Poor technical writing and machine interfaces

I've had a Nikon CoolPix 8700 digital camera for some time. I am now trying to experiment with its short movie recording capability. Having these short movies with audio on my web site is fun. Well, it was not all that easy to decypher the poor technical writing of the Nikon's user manual. The step-by-step procedural explanations are quite unclear (example: the description to set the camera into movie mode did not explain how to 'enter' the options selected; meaning that the manual assumes the reader would know to press the 'Quick' button to select the options!??). 

 The interfacing displays are not so well-designed: one has to select many steps to get to 'User Mode 1' or '2' before setting the movie mode. Sure, there is a short cut to use the 'Func' button but one has to set it up using multiple steps first!

My Toolset

I have used computer and electronic tools for as long as I can remember. Back in the 1970's I bought a very first personal computer which really was a single board computer running Motorola 6800 microprocessor with several 7-segment LED's and a couple of toggle switches. It could not do much; a simple binary program turned the LED's on/off. I graduated to an Altair 8080 running an Intel 8080 microprocessor. I had to borrow a lot of money for it. 

The years went by fast and things changed so much along the way. Nowadays one does not talk much about what kind of hardware one owns. Software makes the tools. I use X1 Technologies, Inc. (which recently sold to Yahoo, I believe) for local Windows machine searches. It is a superior tool compared to Google Desktop which can not search inside many file types including PDF. The Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Standard is another tool that I absolutely need. It allows me to convert and shrink large scanned images of magazine, newspaper articles which cannot be readily found/downloaded into PDF [which is universally readable on many platforms]. 

Norton SystemWorks allows me to keep Windows happy; it scans the registry, checks for lost links, shortcuts, scans and repairs disks, ... Norton Internet Security is the tool to keep the bad buys from my local machines. Quicken Premier and Home system keeps my business and personal finance straight. Roxio Easy Media Creator is another software program that I can not do without. It is a bit cumbersome but has so many utilities to organize, create CD's and DVD's. I also use Microsoft Office Suite including Outlook and PowerPoint every day. 

I also use my Google gmail account and its other tools daily. The MKS Unix commands and tool set package for Windows machines is also one of my daily favorite tools. I use 'tar' instead of 'WinZip' to consolidate files to be 'ftp'ed to various machines including to the Linux boxes. Of course the Treo650 with built-in Palm organizer software is my constant companion. I put it on the night stand before going to bed every night and carry it with me as soon as I wake up. At my office I have the D-Link Wireless router setup and it helps to connect all my computers and printers wirelessly. 

The 2-Gigabyte Mini Cruzer thumb drive has a nice little built-in encrypter protecting my critical data from casual hackers. I have a couple of digital cameras: a Nikon with 8 Mega pixels and a physically much smaller Olympus with 6 Mega pixels. They both are very nice cameras with movie capability. I run several web sites using a local Linux server. NetworkSolutions registers all my domain and supports URL forwarding. I recently purchased an Apple's Mac machine. 

Its 'Spotlight' search engine is quite amazing. These tools have made my work a bit easier, more organized and my life richer with better information, wider contacts and reach. The tools allow me to explore, search and learn things which I could never be able to do without them and to realize one of my assertions at my PhD interview that data at a sufficient quantity can yield intrinsic qualitative information.

All good things must end

We had a quiet Christmas. We decided not to buy anything for ourselves this Christmas. We spent time hiking to the park with our little Sheba and catching up on movies we had not seen. "Mulholland Drive" is dark and sad. "Magnolia" can be confusing. "Empire of the Sun" is also sad. We enjoyed the light-hearted "A Room with a View".

We had Russian King Crab legs for Christmas Eve Dinner. Costco brought these luscious creatures to the local market recently and they are a great buy. We also made the Italian Cioppino for Christmas day and after. It is also delicious.

Will be going for a hike again today. It has been quite warm here this week. Forecast to be raining and snowy tomorrow.

