The beauty of freedom (letter to editor)
Air Combat Command News Service
12/12/2002
(Editor's note: We usually don't publish letters to the editor, but this one stood out as a powerful comment about the work you think goes unseen. This is the e-mail we received, verbatim)
To: Air Combat Command
At 5:30 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time on Dec. 11, my wife and I saw one of the most beautiful sights I can remember. Two B-2's made three passes over our coffee farm on the Big Island of Hawaii. They were flying into a gorgeous tropical sunset that is common this time of the year.
I want to tell you that our "Patriotic Thermometer" went off the scale. It made us proud to be Americans and Free. To be citizens of a country that could produce such a magnificent machine is truly an honor.
Let us not forget that those two aircraft were crewed by our countries finest and best-trained people. They are out doing their jobs so that we can enjoy our liberties and our lives. Ever aware of the mission that the B-2 is designed for, we hope that they will be safe and secure.
If you have a chance, I wish you could let those two crews know that we saw them and that we salute them.
Henry and Shelley Williams Kailua, Kona, Hawaii
