IN OUR OPINION ■ Page 4 Accounts of Vietnam War veterans and their families must be preserved.
INDEPENDENCE DAY ■ Inside These businesses want to help you celebrate the Fourth of July.
U.S. FLAG ■ Inside Our Fourth of July gift to you.
PROFILE ■ Page 12 Two Navy spouses found an art studio that has become so much more
Kitsap
MilitaryTimes MilitaryTimes
‘A trip back home’
The Voice for Kitsap County’s Active-Duty
VETERANS ADVOCATE | THOM STODDERT
July 2016
Personnel, Veterans and their Families
Beware of pension On the 72nd poachers
T
he VA’s pension program is not intended for everyone, despite what some lawyers and financial planners are promoting in Kitsap County. From the VA’s own webThom Stoddert site: “DON’T BE A VICTIM: BE AWARE OF PENSION POACHING SCAMS. Be cautious if someone offers to move your assets around for you to qualify for VA pension. This type of scam is often directed toward Veterans and family members who do not actually qualify for VA pension. You could be required to repay these benefits to the government.” By using purchases of insurances, annuities, and/or irrevocable trusts that they make available when assisting with the application for a pension, See STODDERT, Page 11
Cliff Hurlburt piloted a B-17 during World War II. He returned to the sky in a B-17 on June 6 at Boeing Field, on the 72nd anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Sophie Bonomi / Staff photo
anniversary of D-Day, 13 B-17 veterans return to the sky
men. Incidentally, the B-17 at the event was named “Aluminum Overcast.” That day, 13 men — all in their 90s now — gathered in the shade under the B-17s wing to talk about their experiences when they were young. So young that Robert Culp, a B-17 navigator was “just barely 18” when he joined up. “I flew 30 missions,” Culp said. “And when I came home in November of 1945, I was still not old enough to vote.” The stories of how they came to be in the war, and where they were on D-Day, were as varied as the men. Here are some of them:
BY TERRYL ASLA AND SOPHIE BONOMI Kitsap Military Times
B
OEING FIELD — Twelve thousand seven hundred thirty one. That’s how many B-17s were built in the years leading up to, and during, World War II. If you placed them wingtip to wingtip, they would have extended 250 miles, according to the World War II Foundation. Almost 130,000 airmen. That’s how many young men it took to fly and fight them. By the end of the war, there were so many bombers in the sky over Germany, that someone remarked they created an “aluminum overcast.” How many B-17s in the world are still flying today? Eleven. One of them was at the
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J. W. Roundhill, bombardier
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J. W. Roundhill still speaks with an English accent. He had English parents. They sent him to English schools and he was in England in 1939 when war broke out with Germany. He was training in the Royal Air Force when the Japanese See B-17, Page 2