Rants and Raves

We look up health information, notably on ovarian cancer on the web quite often [because we know someone who has elevated risks of the disease] and use them as another set of data points to make informed decisions. Unfortunately there are many anecdotal tales (e.g. ovarian cancer symptoms, ...) of heart breaks but the lack of quantitative information details (how often, every 6 hours, 10 days cycles, ...? the IBS-like symptoms or pains/symptoms occur?, ...) makes these stories much less useful. 

The obscene millions of dollars that CU Boulder football coach got when fired for poor performance are noted in a letter to the Denver Post by Anne Culver on December 17, 2005, "... What happened to the concept of sports as a contribution to health, character and the spirit of teamwork? In a world where ball catchers, throwers and other 'entertainers' make millions, and social workers, school teachers and nurses make a pittance [What's wrong with this picture?], it's high time somebody laid it on the line: Sports [especially, collegiate ones] should comprise a contribution to the quality of our lives [and secondary to the goal of a university to educate all students], not a hot commodity for buying and selling." 

Frank Petkovich of San Francisco wrote in the Dec 26, 2005 Businessweek that "... in my eight years with three venture capitalist-funded startups, I have found that many of these VCs are simply lucky imbeciles hiring other lucky imbeciles to run most of the Valley companies." He wrote to comment about the fair play that Google is requesting VCs to complete information spreadsheets before meeting with them.

Stem cells researches & 'Cinderella Man' movie

We watched in awe a PBS Innovation segment about stem cell researches and experiments to re-grow human organ cells. Both embryonic and adult stem cells - from nose, bone marrow - were employed with good results to repair damaged heart muscles, the immune system and spinal cord injuries. [The horrific stories of spinal cord injuries/accidents were also so sad]. I am sure that more researches, studies will have to be carried out before this modality of therapy can be used more widely. And if this therapy works, hopefully it will be a tremendous medical breakthrough. 

We also enjoyed 'Cinderella Man'. Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger's performance was terrific. The story of Jimmy Braddock, the Depression-period common-man hero boxer is beautifully told. The little scene of Braddock telling his hungry son not to steal was touching. This uplifting story of family, love, poverty, integrity and courage is worth seeing.

'March of the Penguins' & 'Spring, Summer, ...' movies

We saw 'March of the Penguins' and enjoyed it so much. What a quality movie! The cinema photography was gorgeous and the story is compelling. Last week we re-rented 'Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring', a Korean movie. It was also a very quality movie. Highly recommended.

Ayn Rand

We went to the university lecture on Ayn Rand and her objectivism philosophy. I did have some previous exposure to her view on ethics, morality and what it means to live an egotist life of reason, purpose and self-esteem and that "... man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achiement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." 

The lecturer was good in introducing the overview of Ayn Rand's philosophy and adept at answering questions from the audience. However, he left some unsatisfied questioners with slippery arguments on happiness, altruism and the demanding life of a true Ayn Rand follower. In its purest form, Ayn Rand's philosophy is idealist and heroic. 

But with the messy reality of societies here and abroad, the vastly different levels of educations and socio-economic standings it would be hard or impossible to apply her objectivism philosophy to our daily life: how would one respond to victims of natural disasters here and abroad; how should one accept cheaper products/services manufactured by illegal aliens which would definitely be to one's benefits; how would society survive if the more numerous, better armed and less enlightened would threaten the life, liberty and freedom of the rest? 

There are some evidence shown by evolutionary biologists that a society of an organism would have better chance of survival if the majority of individuals acted altruistically. This is contradictory to Ayn Rand's ethics of every man is an end in himself. I do like and agree with many of Ayn Rand's philosophical views of self-reliance and heroic individualism. But at the same time I am not sure how her philosophy would change the messy, uncertain predicaments of our current society. Try telling the millions of Americans who worship Hollywood celebrities or sports heroes or the under-educated/underclass mass about living a life of reason, purpose of self-esteem and see how far you'll get!

