Over the past few years my lifelong interest in the Second World War has been heightened by the startup and subsequent growth of the annual WW II Days show at the old Reading airport in Reading PA. My wife and I were out driving one day in late spring back in 1991 and had decided to stop by a local lake we frequent just to enjoy the nice day. As we came up the exit ramp from the bypass I glanced to the left and noticed what appeared to be a man dressed in full battle dress directing traffic. After a double-take I decided to check it out. When I pulled next to him I asked him what was going on and he informed me that some people were trying something new to honor the anniversary of WW II. He pointed the way and we decided to see for ourselves. Well, to cut it short, we were thrilled, even though it was a small show and had some rough edges. We have been to all but two shows since and have watched it grow to be the first class show it is today. I was born in 1941 and do remember the last year of the war. I have had an interest in history in general and the Civil War and WW II in particular all my life. In recent years I have acquired uniforms for my wife and I to wear to the show as many people do and it has added tremendously to our enjoyment of the experience. My uniform is Army Air Force (Major) pilot's field uniform for the Southwest Pacific (13th Air Force, 18th Fighter Group, 44th Fighter Squadron) and my wife's is a Women's Army Corp (Captain) field uniform with AAF insignia prevelant in the SW Pacific. I picked the 13th AF because I wanted to represent a unit of the AF from that area of the war and chose the 13th AF in particular because it seemed to be generally over-looked. The deciding factor was that my grandson's birthday is on the 13th. MY UNCLE AND ME. This page is copyrighted by Larry E Long ©1999-2008 and is intended for amusement purposes only. Launched on the web 1-21-1999. All stories and images within "The Jungle Air Force", are Copyright ©2008, to the person who submitted the text and/or photographs and to Larry E Long, Webmaster, at "The Jungle Air Force". All rights reserved. No part of this page, or those connected via links, neither text nor images, may be used for any purpose other than personal use. Storage, reproduction, modification on a retrieval system or transmission, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without prior written permission of the Copyright © holder(s) is prohibited. This includes storage on another Internet Website other than "The Jungle Air Force". Thank You! Grateful thanks to Robert Westbrook Jr. for his support and encouragement. A special thanks to Bill Starke: see "An Explanation!" below and the Lt. Col. Robert B. Westbrook page. The Guadalcanal photographs were provided by Mr. Peter Flahavin. The two 868th Bomber Squadron commendations were provided by Mr. Bill Allen. My heartfelt thanks and appreciation goes out to everyone who has so graciously provided me with information. It's this kind of sharing that makes this endeavor so special. I have attempted to bring these pages in compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 as put forth by the W3C Group. Click here to go to the W3C web page. A special thanks to ENTER.net. Optimized for Firefox, 800x600, Hi-Color. The author is a member of Main MenuSite Map