Happy Acres: March 2007

My sister posted the following to her family website. With gratitude to all who serve in our military, and all who have served; I'm posting it here. We thank you for all you and your families have sacrificed in order to protect and defend this great nation.

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This article was printed in the Big Bear Grizzly Newspaper regarding a local Marine pilot who lost his life in Iraq:

An Aviator's Last Flight

BAKERSFIELD - As a former Navy pilot -- with a stint at the Topgun
fighter school -- you might expect that Mojave Airport Manager Stuart
Witt would feel a special kinship with combat air crews.

And you'd be right.

Witt is a native of the Onyx area of east Kern. He's a fourth generation
Kern County resident who flew F-14 Tomcats and F-18 Hornets before
moving to a test program at China Lake Naval Weapons Center. After the
Navy, he became a civilian test pilot working on the F-16 and B-1B
projects, among other cutting edge programs.

Now he's he general manager of the East Kern Airport District, the
Mojave airport which, after the successful flight of SpaceShipOne,
officially became a "spaceport."

Witt was in Maryland on Feb. 16 to attend a Navy ceremony.

On his way back, he saw the return of a Marine's body from Iraq to
California.

For Witt, it was a very moving experience that prompted him to write the
following account.

Final Flight By Stuart Witt

Feb. 17, 2007, 0350 curbside at 24th and M, Washington DC. 16 degrees
with a light breeze. Going home after my second week of freezing temps.
Fly my aircraft, ride a horse, climb a mountain and get back to living.
I'm tired of the cold.

0425 paying the taxi fare at Dulles in front of the United Airlines
counter, still cold.

0450 engaging the self-serve ticker machine and it delivers my ticket,
baggage tag and boarding pass. Hmmm, that Marine is all dressed up
early...? Oh, maybe,,, Hmmm, "Good morning captain, you're looking
sharp."

Pass security and to my gate for a quick decaf coffee and five hours
sleep. A quick check of the flight status monitor and UA Flight 211 is
on time. I'm up front, how bad can it be? Hmmm, that same Marine, he
must be heading to Pendleton to see his lady at LAX for the long weekend
all dressed up like that....? Or maybe not?

"Attention in the boarding area, we will begin boarding in 10 minutes,
we have some additional duties to attend to this morning but we will
have you out of here on time."

That captain now has five others with him. BINGO. I get it, he is not
visiting his lady, he's an official escort. How I remember doing that
once, CACO duty. I still remember the names of the victim and family,
The Bruno family in Mojave .., all of them, wow, that was 24 years ago.
I wonder if we will ever know who and why?

On board, 0600: "Good morning folks this is the captain. This morning we
have been attending to some additional duties and I apologize for being
10 minutes late for pushback but believe me we will be early to LAX.
This morning it is my sad pleasure to announce that 1st Lt. Jared
Landaker, USMC, will be flying with us to his Big Bear home in Southern
California.

''Jared lost his life over the skies of Iraq earlier this month and
today we have the honor of returning him home along with his mother,
father, brother and uncles.

''Please join me in making the journey comfortable for the Landaker
family and their uniformed escort. Now sit back and enjoy our ride, we
are not expecting any turbulence until we reach the Rocky Mountains and
at that time we will do what we can to ensure a smooth ride. For those
interested you can listen in to our progress on button 9."

Up button 9: "Good morning UA 211 you are cleared to taxi, takeoff and
cleared to LAX as filed." From the time we started rolling we never
stopped. 1st Lt. Landaker began receiving his due.

Four hours and 35 minutes later, over Big Bear Mountain, the AB320 makes
a left roll and steep bank and then one to the right, Nice touch captain

"Five minutes out from landing, the captain: "Ladies and gents, after
landing I'm leaving the fasten seatbelt sign on and I ask everyone in
advance to yield to the Landaker family. Please remain seated until all
members have departed the aircraft. Thank you for your patience, we are
20 minutes early."