Avian flu

I have been reading about the seriousness of bird flu and the potential pandemic risk for some time now. The possibility of the mutated virus is quite scary with rapid spread of the contagion which could kill or disable hundreds of millions of people world-wide.

However, there are some experts expressing their skeptical opinions of the danger. They said that the mutated or a combined avian flu and regular influenza virus may not carry the same potency of the current virus.

It is hard to know whether this very sensational danger will materialize soon or it will just gradually reduce to a dangerous but localized and manageable disease such as West Nile virus.

Overcome with nostalgia

It was dark outside. I sat here and listened to some old recordings. Linda Ronstadt, Bocelli, BeeGees, and Brahms, and ... suddenly I was overcome with emotion, a sense of loss, of nostalgia but also of joy. The images of my past rushed through and over me. The soft, hazy picture of a young father and his son on an early Saturday morning outing along the cliffs of Palos Verdes Estates beach, of my mother, of old loves and losses, ... The emotions were so powerful that I had to stop the music and walked upstairs to get away, to run away.

Woke up from a dream

It was quite cold for a couple of days. We did not get any snow here but reportedly several feet of snow had fallen on I-70 and in the mountains. I've just finished reading "Complications, a surgeon's notes on an imperfect science" by Atul Gawande. The gut-wrenching stories of medical uncertainty, mistakes, and enormous sufferings were soberly told.

I looked out my windows into the night and saw the city lights below our house. It felt as if I was just awaken from a dream to the dark, sad, and certain reality of aging, sickness and death. I realized that the only painful certainty is the sad, permanent separation and the real sufferings of those I love the most. My thoughts were in California, on the coast, in the mountains thinking dreaming about time lost, gone and of nostalgic feelings. I lingered at the window looking outside for a long time before going to bed. I gave my wife - still sleeping soundly - a tight hug and gentle kiss as I lay down next to her. Wide awake and uncertain.

The new "used-car" salesmen

Electronic store sales folks are the new "used-car" salesmen/women. They - generally, more men than women - pompously and unwisely believe that they do know more than what they really know. I went to the local Verizon store yesterday to purchase the new broadband wireless service. This is to back up our regular Net access to approve employee time cards if and when our computer system is down or during long winter power outages. John, a polyester-suited, portly store sales manager came over to me with a big greeting smile and a tight handshake. 

I noticed his 90's yellow power tie neatly wrapped around his thick neck. I explained to him what I came looking for and he told me that the product was in stock and "... you would love this baby... it is rock hard.... it is a snap to install it... Come back here and I'd help you if any problem at all." Verizon's online map showed our home area was within the broadband wireless coverage. Well, it is on the border of the coverage area. I installed the client software, the PC card, and was not able to activate the service. 

After a long, tedious and somewhat dumb-down conversation with a Verizon technician I was able to configure the card and activate it manually. However, the technician thought that I ought to return and get a new Verizon's cellular modem card. I brought the laptop and the Verizon equipment back to the store and explained to John what I'd done. He's now not the gregarious sales person I met in the morning. He told me that it must have been my installation and went right ahead to reinstall the software. He ejected the card without using the safe disconnection method demanded by Microsoft Windows. 

It got worse when he shutdown the laptop without going through the normal stopping process. I was not too happy about his heavy-handedness and took the machine back telling him to let me do what he thought would be necessary to recheck the card and its access. John finally agreed that the PC card is defective. He gave me a new card. I was able to configure and activate it within several minutes. The Net access via Verizon broadband wireless at the store is fairly fast and would be adequate for my needs. 

Verizon broadband wireless will drop to lower national access bandwidth (14.4Kbps) automatically when it detects an inadequate broadband signal strength. Well, that what I experienced at home. This new problem would prevent me from provide an adequate Net access backup. The overly optimistic Verizon sale pitch and the less-than knowledgeable sales people remind me of those sleezy used-car salesmen of years past. This is not the first time I encounter these clueless and pompous sales folks. It is unfortunate that many less experienced customers will continue being buffaloed and misled by sales pitches and advertisements. Caveat Emptor.

