Tech Sgt L F Caldwell

This past weekend, I had the unbelievable fortune...blessing...to meet and informally interview Tech Sgt Frank Caldwell. Frank was the engineer on the B-24 Liberator nicknamed "Our Belle"...the same plane that carried my great-uncle, S Sgt Lloyd N. Reid as a tail-gunner.

Frank re-counted the events of befriending Reid, as Frank called him, of being shot out of the sky, watching helplessly as four of his friends were killed, of staying alive in a POW camp, and living his life each day since in an effort to show thanks to God for having been spared.

Though Frank is 85 now, his memory is still sharp and he can take you places through his stories like nowhere I've been before. Yet, I still got the feeling he was withholding some details either out of respect for the dead or from protecting the listener. He lived in a time when extraordinary things were asked of ordinary men...and through his faith in God, he overcame tragic and horrifying events. Every now and then, we meet someone so experienced, so haunted by the past, yet so ready to share, that we merely need to introduce ourselves, ask a question, and push "record" on the tape player.

In this case, I was honored to shake Sgt Caldwell's hand, introduced myself as the son of Lloyd Reid's nephew, asked him, "What was Lloyd like?", and then...I pressed "record". Four hours later, I hit "stop". If I'm ever able to condense and combine Frank's interview and Lloyd's letters, it surely would be a best-seller...at least within our family.

(Back row, Reid-2nd from right; Caldwell-3rd from right)