Earlier this month, for the first time in 68 years, Don Nicholson climbed into a B-17 bomber for a seat in his old navigator’s perch and a half-hour flight from Chesterfield, Mo., to St. Louis. The flight in the Liberty Foundation’s Memphis Belle was part of a Boeing internal event, according to the company’s Oct. 15 release. Nicholson’s wife of 67 years, Betty June, accompanied him on the ride. The flight brought back memories for the 90-year-old former airman. “Anti-aircraft explosions would make your plane jump,” said Nicholson in recalling his 26 bombing missions during the war. On his last mission in September 1944, German anti-aircraft fire brought down his B-17 and he spent nearly a year as a prisoner of war. “It was definitely a worthy cause,” said Shawn Knight of Boeing Flight Operations who made Nicholson’s flight possible. Knight added, “It’s an honor just to give him a chance to ride in [the B-17] again.” (Includes Oct. 9 release from New for St. Louis website.)
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.