Catching up with news

Got a 2 am wakeup call from Jan telling the good news that Andy passed the OCPD Academy final. Andy was exhausted from the night test so I asked her to pass our big congratulations to him. Susan and I could not be happier for Andy. I have been quite busy with work and did not have time to update the blog. The last entry stopped just before we boarded the North Passage Alaska Celebrity cruise. I continued to maintain that Alaska is a bit over-rated. Susan liked it better than me. 

The foods on the cruise were so plentiful and overly abundant. They are definitely not for any one on a weight-reduction or maintaining diet. I almost had to peel Susan off the delicious European pastries counter. Our last visit to the home of the Iditerod champion Jeff King and his family was memorable to us. Susan loved dogs and almost did not want to leave those huskies behind. We were so glad to be home, though. Sheba was absolutely nuts seeing us.

Butchart Gardens

May 19, 05: The ferry ride from Port Angeles, USA to Victoria, B.C., Canada was fun. It was windy, cold and drizzling all the way. It took about 3 hours for us to cross the strait and only about 15 minutes to clear Canadian custom. We took a cab to the Swans Hotel. It still was early in the morning so we decided to run to the bus station to get tickets to the Butchart Gardens. The bus ride, about 1 hour reminded me of the bus excursion we had in Hawaii: winding roads through tree-lined and forested areas. 

The Gardens were a very nice place. Flowers were in bloom everywhere. All kinds of colorful, carefully cultivated flowers sectioned into many dedicated areas/gardens. British-style gardens of flowers, plants and Japanese intimate ponds, Koi fish, bonsais, flowers and small deserts of cacti, bamboos, ... We had lunch at the Butchart Pavillion. It was a very British event with crumpets and formal teas. We asked the Canadian waitress with a crisp English accent to take our pictures which we found out later to be a bit underexposed. 

We returned to our hotel later in the afternoon. After a short nap, we walked several miles to the Coast Hotel to have dinner at the famed Blue Crab restaurant. The service was impressive. The foods were good but not exceptionally so.

Seattle: start of the Alaska cruise

May 17, 05: We flew to Seattle. Nowadays, air travel is just like cattle-car of years past. The flight was packed. Mercifully, it was a short flight. It took a while for us to get a taxi to our hotel near the Space Needle. We tried to check in but the room was not ready, yet. The Hampton Inn clerk was a bit absent-minded. We left our luggage at the counter and walked to the Pike Place Market. We passed by the Space Needle. It was a bit shadier than I'd thought.

May 18: Richard came by early waiting for us in front of the hotel. We checked out and went with him to Port Angeles. It was a bit farther than I'd thought. We had a nice dinner with his wife. Their house in the country is spacious. He'd drop us off at the Coho MotorCoach to Victoria, B.C.

Food poisoning scare

We had a wonderful party yesterday afternoon. Probably fifty folks showed up in waves. Our neighbors enjoyed the back patio while Susan's friends from work staked out the living room and the kitchen. There were plenty of foods. We over-ordered for 70 folks. We have 3 shrimp and 1 sandwiches trays left over. I should have put them in the refrigerator immediately. Well, come to think of it the refrig was pretty packed. The trays sat in room temperature for at least 3-4 hours.

This afternoon I re-boiled the shrimps and we ate them. Two more days and we will be on our honeymoon Alaska cruise. I felt a bit dumb now risking food poisoning before this important trip. Just have to wait and see...

My seasonal allergy is gone!

Before our wedding I had the heating system filter replaced. We also vacuumed our house a little more frequently and the new bedding. The rains might have washed away the pollens or we are now well into spring when pollens are not as prevalent. Well, my allergy is almost gone now! I still have a little sniffle in the early (say, 5am) morning and some nose blowing. But the allergy severity is much less. My sleep is much, much better at night. Oh, life! Healthy and beautiful life!

