Missing?

United States Air Force Memorial, Arlington, Virginia
(Source)

The three memorial spires range from 201 feet to 270 feet high and appear to be soaring; its array of stainless steel arcs against the sky evoke the image of "contrails of the Air Force Thunderbirds as they peel back in a precision 'bomb burst' maneuver." Only three of the four contrails are depicted, at 120 degrees from each other, as the absent fourth suggests the missing man formation traditionally used at Air Force funeral fly-overs. (Source)

A few of you have queried over the years as to why certain individuals, who are very deserving of being on the masthead, are not there. Why are they missing? Did I forget them? Did I not know of them?

So I'm taking a bit of a break from my "Who They Are" series to explain my "criteria" for who gets included on the masthead. If my somewhat emotional and disorganized reasons for putting someone on the masthead can be dignified with the term "criteria."

First off, when I started, only Lex was on the masthead, along with some cool (at least to me) picture. Here's the first iteration -

Note that the blog title, Chant du Départ isn't there. Back in the day I let Blogger take care of that (hey, I was a rookie). Since then I put it in myself. I like my font and font color better than that which is provided by default.

Now I had thought that Lex had always been on the masthead, a quick check of the Header Archive reveals that not to be the case. I moved his photo over to the sidebar, where it remains. He went back up on the masthead in one of my periodic redesigns. It's something the Air Force taught me - Bored? Reorganize.

At any rate, when Lex went back up on the masthead, so did eight other guys. Men who had impressed or influenced me in one way or another. Over the years, more folks were added, often because I read about the individual and it had an effect on me. Sort of a personal connection, if you will.

So what are these mysterious "criteria" I mentioned earlier?

As this is an aviation-oriented blog, you don't see anyone up there who is not involved with aviation in one way or another. As with all "rules," there are four exceptions:

Arnaud Jean-Georges Beltrame - The colonel of Gendarmes represents my anger with those who denigrate the French for an alleged lack of bravery. He is also the only policeman on the header. Though underneath Lex and Buck there is a black rectangle, divided horizontally by a thin blue line. If you think that "thin blue line" represents those police officers who have fallen in the line of duty, you would be correct.

Peter Wang, Alaina Petty, and Martin Duque Anguiano - All were members of an Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program at their high school. These three brave young people died when their school was attacked by a crazed maniac. Their story hit me pretty hard, both daughters did JROTC in high school. I know kids like those three, that they died in such a fashion struck me to my very core. They had to be included.

But for the most part the guys on the masthead (mostly men, the young lady being an exception as noted) are Air Force (not necessarily aircrew - after all, I was Air Force, the three non-pilots belong up there, as you'll see in the near future), or Navy, or Marine pilots/backseaters. Which is why guys like Pat Tillman aren't up there, even though he walked away from a very lucrative NFL career to enlist in the Army after 9/11. Perhaps he should be, there are two baseball players up there. Personal connection is why they are there, Mom is a Red Sox fan (as am I, sort of, I follow baseball, seldom watch it on TV, because, well, TV) and Dad was a Yankees fan. Jerry Coleman and Ted Williams belong up there, major league ballplayers who were Marine pilots in two wars. (Though Ted Williams started in the Navy, his military fame was gained with the Marines in Korea.)

Though I acknowledge the heroism of our nation's enemies in the many wars we have fought, you won't find any of them up there. Though aces like Erich Hartmann, Manfred von Richthofen, Werner Voss, and Sakai Saburo would fit in, they were the enemy when their fame was gained. For the most part, with one exception, the folks on the masthead are American.

Though I respect those who fought for the South in the Great Unpleasantness of 1861 to 1865, though they were Americans, you won't ever see a Reb up on the masthead. Though Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. Jackson are deserving, they took up arms against my country. I understand, I do not condone, nor really forgive. Respect yes, much as I respect the accomplishments of Erwin Rommel and Erich von Manstein. They were the enemy. Enough said, debate in the comments is welcomed and encouraged.

I have had readers tell me that "Hey Sarge, you forgot so-and-so!" Trust me, I didn't forget anyone, especially not the 2,852,901-plus American men and women who have died or been wounded in the wars fought to preserve and protect freedom. I never forget their sacrifices, I remember them, every day. As the poem says - At the going down of the sun and in the morning, I will remember them.

So that's some of the thought process behind the who's who of the masthead. There are so many who are deserving, those so honored (small beer though it be) touched me personally in one way or another. Will more be added? Hard to say, I hope not. For more reasons than I care to enumerate. One note though, notice the background colors of the portraits? Black means that the individual is deceased, green means they are still alive. Only two portraits are green.

(USAF photo - TSgt Peter R. Miller)

For those who have passed, "May their memories be a blessing."

Amen.