Influences GI's Kids
| The following was provided by Bill Hughes on March 11, 2010, after he heard about the Congressional Gold Medal being awarded to the Women Airforce Service pilots of WWII. |
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The WASP ceremonies today in Washington, DC, revived my memories of Emma Coulter who had a serious impact on my life, even though she'd never remember me (if she is still alive). I was hospitalized during WWII in Memphis, TN and had progressed sufficiently to be given Convalescent Leave to go home to L A for a couple weeks, so went to the local airport and caught a hop on a B-24 being ferried to Pueblo, CO for major repairs. Emma was piloting the beast and was as cute a gal as you could ever ask and this 18 year old boy fell instantly in love with his pilot and made sure to learn who she was by paying strict attention to the telegram she sent to her boss, Caddy Landry, back at Biggs Field. I never forgot her name even though I never saw or heard of her again until today. |
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So, how did she have such a profound influence over my life? Well, it wasn't really my life so much as it was my kid's lives that she affected. You see, I had four kids and three of them were girls. They all went into the Air Force and they all became pilots. I doubt my girls would have gone that route had it not been for the example set by Emma Coulter. |
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One of my girls is currently retired from the Service and flies as an airline pilot all over the world. She is a very senior pilot for her airline and loves her work. She has four boys and two of them are already in the Air Force Academy. One of her sisters flew C-141s all over the globe and had some fascinating experiences. She is now working for a gov't agency that won't allow her to tell me its name! Her baby sister graduated from the Air Force Academy and is now a professor at one of out major universities. Their brother is a retired fighter pilot and is well advanced into a second career in the UAV business. I don't believe this would have happened but for the influence of Emma Coulter on a young soldier during WWII. |
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Bill Hughes |
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As of the posting of this tribute, Emma is 94 years old and living with her her family in St. Louis, MO. |