Got married

We got married on May 7. It was a beautiful day after a couple of weeks of weird weather going from heat to snow to rain. The photo session at the photographer's studio was quite fun; we were able to have many pictures, poses, groupings with my son, our little Pomeranian, Miss Sheba which behaved impeccably well - I think she enjoyed the exhibition - and our friends. We went to Chautauqua Park for the wedding ceremony with the local Municipal judge. We are now married!

Miserable allergy

Can't sleep. My nose is itchy and running. Eyes are watery. The allergy season starts out in earnest for me. Feeling really miserable. I took an anti-histamine pill. I used to cut it in half but now feel that I need the whole pill to stave off the allergy. It should take about half an hour before the pill takes effect. Surely, allergy does not kill but the misery index is quite high.

Deeply moved by pope's death

I woke up early - around 3 am - watching the funeral of Pope John Paul II. The ancient rituals and the scenes of the 21st century crowds hand-clapping celebrating the life of the pope were one of the most moving time for me that I ever remember.

Extended Warranty not worth it..

I bought an expensive (several thousand dollars) photocopier for my business and a 3-year extended warranty (cost $300) for it from Office Depot. Its Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) acted defective. Copying single pages was fine. Copying via the ADF caused dark streaks across the copies. I called the warranty depot and after being put on hold for several long intervals (one was about 40 minutes) I was put in touch with the "technical service manager". I told him that I thought the ADF did not seem to work right. He asked me to go through an inane procedure and returned with the verdict that the defective ADF was considered a "consumable" hence it was not under warranty. 

I went to the local Office Depot where I purchased the unit and talked to the managers. Again they seem to be clueless. I wrote a letter to Office Depot Headquarters explaining my complaint and also copied it to David Horowitz, the consumer advocate. While waiting for Office Depot response I experimented with cleaning the ADF: I sprayed a bit of Windex on a couple of blank pages and ran them through the ADF. Well, that clears all the streaking and the copier is working fine! It has been a couple of weeks and I still have not received any response from Office Depot nor from David Horowitz. Lessons that I learned: Many of the Extended Warranty may not worth the paper they are written on. Majority of the appliances, especially electronic ones will often fail during their manufacturer's warranty period and also it may make more economic sense and less hassles to buy new one instead of having them repaired.

Had wedding anniversary dinner with friends

Susan and I were invited to have the wedding anniversary dinner with our friends, Kevin and Jean. It was their first year of marriage. We had a wonderful time. The foods and drinks were superb. Took several pictures and emailed to them. It is interesting to note that as we get older we start to hear more about the urgent message of living a worthy life...

Mr. Hodges' pictures

We met Mr. Hodges, a World War II fighter pilot ace. He flew in support of the Nationalist Chinese war effort against the Japanese. He showed me his wall of medals and honors he received as the commander for the 'China Bombers' figher/bomber group. He was present at moments of history in the making including his meeting with General Chang Kai Chek and his wife, Madam Chang. Madam Chang's story is a fascinating one. She was born in America, spoke beautiful English, married to Gen. Chang Kai Chek while her sister married Mao Che Tung, the 20th century dictator of Red China. Gen. Chang and Mao fought each other for years until Mao triumphed and Gen. Chang moved his troups and people to Taiwan. The world continues watching the potentially explosive conclusion if China invades Taiwan and the U.S. comes to the aid of Taiwan.

Mr. Hodges' heroism was documented in a published book titled 'China Bombers, the Chinese-American Composite Wing in World War II' written by Ken Daniels.

