An Andrews Sisters like singing & dancing trio along with the band Timeless and thier own WWII/Korean War Veteran bring the 40's to life! We've also celebrated other Veterans in our family.

For another of our Veteran family members, the entire family spent the night on the USS Midway as honorary crew members. It was what he wanted for his 70th Birthday and we surprised him with gear from his Red Horse Squadron from the Vietman War. 

The Midway also saw service in the Vietnam War. 

We were our own team and competed all day and late into the night with many competitions centered around crew responsibilities. 

Learning all about the Signal flags that an LSO (Landing Signal Officer) would do on the flight deck landing a Navy jet on a carrier. Just like they do every day (this job-landing a jet on a carrierr) is harder to qualify for than brainsurgery! Also like they did in the movie Top Gun, we learned about arresting wires, steam catapults, what does, "call the ball mean" etc . Speaking of, we met a crew member who was in the original TOP GUN! He gave us some insights about what it was like on set on the ship (below right).

San Diego skyline from the flight deck on our 10 pm snack.

San Diego Harbor (above and right)

Two 1940's baby boomers calling it a day on the Midway.

That's all for the 70th aboard the Midway in 2018. 

Now we'll continue on our WWII adventure from here:

Performing for an all-school assembly

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy

Community Day!

World War II and Veteran's Day is one of the most popular requests of the Characters. In California, we came with our own Swing dance band Timeless: the Music You Remember with all those peppy war-time hits, and even brought along our own decorated family Veteran! See our Andrews Sisters page for more! 

At the age of 95, he passed in his sleep. He lived thought the depression, hitch-hiked Route 66 3x, skipped his last year of high school to sign up for the Army on December 8th, 1941 (the day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor), hid out in a fox-hole in France for a week while waiting to be rescued after his bomber ran out of gas and they crash-landed), he was one of 5 who carried the original battle plans for the war around the world, married a widow who's husband was KIA liberating a labor camp in Germany, has more Mount Fuji sticks than anyone I've seen, helped found the area of Lake Elsinore and SunCity/Menifee,  CA as a banker/broker, has one of the few medals of honor for the Korean govt. from that war, and the list goes on and on! We are truly grateful for all that he brought into our lives and are proud to cal him Grandpa and Great-Grandpa!

Honored by Senator Morrell (CA) in 2016 as Patriot of the Past Award-winner, his family recieved his awards for him.  The girls were also honored as Patriots of the Future runners up for their work with veterans.

See that post by Senator Morrell here.

More on our adventures with  this Grandpa/Great-Grandpa after more on another Grandpa's 70th Birthday Adventure aboard the USS Midway (right and below).

The whole family got Red Horse Squadron hats (it was interesting trying to round up what's left of these patches from his era) and it was perfect seeing him represented on the ship. We knew where our family was all the time and he was blessed!

Our Veteran  Birthday Dad/Grandpa

 Crew member in the 1986 movie Top Gun.

 We slept in the Midway Barracks

Time to turn in for more the next day! See the barracks and learning to get into them here. We called it like "sleeping in a filing cabinet."

We'll continue with WWII and Great Grandpa/Grandpa  here:

Above is from a presentation at school. We did this every year after our WWII performance saluting veterans put on so well by a teacher at the kids' elementary school for the community. Grandpa would let the children handle all his medals and ask questions of the hero.

Veteran's Day at Cornerstone Community Church in Wildomar

Great Grandpa a decorated Major!

Watching the USS Iowa Dock the day it ws towed into the L.A. Port

and a trip out to the USS AZ Memorial in Hawaii: