This weekend the Wagner crew attended the Midwest Museum Council meeting in Dayton, Ohio. I gave a session on the history of wheat and Jim and Evan presented on the development and uses of manure spreaders. Pretty exciting stuff right? You know you are a history geek when you say yes to that.
Other than learning about historical intricacies in agriculture, we got a behind-the-scenes tour of the United States Air Force Museum at Wright/Patterson Air Base. The museum was just massive. In fact, it was so big that by the time I got close to the back I was actually getting tired of walking. The museum is comprised of three huge hangers and each is jam packed with planes. To be there was to be in the presence of history. Strangely, it was not an airplane that most captivated me. In the WW 2 section there was a display of 80 silver goblets. Each cup was engraved with the name of a Doolittle Raider. In 1942 America had been beaten up pretty good by the Japanese. The country needed to make a statement that we were not going to just roll over. Col. Doolittle lead a squadron of B-25's off an aircraft carrier in the Pacific and bombed Tokyo. While the raid didn't do a lot of damage it did help morale at home. After the war, the Raiders got together each year to toast their leader, Col. Doolittle. At some point, a special set of goblets were made with each man's name on it. As different members passed away their goblet would be turned upside down. Today, there are only 6 of the Raiders left. Sometimes it is funny what grabs you and makes you think. Seeing those silver cups was really powerful.