I am very honored to meet Mr. Hodges. He kept his words and has sent me many pictures of his family including Nick's, his first son who is an F-16 fighter pilot supporing the Iraq war. Click here to see some of the pictures. One picture is of Gen. and Madam Chang Kai Chek, inspecting the 3rd Bomber Squadron in China. The tall American in the picture on the right is Col Tex Hill. He shot down 18 planes during the war. Tex was Mr Hodges' commanding officer at the Proving Ground Command. He married Mazie (see picture) Scales a campus beauty at the University of Alabama.

Below is an article about Mr. Raymond Hodges in the Randolph County's Daily Local News Source in Roanoke, Alabama.

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 16, 2005 Last modified: Wednesday, November 9, 2005 11:32 AM CST


Raymond Hodges displays some of the medals he received for his service during World War II. /Penny L. Pool
A life that could have been a movie
by Penny L. Pool
It could be a movie but it's not. It is the life story of Raymond Hodges and the contributions he made in development of aircraft to fight in World War II; the missions he flew and the contributions he made to the Chinese effort to stop the Japanese.

Now, 86, not the cocky young man shown in the book, “China Bomber The Chinese-American Composite Wing in World War II,” he still has those bombardier eyes.
He loved to fly. He may be one of the few who were in the U.S. Air Force and the Chinese Air Force at the same time. The Third Bomber Squadron, the Chinese-American Wing, was crucial in stopping the Japanese. He was one of its three commanders.

While doing what he loved he met legends. He trained Jimmy Doolittle of Doolittle's Raiders. Terming the stripped-down plane's bombing of Tokyo, Japan “a publicity stunt” he said it did show the Japanese they could be touched.

He had met Doolittle at Elgin, but the flight to Japan was super secret. No one knew what had been planned until they later read about it in the papers. ”The Tokyo raiders were a pretty rough and rugged bunch,” he said.

He knew the famous Maj. Gen. Claire Lee Chennault, who assisted Chiang Kai-Sheik in creating an air force to defend China.

He flew B-25s with the Chinese red star on the tail.

“I worked with Chennault's group. We all loved ‘the hawk,'” he said.

The Nationalists and the Communists worked together but they hid parts in the wall for after the war when they planned to fight each other, Hodges said. Chiang Kai-Sheik's people charged to bring downed pilots out but the Communists did it for free, he said.

After WWII, the Communists ran Chiang Kai-Sheik from the mainland to what is now Taiwan. Hodges' first bomb squadron is still active there, he said.

The war in Europe has always caught the lion's share of attention, he said. “We were kind of the stepchild and got what was left. We ate off the land. We didn't get food and supplies until the war in Europe was over.

“We were just a sideshow-kind of like an orphan,” he said. He came home before the atom bomb was dropped. He left the service in September of 1945. He will never forget flying home over the Himalayas. He had a huge bowl of fruit cocktail and ate the entire thing. The Chinese could cook chicken 100 different ways, he said, and his love of Peking Duck lasts to this day.

How did a Randolph County boy end up there?

“All my life I built model airplanes. I grew up wanting to fly. I guess I was a pioneer in Randolph County. I had the first plane. It didn't have any landing gear. I had to get two fellows to stop me when I landed,” Hodges said.

His flying lessons in 1938 at Georgia Military in Milledgeville, Ga., morphed into his joining the Air Force in September of 1940. From there he went to Jackson, Miss., then Gunter Field in Montgomery, was commissioned in 1942 and finished at Barksdale Field in Shreveport, La.

The country was building up for war and there were flying schools all over the South. Assigned as a training instructor in Albany, Ga., he was one of 10 quickly picked to go to the “Proving Ground” at Elgin Field, Fla.

“That's where as a test pilot I got to fly some Navy, some foreign, some experimental planes. I would come down the flight line and see what I was going to fly that day,” he said. Of the 55 kinds of planes he flew some were “God awful looking,” he said.

He flew them testing how they dropped bombs; how they handled; their gasoline consumption and other crucial requirements for bombers.

“It was fun. I enjoyed every minute of it,” Hodges said. He was 21 when he entered the military and spent every Christmas at a different place. In January of 1944 he shipped out from Goldsboro, N.C. to China.

