Combat Missions

There's irony in the fact that the decision to enhance the role of women in the military by allowing them to fly combat missions should come so quickly after the report on the Navy's "Tailhook Scandal," the most conspicuous recent example of the military's degradation of women. To the extent the events were connected, there's also a sense of justice being served. We approve of this change with a full awareness that it will create problems, and that the military is a special institution within our society unlike any other.

My father, 84 and dying, has never in his life been patient. And I fear patience is not something either of us will learn before he dies. Our Sicilian family never considered patience a virtue. Why would we? Patience is for people who don't have enough to do. Patience indicates a lack of imagination. Patience is the minimum wage of virtues: It hangs out, does as little as possible, and still gets rewarded. For my father, the bus to and from work was always too slow. The line at the supermarket never moved fast enough.

The image most Americans have of women in war is the nurse. The wife waving good-bye at the train station. The pinup girl entertaining the troops. History books rarely depict women as combatants. But history is full of heroic female fighters. Take these examples from World War II alone: In the Soviet Union, more than 800,000 women served as frontline soldiers; because of their patience, they usually made the best snipers. Female fliers formed three elite regiments of the Russian air force known as the "night witches.

Paul G. Atkinson, 80, a decorated career Air Force officer and former curator of aviation exhibits at the Franklin Institute, died of complications from lung cancer Oct. 1 at Normandy Farms, a retirement community in Blue Bell, Montgomery County. Thirty years after piloting 62 combat missions for the Army Air Force during World War II, Col. Atkinson faced his biggest aviation challenge: He had to move a Boeing 707 from Philadelphia International Airport to its new home outside the Franklin Institute.

Less than 24 hours after he announced he was running for Congress, a Delaware County Republican withdrew his name. Joseph Breslin, a Haverford Township committeeman who ran for the County Council last year, initially said he would seek the nomination to oppose Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak independently from the county's Republican Party. But, after learning of the party's choice of former Assistant U.S. Attorney W. Craig Williams, Breslin withdrew, saying he felt Williams was a strong candidate and shared his views.

During World War II, a group of black fighter pilots gained the respect of the nation as they flew heroic combat missions. By the time the war was over, the Tuskegee Airmen had destroyed 261 enemy aircraft and had won a total of 95 Distinguished Flying Cross medals. At least 66 of the 900 pilots trained at Tuskegee were shot down and died during missions to stop Hitler's German army, but six of the world-famous airmen were among those honored Sunday at the Willow Grove Naval Air Station in observance of African-American History Month.

Edgar R. "Ned" Owen Sr., 89, formerly of Chester County, a brigadier general and retired Air Force Reserve commander, died of heart failure Saturday while on vacation in Aruba. Gen. Owen, who had lived in Montrose, Pa., since 1971, retired in 1970 as commander of the 111th Military Airlift Group at the Willow Grove Naval Air Station. He had been commander of the unit, formerly the 11th Fighter Bomber Squadron in Philadelphia, since 1953. He was born in Philadelphia and began his military career with the Army Air Corps.

Chief Inspector Frank A. Scafidi, one of the Philadelphia Police Department's most senior commanders, retired yesterday as head of the Detective Bureau. Scafidi, 62, had served 36 years on the force. He was a soft-spoken and well-liked commander, but was known to have a quick temper when provoked, or if one of his detectives erred. Scafidi started as a patrolman in 1950 and worked his way up to the highest civil service rank in the department. He took command of the Detective Bureau - considered a plum assignment - six years ago. He was transferred by Police Commissioner Morton B. Solomon in a major departmental shake-up after serving from 1968 to 1980 as head of the Internal Affairs Division.

Just a few weeks after Jennifer Taylor of Carversville entered the Air Force Academy this summer, Congress approved legislation to permit women to fly in combat. "I was in a tent with about 10 other girls when we heard the news. We were all really excited," she recalled. The demise of the 1948 restriction banning women from the cockpits of fighter planes, which the President is expected to sign in the fall, will give the 18-year-old cadet the opportunity to pursue her dream of becoming a fighter pilot.

In the aftermath of Desert Storm, it's all begun to seem like a mirage. Women "manning" Patriot missile launchers? A ponytail sticking out of the cap of a helicopter pilot? A woman shot down in her plane and captured? Is that sand in my eyes? Americans had believed there was a law against women in combat. Indeed, the most compelling argument against the Equal Rights Amendment all those years ago was that women might face combat. What happened? We got the combat without the ERA. The war against Iraq will be remembered as the time when military myths met reality, when women soldiers came into their own. And now in the postwar days, many of these soldiers are hoping that memory won't fade as quickly as yellow ribbons.

