redc1c4 wrote:


there may be no "i" in "team", but try spelling it without "me"......

redc1c4,
(and what got edited out of the interview before you saw it? %-)
--
"Enlisted men are stupid, but extremely cunning and sly, and bear
considerable watching."

Army Officer's Guide



This being a binary group, Gordon doesn't have ready access, but has sent
me these comments.




"We used to meet him several times per year. A group of us would run into
him and invariably, he would lash out at one or another of us - loyal camp
followers whose only crime was wanting to be close enough to hear a bit of
history from the lips of this larger than life belligerent. Once, I found
myself in a huge auditorium with just him and I - we looked around, waiting
for the inrush of American fighter aces and their throng of fans. He sized
me up for about the twentieth time, then made a disgusted snort and went to
sit down at his table. the guy that ran the reunion came in and offered me
a free Yeager poster for him to sign. He signed it crisp and clean but
couldn't help himself. "That f_____ will be on eBay before the ink is dry."
Another snort. This time, I was fed up. "General, I first met you on a
cross country flight 16 years ago - over the years, you have singed about
twenty things for me, and they make up the heart of my little kid's ace
collection. I've never sold anything you signed for us. Never will." With
that, I stomped off to be with some ace friends with a little less jackass
in them.

A couple days later, a large buffet table outside the winding down
conference. The last of the 'camp followers' sat around, trading stories of
Chuck's abuses over the years. All eight of us had at least a couple good
stories of being berated, insulted, belittled, etc, at the hands of the
master. At this moment, Chuck himself walks up to the table and looks at
all of us. We freeze. Here it comes boys. Steady, lads...

What followed was about a minute long thank you from Chuck. He salted it of
course, but the point was, he was grateful that we looked up to him and the
other aces. His peace stated, he turned an walked away, close on the 6 of a
passing lovely woman. Get'er Chuck! We sat at the table in total
disbelief. "Now where in the hell does THAT go in our anthology of Yeager
stories??" It was so out of character was all sat there laughing. Chuck
said something nice to us! I bet all eight of us from that table all
remember that particular moment, when we interacted with General Yeager and
he _didn't_ say something crass."




--

Cheers

Dave Kearton