The aircraft carrier took about six weeks, including stops at Madagascar, Karachi, India, Brazil and Cape Town, South Africa. Taken on a tour in Cape Town, he had tea and scones at the home of Cecil Rhodes of the Rhodes scholarships.

In early 1944 they were training crews and ended up in the rain forests of India, flying missions in Burma. Called the Burma Bridge Busters, they would do everything they could to disrupt supplies to the Japanese.

He got shot down, almost making it home but losing power. They landed in a rice paddy; he borrowed a bicycle and met his rescuers who had come to pick up the crew. He flew 31 missions where he got some of this many medals.

He received the Chinese Silver Star and three Distinguished Flying Crosses, among others, including two air medals, one given for every 25 missions flown.

He went to Kwellin, then moved about two weeks later to Hanchung, which is at the same latitude as Roanoke with about the same climate. He remained there about nine months providing ground support for the troops, flying 30 missions.

The language barrier was difficult. At first they ran mixed crews but some Chinese crewmembers misunderstood and bailed out so they reverted to separate American and Chinese crews. The Chinese pilots who spoke English often did so with a Southern accent because they had trained in the American South.

Madame Chiang Kai-Sheik's mission to get help from President Franklin Roosevelt worked. China's towns were being bombed heavily but after the American group was implemented it turned the tide of the war, Hodges said. The Chinese had had no air force until the Americans began training their people. The British also assisted.

“The Japanese had used China as a sort of training ground,” Hodges said. The Japanese were advancing on the old capital of China but his squadron flew around-the-clock missions night and day to stop them. One day he flew three separate missions, returning to get bombs reloaded.

“That was a turning point of the war. From there the Japanese went backwards. I think we had a big effect on the war,” he said.

Much of the Japanese supplies came by way of the Yellow River Bridge, an about three-mile-long bridge, that was heavily fortified. Pilots had to fly through heavy ground fire to get to it and the bombs would slide off the target and go into the water if not hit just right.

Before him the pilots would come in low and fast, but his experience in Navy dive bombers enabled him to approach the bridge, go into a modified dive and then a 90-degree dive, destroying the bridge spans. A P-38 attached to him would take photos. About six weeks later when the span was repaired “We'd hit them again, which must have been frustrating,” Hodges said.

He is e-mailing his many experiences to his grandchildren and of his stories he says: “There's no place to stop really.”

Flying is a family affair. His daughter, Susan, married Sid Hare, who flies DC-10s for Fed-Ex. Their son, Nicholas, is an F-16 pilot. He flies for a small airline and is in the Air National Guard in Montgomery. He served in Qatar and will go back next year. Twin boys Raymond and Joel his grandsons, soloed when they were 16 years old.

Raymond Hodges, who went to work for his father in the wholesale gasoline business, retired in 1982. He and Eleanor have been married 58 years. His other children are: Eleanor Hodges Eakes and John and Frank Hodges.

His past is always there. He remembers in Christmas 1944 “a couple of boys went scouting for a Christmas tree. They brought a Himalayan bear back. The bear had a mind of its own. I went where the bear wanted to go, not where I wanted to go. He weighed about 150 pounds,” Hodges said.

When the group moved from base to base they would give the bear rice wine, which he loved, holding it between his paws. They would give it to him until he passed out, then they would load him on the plane and they would hope they would get there before he woke up with a bad hangover, he said.

It was really dangerous flying in the Chinese mountains at night and one commander lost his command after saying it was suicide to fly there at night.

One time they got out just ahead of the Japanese, who were closing in fast, but they went back and retook the bases quickly.

His last plane was the Firebug B-25, so named after one run hit a weapons dump that resulted in massive explosions. He was flying home from a mission. Ground fire had damaged his hydraulics and he couldn't get the landing gear down.