AJDABIYA, Libya - NATO launched news airstrikes yesterday on targets held by Moammar Gadhafi as the rebel movement urged a stronger air campaign to allow them to advance on Gadhafi's territory. A NATO official confirmed a strike on at least one ammunition bunker outside the Libyan capital, Tripoli. He asked that his name not be used because the military alliance was not yet releasing the information publicly. Libya's official JANA news agency reported airstrikes yesterday in three other places: Misrata, Libya's third-largest city; Sirte, a Gadhafi stronghold and home to the Libyan leader's tribe; and Aziziyah, about 22 miles south of Tripoli.

Anthony P. Peleckis, 88, a retired Philadelphia Gas Works customer service representative and a World War II B-29 gunner who was rescued from the Indian Ocean, died of complications from cancer surgery Monday, March 7, at Fox Chase Cancer Center. Mr. Peleckis grew up in Port Richmond and graduated from Northeast Catholic High School. During World War II, he flew 22 combat missions aboard B-29s. On Feb. 26, 1945, his plane was returning from a photo reconnaissance mission in Singapore to its base in India when it encountered by a Japanese fighter plane.

One had a passion for planes. The other preferred the power of a muscle car. Mark C. Jennings joined the Air Force as a young man, earned Top Gun honors as an F-16 pilot, and flew combat missions over Iraq. Stephen M. Moffa kept his cars, new and vintage, in meticulous condition. He was so good at it, the guy who sold him parts eventually hired him. On Dec. 14, the lives of the two Cherry Hill men came together in a fluke accident on Route 70 just west of Kings Highway.

Less than 24 hours after he announced he was running for Congress, a Delaware County Republican withdrew his name. Joseph Breslin, a Haverford Township committeeman who ran for the County Council last year, initially said he would seek the nomination to oppose Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak independently from the county's Republican Party. But, after learning of the party's choice of former Assistant U.S. Attorney W. Craig Williams, Breslin withdrew, saying he felt Williams was a strong candidate and shared his views.

Donald G. Kurtz, 64, of Blue Bell, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, a stockbroker, and an advocate for Alzheimer's patients, died of the disease Saturday at the Abramson Center in Horsham. Mr. Kurtz was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2001. He had always been good with numbers, he later told a reporter, and visited a neurologist after he had difficulty adding Scrabble scores. He made the best of his situation, his son, Chad, said, and never asked, "Why me?" Mr. Kurtz told the reporter in 2003 that he learned in the Army how to deal with adversity and considered his disease a challenge.

A 20-year-old Marine from Atco who dreamed of becoming a police officer after a stint in the military was killed by an improvised explosive device this week in Anbar province, Iraq, the Department of Defense said yesterday. Lance Cpl. Jon T. Hicks Jr., a 2005 graduate of Hammonton High School, died Monday with Cpl. Carlos Gilorozco, 23, of San Jose, Calif., during combat, the military said. The men were assigned to the Second Battalion, Ninth Marine Regiment, Second Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Lejeune, N.C. Hicks' father, Jon Hicks Sr., 52, of Atco, said his son had intended to go to college and then into the Marine Corps before going to the police academy.

My father, 84 and dying, has never in his life been patient. And I fear patience is not something either of us will learn before he dies. Our Sicilian family never considered patience a virtue. Why would we? Patience is for people who don't have enough to do. Patience indicates a lack of imagination. Patience is the minimum wage of virtues: It hangs out, does as little as possible, and still gets rewarded. For my father, the bus to and from work was always too slow. The line at the supermarket never moved fast enough.

Frank L. Moister, 84, formerly of Lower Providence Township, Montgomery County, a retired Keebler Co. manager and decorated Marine Corps pilot, died of Alzheimer's disease Sunday at Frey Village Retirement Center in Middletown, Dauphin County. Mr. Moister graduated from Norristown High School and attended Temple University on a football scholarship. He played two seasons of varsity football and also played ice hockey at Temple before joining the Marine Corps during World War II. He was a pilot in the Pacific with a fighter unit and then flew 50 combat missions with a bomber unit.

The story of the World War II "Snooper" night bombers of the Pacific had to be told. Stephen M. Perrone of Gloucester Township, a bombardier on one of the B-24s, and his fellow flyers were convinced of that. The veterans of the 63d Squadron, Fifth Air Force, and 868th Squadron, 13th Air Force, were so determined to get their story out that, at one point, they hired a historian and supplied him with reminiscences, records and photos. The so-called historian never delivered so much as a line, Perrone said.

DURING VIETNAM, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets. The Nixon administration, fearful of the increasing number of anti-war protesters, used a mind-controlling word by calling them "communists. " This administration, faced with increasing numbers of protesters, has a new mind-controlling word, "un-American. " Our founding fathers, were all protestors. They gave birth to our nation. Helen Schweizer, Philadelphia Our present administration is a pompous, arrogant clique who think they are above national and world opinion.