete’s eyes would light up.
Pete would describe the joy and exhilaration of flying, and what is
was like to be free from the bonds of earth. When Tom saw that
airplane flying through the sky he started to run, following it,
waving his arms wildly. The pilot dipped his wings acknowledging
Tom. At that moment Tom vowed that someday he would be a
pilot.

Tom’s schooling was uneventful; his math skills could have been a
little stronger. He was also a little on the shy side, not a social
butterfly, but he was friendly. When he graduated from high school
in 1941 he knew that his family didn’t have the money to send him
to college but that didn’t matter to Tom. Then on that fateful day,
in December when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the whole
world and Tom’s life changed. The next day Tom went to town
and signed up for the Army. After his basic training Tom was sent
to San Antonio, Texas to start his training in the U.S. Army Air
Corps. The training wasn’t easy. But his instructor told him he was
one of the best stick-and-rudder men he had ever seen. Tom was
sent to Europe. He flew the P-51 Mustang. It was a fast, stunningly
beautiful airplane and he loved flying it. Even though flying
provided Tom with much happiness the job he was assigned to do
would not be considered a happy one. He was fully aware that
Nazi Germany was evil and the allies were fighting on the side of
good. He would escort bombers, because the P-51 fighters were
known as ‘little friends’. He would shoot at German Fighters to
protect the bombers. With the four 50 caliber machine guns, the
enemy’s airplanes would sustain very heavy damage. Tom was
also tasked with strafing ground positions such as troop trains,
aircraft hangars, trucks, tanks, and columns of enemy troops.
When they say war is hell, it is true.

After the war Tom went back to the family farm. It was now 1948,
Tom was 25, and he decided he would take advantage of the G.I.
Bill and go to college. He liked History and decided to major in
that. In a very short time history was to take a big part in Tom’s
life again. The Korean Conflict started in 1950. Since Tom was a
WWII Veteran and had already flown in combat he again found
himself in an airplane, this time as an F-86 Sabre pilot. The U.S.
Army Air Corps was now the United States Air Force. He flew
over the Yalu River in Northwestern North Korea in an area
known as MiG Alley. The ‘dogfights’ were a big part of being an
F-86 Sabre fighter pilot. He would also strafe ground targets and
provide Close Air Support. The war was over in 1953 and Tom
went home. He had made a promise to himself that he would finish
his college education and get a teaching degree in History. Tom
found a job working at the hardware store in town and the owner
let him live in the small apartment upstairs. Now he was settled
down at home during peacetime with a job and attending college.
After completing college he got a history teaching position at a
local community college. So instead of participating in history as
he had in WWII and the Korean Conflict he was teaching it to
young people. That is where Tom met the most beautiful woman in
the world – her name was Mary. Mary Ellen Palmer to be exact.
They met on a cool autumn day in October of 1955 and they
started dating. Before long they had a full-time relationship. They
were very much in love. A couple of years went by and Tom and
Mary decided to get married. They planned on getting married in
1958 on the 12th of June. Tom was 34 now and Mary was 33. They
weren’t a rich couple and didn’t have a lot of material things but
they were happy. It was now the 1960’s and it seemed that
anything was possible. The country had a young president and
human beings were beginning to explore space. Tom and Mary
were now thinking of having children as Mary was now 36. They
had a 5-1/2 pound baby boy on May 12th 1961 and his name was
Charles Daniel Fuller. They called him Charlie.

As the years went buy Charlie grew older and Tom and Mary’s
marriage kept growing stronger. It was now 1969 and Tom had
become a Professor of History at the University and he was
working on writing a book. The year 1969 was a year of wonder
with man landing on the moon and it also was a year of trouble and
strife with the war in Vietnam and the protests at home. In 1973
Tom turned 50 and his book “Homeward Journey” was published.
It was a story about war veterans coming home. Tom himself had
close friends from two wars that did not make it home. Tom and
Mary now had a little more disposable income and decided to take
a vacation to Tahiti. It was now 1978 and they had been married
for 20-years so they felt they deserved the vacation. The next year,
1979, when Charlie turned 18, he joined the Air Force. He applied
to Officers Candidate School (OCS) and was accepted. After he
became a 2nd Lieutenant he applied for Flight School. It wasn’t
easy getting accepted even with his father’s service. But he
eventually got accepted. The Flight School took a little over a year
and it was hard work. Tom was so proud of him when he received
his pilot’s wings. Charlie learned how to fly an F-15 Eagle and was
stationed at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia. Then in August of
1990 he was deployed to Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert
Shield. Tom thought that things had now come full circle.