RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas –
More than a dozen former airmen who exemplified the fighting spirit of the Greatest Generation saw the Air Force's latest generation up close last week.
Members of the U.S. Air Forces Escape and Evasion Society, allied airmen who were forced behind enemy lines only to avoid captivity or escape from captivity, visited Lackland and Randolph Air Force Bases April 15, a highlight of their four-day reunion in San Antonio.
"I absolutely understand that we stand on your shoulders," said Lt. Gen. Douglas Owens, Air Education and Training Command vice commander, as he welcomed the World War II aviators to an AETC brief, the first stop on their trip to Randolph, and credited them for their part in preserving the freedoms Americans enjoy. "I cannot tell you how privileged and honored I am to be with you today."
AFEES members started the day as honored guests at Lackland's basic military training graduation, then crossed town for the AETC brief and tours of the Taj Mahal and the 12th Flying Training Wing's 99th and 560th Flying Training Squadrons.
John Katsaros, AFEES' current president and a member since 1986, said he was impressed by what he saw at Lackland and Randolph.
"It's amazing what they can do with these kids in just eight weeks," he said, talking about the basic military training graduates. "At Randolph, I was so impressed by the officers there. The way they handled the reunion was unbelievable."
AAFES, which now has more than 600 members, most of them from World War II, dates back to 1964, when a reunion in Buffalo, N.Y., brought together American aviators who had escaped from enemy-occupied territory during World War II and their European "helpers." Leslie Atkinson, a reserve captain in the French Air Force, and Ralph Patton, an AFEES founder, had separately envisioned such an organization before they began to communicate and lay the foundation for the society.
In addition to airmen, the organization includes helpers, their family members and friends.
Mr. Katsaros, who survived a B-17 bailout over France in 1944 despite being badly injured, said he owes his life to his helpers.
"Without the French Resistance and the many people who treated me like their son, brother or uncle, I would not be alive today," he said. "I have so much regard for the French Resistance and the French people. I go and visit them often."
Mr. Katsaros, who now has homes in Florida and Massachusetts, chronicled his experiences in the book "Code Burgundy - The Long Escape."
He was a 20-year-old waist gunner on a B-17 that was en route to bomb a factory in Frankfurt, Germany, when their aircraft was riddled with anti-aircraft fire and he was injured by shrapnel. He assisted some of his crew mates, but was forced to bail out and, after a 25,000-foot free fall, broke six ribs, fractured both ankles and broke his right arm, beginning a three-month-long ordeal to escape to freedom. Twice he was captured by the Gestapo and twice he escaped with the assistance of the French Resistance before struggling over the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain.
Retired Air Force Col. Steve Mac Isaac, an AFEES director who was lead planner for the reunion, said he was introduced to the organization when he was serving as the 6th Air Refueling Wing chief of staff at MacDill AFB, Fla. He said his commander asked him to assist AFEES members during one of their reunions.
"Once you're around one, you can never say no," he said. "My father was a World War II pilot and I lost him. It was like hanging out with his brothers."
Mr. Mac Isaac, who now lives in New Mexico, said the San Antonio reunion was the organization's fourth "final" reunion, coming on the heels of reunions in Savannah, Ga., site of Hunter Army Airfield; Dayton, Ohio, home of the Air Force Museum; and the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.
"Every year we take them to a place that is significant in their history," he said. "Randolph is one of those places where aviation was most prominent. There's so much history there."
Mr. Katsaros said he is looking forward to a reunion in Albuquerque, N.M., next year, but in the meantime there is plenty of unfinished business.
"There are a lot of fellows we have to get in so the organization won't die," he said. "We want all the airmen from Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and other wars who evaded the enemy. I am about the youngest one from World War II who is still living and I am 87."