IN MEMORIAM

Ali Van Zee

11/10/2010

On this Veteran’s Day, a simple

Thank you to my father
Who taught me the value of Service,
Honor
Duty
Thank You, all Veterans, for your Service, Honor, Duty
My Dad was only 25 in 1939. The United States had not yet entered the War,
(that would be another two years off) but my father felt a growing sense of
outrage at what everyone was seeing on the MovieTone News and knew he had
to do something. And he wanted to fly, to soar in the clouds, touching perhaps
the hand of God......

There was no active Air Force here at that time, so he secretly (like many
others) went to Canada and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, got his
training and was shipped to Britain for attachment to the RAF. That he left a
promising job, many friends and a wife and child (my half-sister) was of
concern for him and yet, he felt had no choice. The call to serve was a call he
had to answer.

First arriving at Prestwick Air Base in Scotland, Dad was subsequently selected
to join the Eagle Squadrons (American pilots who flew for Britain, most notably
during the Battle of Britain) at Martlesham Heath in Suffolk. He became part of
No.121, the second of the three Eagle Squadrons (71, 121 and 133). By
December 1941, following Pearl Harbor and America’s decision to join in the
war both in Europe and the Pacific, all the Eagle Squadron members were
assimilated back into the U.S. Army Air Force.
Dad was sent to the prestigious Officers Candidate School back in Florida and
returned to Europe in mid-1942 as Military Attache to our Embassy in Lisbon
where he remained until June 1945. There he headed many undercover missions
to locate and capture Nazi officers trying to escape to Africa and South America.

I was born well past the end of WWII, but have early memories of watching it
played out in stark, gritty, black and white in such programs as the brilliant
Victory at Sea. It was something we did together, watching and talking about
the war and I was just so proud of my father. He exhibited a sense of courage,
yes and honor and duty, surely - but also a terrific sense of adventure. I’d like
to think his strength of character informs mine as I have answered my own calls
to adventure and service to the world at large. Though he passed away in
August 2000, he walks with me still whenever courage is called for.

Thank you, Dad. I miss you more than ever and am so proud to be your
daughter.