Take care.

I think we all had an uncle Dave in our life like that.

RIP Uncle Dave.

sorry for your loss, peace to Uncle Dave

happy you have such great memories.

My last uncle died in February 2013. He had to get a doctor to help him cheat on the eye test so he could join the navy in 1943. He memorized the eye chart that was a test for colrblinsness. He was color blind. He ended up being a radio operator/navigator on a PBM (flying boat). He was lucky. He spent his time in the Caribbean hunting subs. He never found one. His service in the navy during WWII was an adventure. He once told me he was quite sure he ate some dog meat in Nicaragua. In early 1945 he was transferred to a navy base in Kansas (they only have 3 LAKES in Kansas). They would fly from Kansas to Nova Scotia and back under radio silence, at night, non-stop at 125mph in preparation to the invasion of Japan. He always said he owed his life to Truman.

I had another uncle who was shot down three time in the Caribbean. He flew on an A-20-A (precursor to B-25) and was the bomber/torpedo launcher. He got shot down and ended up in the drink three times. The last time they found a German sub on the surface. They dropped a torpedo and it missed. They came around for another run, dropped another torp, but the anti-aircraft fire from the sub took them down. He was in a 2-man raft with three airman for two weeks before they drifted onshore in Peurto Rico. They sunk the German submarine. He died in 1957 in a construction accident while he was a foreman building the Brownlee Dam on the Snake River in 1957. 

My father (82) is currently writing these family stories down. I encourage a yone reading this to encourage elderly family members to write their own family stories down for their progeny.