On roll out, I notice red lights, emergency vehicles everywhere. We are
being escorted directly to our gate, no waiting anywhere, not even a
pause. Out the left window, a dozen Marines in full dress blues. Highway
Patrol, police, fire crews all in full dress with lights on. A true
class act by everyone, down to a person, from coast to coast. Way to go
United Airlines for doing the little things RIGHT, because they are the
big things; Air Traffic Control for getting the message, to all law
enforcement for your display of brotherhood.

When the family departed the aircraft everyone sat silent, then I heard
a lady say, "God Bless You and your Family, Thank You." Then another,
then another, then a somber round of applause. The captain read a
prepared note from Mrs. Landaker to the effect, "Thank you all for your
patience and heartfelt concern for us and our son. We sincerely
appreciate the sentiment. It is nice to have Jared home."

After departing the aircraft, I found myself, along with 30 others from
our flight, looking for a window. Not a dry eye in the craft. All of us
were bawling like babies. It was one of the most emotional moments of my
life. We all stood silent and watched as Jared was taken by his honor
guard to an awaiting hearse. Then the motorcade slowly made its way off
the ramp.

I have finally seen the silent majority. It is deep within us all.
Black, Brown, White, Yellow, Red, Purple, we are all children, parents,
brothers, sisters, etc

... we are an American family.

What you don't know is that on the flight I was tapped on the shoulder
by Mrs. Landaker who introduced herself to me after I awoke. Her words
were, "I understand you have sons in the service. Please tell them we
appreciate their service. We are so proud of our kids who chose to serve
at this time. We were so proud of Jared and today we find ourselves in a
fog of disbelief. Jared was three days from returning home."

Early in our taxi out from the gate at Dulles, the gent next to me (a
Fairfax City Council Member and acquaintance of the Thuot family) and I
were talking to the flight attendant and mentioned that we had sons
serving on active duty, "What do you say? How tragic, they must be
devastated." He said many of the passengers had told him the same thing
so somewhere in the flight he shared his tidbits with Mrs. Landaker. Our
flight attendant had been struggling with what to say, to find the right
words, so he told the Landaker family of passengers who were parents of
service members who connected with their grief as parents. After I
gathered myself, I stepped back to their row, two behind me and
introduced myself to Mr. Landaker (a Veteran of South East Asia as a
Tanker) and Jared's uncle and brother. What a somber moment. Their
Marine captain escort was a first rate class act. He had been Jared's
tactics instructor and volunteered for this assignment, as he said,
"Sir, it is the least I could do, he was my friend and a great stick. He
absolutely loved to fly, It's an honor to be here on his last flight."

1115: On my connecting flight, my mind raced. How lucky I was to have
had an opportunity to fly my father to Spain and ride the carrier USS
John F. Kennedy home in 1981. The same year Jared was born. How lucky I
was to have my father on the crows landing when I made my final cat shot
in an F-14. Jared's father never had that chance. Jared was at war,
10,000 miles away.

When Mr. Landaker and I were talking he shared with me, "When Jared was
born he had no soft spot on his head and doctors feared he would be
developmentally challenged. He became a physics major with honors, a
high school and college athlete, and graduated with distinction from
naval aviation flight school. He was short in stature, but a Marine all
the way." Visit his life story on line at www.bigbeargrizzly.net . Bring
tissue.

February 7, 2007, Anbar Province, Iraq. 1st Lt Jared Landaker, United
States Marine Corps, Hero, from Big Bear Calif., gave his life in
service to his country. Fatally wounded when his CH-46 helicopter was

shot down by enemy fire, Jared and his crew all perished. His life was
the ultimate sacrifice of a grateful military family and nation.

His death occurred at the same time as Anna Nicole Smith, a drug using
person with a 7th grade education of no pedigree who dominated our news
for two weeks while Jared became a number on CNN. And most
unfortunately, Jared's death underscores a fact that we are a military
at war, not a nation at war. Until we become a nation committed to
winning the fight, and elect leaders with the spine to ask Americans to
sacrifice in order to win, we shall remain committed to being a nation
with a military at war, and nothing more. (And possibly no funding if
congress has their way!)

1st Lt. Landaker, a man I came to know in the skies over America on 17
February 2007, from me to you, aviator to aviator, I am unbelievably
humbled. It was my high honor to share your last flight. God bless you.
Semper Fi