The D-Day Doll and WWII hero, 97-year-old Ed Feichtinger from the Troop Train will fly again!

Some of you may remember my WWII Buddy, Ed Feichtinger from the Troop Train. To show his support for the Troop Train program, Ed rode it four times in a 5 year period, in order to share his dramatic story of piloting his C-47 cargo plane over Iwo Jima during the heat of battle.

His mission was to take off from Saipan and make multiple low level passes over the runway on Iwo Jima in order to drop crates of the much-needed plasma and machine gun barrels to the Marines below. The plasma was for obvious reasons. The Gun barrels were to replace the originals, which were worn out after a day of battle from all the volcanic pumas getting inside the barrels.

What made the delivery so difficult was, the US Marines were on one side of the of the enemy held runway, while the Japanese fought from the other side of the runway. Col. Ed and the other flight crews had to fly between to two fighting forces, dropping their precious cargo loads from just 50' above the runway. They made 6 low-level passes before the entire load was dumped. They then headed back to Saipan, landing with just 20 minutes of fuel left. One plane, which arrived late, ran out of fuel just after they landed.

I have now known my good friend, Ed for 50 years. In the past few years, he has expressed his desire to go up in a C-47 to commemorate his WWII Pilot days. His dream was to fly over the Rose Parade in a C-47 on his 100th Birthday, to relive his flights of 73 years ago. Although that dream has never faded, recently he's made comments about being tired so, I decided not to wait.

After two months of planning and preparation, I'm pleased to announce, Ed 's wish will come true next Saturday, hosted by the "Planes of Fame Air Museum" at the Chino, CA Airport (http://www.planesoffame.org/) and, the historical aviation organization, "The Confederate Air Force." (https://www.commemorativeairforce.org/)

The C-47 is scheduled to arrive at 9:30AM Feb. 3, 2018. The program will begin at 10:00AM. The greatest thing about all this is, Ed thinks he's only going to be one of the guest speakers and the Museum is bringing in the plane in support of his WWII Story over Iwo Jima. He won't know about the flight till after his talk when they present him with the invitation to pilot the plane parked just outside the Museum Hanger. Till then, he knows nothing about the flight. It's the Museum's surprise gift for Ed's recent 97th Birthday.

Channel 5 KTLA, Los Angeles has been informed so, it should be on the news that night.

We're planning a "Mail Call" for Ed that morning. So, I'm requesting that those who would like to do so, please send Col. Ed Feichtinger, USAF Ret., a message of congratulations and any personal message you might want to include. It doesn't matter if you don't know him, it's the thought that counts. This WWII Vet put his life on the line for us. The least we can do is send him a thank you message on this momentous occasion. All messages should be sent to my E-mail address (WOFproductions@aol.com) by this Tuesday eve. I'll bind them up and present them to Col. Ed on the morning of his commemorative flight. I hope you'll all take a moment to participate in Col. Ed's once in a lifetime adventure. The more messages he receives, the more meaningful his "Mail Call."

Thank you for your support.

Bill Lewis, Troop Train Founder / Producer