OT- RIP General Chuck Yeager- A true American hero

[Scott Garner]

I noticed that the great General Chuck Yeager passed yesterday.
How ironic that Pearl Harbor Day was the day of his passing...
Gen. Yeager is remembered for so many things, but most notably being the 1st to ever break the sound barrier. He also was a WWII fighter ace, TWICE shooting down 4 enemy German planes in a single day.

I have a quick personal story to share:

In 1986 I was a wine buyer and captain at The Ritz restaurant in Newport Beach, CA. This was to be my last harrah in an 11 year run in the restaurant business before starting my professional career.
I was taking care of a private party of 60+ people within the aerospace industry and they had brought in Gen. Yeager as a keynote speaker.
This was shortly after Chuck Yeager's autobiography entitled Yeager came out in 1985. I had an opportunity to hear Gen. Yeager speak and he was truly amazing!!

As the evening was winding down, Gen. Yeager came over to me in the corner of the room and remarked at how he thought I had done a great job in overseeing the event that evening. He proceeded to sign a copy of his autobiography and give it to me as a parting gift.

That Christmas, I gifted this book to my 72 year old grandfather thinking he would appreciate reading it, which he did.
Fast forward 20 years and my grandmother Helen Cordray, that lived to age 103, was fortunate to escape a cabin fire in Upper Peninsula, MI when she was 92.
The cabin literally burned to the ground, but my grandmother escaped with her life which is amazing.
Literally 3 months ago, my brother in law that lives nearby asked me if I had given the book Yeager to my grandfather?
I let him know that I did, but wondered why?
He mentioned that only 3 items survived the fire and one of them remarkably was the signed Yeager book! Crazy!
The book, as you can see, had smoke damage on the outer portion of the pages, but was otherwise in great shape.

In 2020, literally 1 month ago, I finally read the book which was really a great read. Crazy!

Here is a toast to a true American hero- General Chuck Yeager.
Yeager certainly packed more amazing experiences into a 97 year life than virtually anyone in memory. RIP Gen. Chuck Yeager

Read this book!