[SIZE=+1]Fighter pilot, documentary filmmaker Aanenson dies[/SIZE] Yahoo - AP ^ | 12/29/08 BETHESDA, Md. – Quentin C. Aanenson, a fighter pilot whose wartime experiences helped millions of television viewers understand World War II, has died. A subject of Ken Burns' documentary "The War" and the producer of his own film a decade earlier, Aanenson died Sunday of cancer at his home in Bethesda, his son, Jerry said. He was 87. "He lived a magnificent life," Jerry Aanenson said. "He said if he had a chance to be 15 again, he wouldn't take it." The native of Luverne, Minn., flew 75 combat missions in Europe as a captain in P-47 Thunderbolt fighters. His first was a bombing run on German positions in France on D-Day, before Allied troops landed there, according to a biography posted on the PBS Web site. (Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ... R.I.P. Mr Aanenson [SIZE=+1]:mourn:[/SIZE]
I believe this is the same guy who wrote a book that was turned into a documentary several years ago. If it's him, he trained on P-47s here in Baton Rouge at Harding Field, now called Baton Rouge Metro Airport. He had a great war record that included some ground action in France. Sorry to see him go, any of them for that matter. "When an old person dies, it's as if a library burned down" (not my quote, heard it someplace else). I'm going to have to search for the book and documentary now to verify. The description sounds very familiar.
Yes, he did his flight training in Baton Rogue where he met Jackie, the love of his life. They had been married since '45.. 64 years or so. I'd say in the case of Aanenson, an equivalent Library of Congress burned down.
RIP. Wish we had today's technology a lot earlier to document for future generations these veterans' experiences.
I had not know of Aanenson until his appearance in "The War". It continues to amaze me that people of such seeming mild manner and soft speech could put those attributes behind them enough to become fighter pilots. The unmailed letter he wrote to Jackie that he read in the documentary was heart wrenching, especially him reading it himself. RIP
