The Victory Lap

Three of the crew members who flew in the “William Allen White” B-29 over Japan during World War II: Jim Meeks, Valrico, Fla; Karl Samuels, Slidell, La.; and Gin Wong, Los Angeles.

The three World War II veterans talk with Chris White Walker and his daughters, Hattie and Grace.

Today’s Flyover People column: The Victory Lap

On April 27, 1945, Emporia held a carnival in the Civic Auditorium to sell war bonds. The event raised $20,122. Lyon County residents were financing a B-29 Superfortress for World War II.

The 11-man crew assigned to this Wichita-built plane came to Kansas to take possession of the aircraft. And they came to Emporia to encourage the sale of war bonds.

Emporia honored the crew at the Civic Auditorium that evening. These young men in their 20s also paid a visit to the White home; they met White’s widow, Sallie.

Off to war they went. Two separate crews flew this particular bomber in daring missions over Japan and the B-29 kept them safe. Because these airmen had visited Emporia on their way to war, it makes me wonder what memories of our town they carried with them to Tinian Island in 1945.

Each time they boarded the B-29 and saw the name William Allen White painted on that silver plane, did they feel the support of the Emporia people?

Roger Heineken of the William Allen White Community Partnership had been in contact with some of the crew via e-mail. When the men learned they would be in Wichita for a reunion of their bombing group, they said they wanted to revisit Emporia.

On Sept. 29, 2007, 62 years after their first trip here, three of the 11 crew members returned to Emporia’s Civic Auditorium, and they also revisited White’s home, now a state historic site.

Those three veterans were Jim Meeks of Valrico, Fla., the radio operator on the aircraft; Karl Samuels, from Slidell, La., central fire control gunner; and Gin Wong of Los Angeles, the radar bombardier/navigator.

The day officially belonged to these vets. The mayor signed a proclamation designating Sept. 29 “‘William Allen White Crew and the City of Emporia Reunion Day.”

Their return coincided with another event in town — the William Allen White Children’s Book Awards.

So, once again, these gentlemen appeared at the Civic Auditorium. And they were given a standing ovation by hundreds of children at the book awards ceremony.

The men, now in their 80s, took a tour of the White house. The last time they stood in White’s second-floor study, they were young men.

After the tour, the crewmen sat on the porch and related some of their war experiences.

They talked about near-misses that occurred because the airspace over the Western Pacific was often crowded with planes. They told about 16- and 17-hour missions and having no place to refuel.

The crew took shortcuts to return to Tinian Island from Japan. “Any way to get home,” Wong said.

“We were only supposed to be flying fast enough to be staying in the air,” Meeks added.

“One time we landed and two engines cut out,” Samuels said. “Taxiing in on the runway, we ran out of gas.”

On this recent September Saturday, history came home; three World War II veterans returned to Emporia for a victory lap.

As they toured the White house, I could imagine them as the young men they were on their first visit. But this time, instead of talking with Sallie White, they met her great-grandson, Chris White Walker, and his daughters, Grace and Hattie.

While watching the interactions of the crewmen with the latest of the White generations, I realized that these veterans touched two ends of history, the past and the present.

And the future. They met the two sparkling girls, Grace and Hattie, who have yet to learn how years can proceed both quickly and slowly, and who have yet to understand the greatness of these men who were brave enough to save the world.

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See this on the Gazette page. The Victory Lap