He asked the tower what to do but they had no answer. He flew around burning up fuel. His co-pilot wanted to bail out but Hodges wanted to save the plane. Crewmembers decided to stay with him and the landing tore up the plane but everyone walked away, he said. He found out later the plane was salvaged for parts.

Of the danger, he said: “You don't really think too much about it. I told someone a combat pilot spends hours of sheer boredom and minutes of sheer terror. Anybody that says he wasn't afraid isn't telling you the truth,” he said.



Copyright © 2005 The Randolph Leader
Address: PO Box 1267 Roanoke, Alabama 36274 • Phone: 334-863-2819

Visiting the South

March 4, 2005 Left home at about 9:45pm to DIA. Got there early and it was a pleasant wait. The flight to Atlanta was uneventful. We arrived in Atlanta 5:19 a.m. Georgia time. Hertz rental was a breeze – no line that time of day. Michael drove us out of Atlanta and onto Roanoke, Alabama. Susan remembered the way except for the exit at Newnan. We went 16 extra miles, but plenty of time to spare. Called Michael S., Susan's nephew in Newnan, GA. He and his wife, Joyce were just getting up. Susan and Michael killed about 2 hours at the Huddle House in Roanoke waiting for them to show up. Lori, Michael and Joyce arrived about 9:00 a.m. We had lots of fun and laughed and joked a lot. Michael S. has really matured and Susan was so surprised at how good a conversationalist he is now. We visited a couple of hours, then he and Joyce headed out. Lori went with Michael and Susan to the Galley for lunch with Freddie. Susan and Michael were both not hungry so we did not clean our plates. Then stopped by Superior Gas to see Mrs. Ann M. Lo and behold, the receptionist turned out to be Lorraine W. M. Susan did not recognize her at all. She recognized Susan and it was so good to see her. We visited for about 30 minutes with Ann and Little Bill. Michael was entertaining the whole office. Take a look at these pictures taken on our trip home south. Note: Since Michael stashed all pictures in several 'albums' you have to click on one to view all photos of that albums one at a time or as a slide show. Lorraine told Susan Gail B. W. was back in Roanoke, so we stopped by the pharmacy she and her husband own and chatted. Gail did not recognize Susan at all. Susan recognized her by her nose. We then did a quick drive through of Roanoke and headed back to LaGrange to the Holiday Inn Express for a quick nap. We met Mrs. M. and Mrs. H. on the square in front Mansour’s and followed them to the restaurant. Don’t remember the name of the restaurant. Dinner was wonderful and we had such a good time they practically had to kick us out. Mrs. H. was really have a good time with Michael yes-mamming her. Mrs. M. was ever so insistent to pay for the dinner and prevailed. As we parted ways on the square in LaGrange, Mrs. M. was shouting out the window at us and me back at her. It was so much fun. She yelled “Love You!!!” We feel very good that she and Mrs. H. will come visit in Colorado. Lori and Brandon came to the hotel at 8:00 March 5 to eat breakfast and visit. Brandon was fussy and did not feel well when they first got here, but Michael was able to play video games and ask him questions to draw him out, so he had fun. We took pictures, talked and had a good time. Michael and Susan then headed to Roanoke. Saw Susan H. coming out of her parents’ driveway. Stopped and rolled down the window. She recognized Susan immediately. Went to her house and visited with her and Syd. Got a grand tour of their historic home. It was a good visit. Syd and Michael had a lot in common talking about planes and such. Nick, their oldest son, is a fighter pilot. Flies the F16. Raymond and Joel (the twins) just got married within 4 months of each other and Georgia (their youngest girl) was home from Charleston College for spring break. She was in Auburn visiting. We then dropped by to see Mr. And Mrs. Hodges. It was so good to see them. Michael had a grand time 'interviewing' Mr. Hodges about his World War II time as the Commander of the 'China Bomber' group. John, their son and Cindy, John's wife dropped in also. We talked with them about their cruise to Alaska 4 or 5 years ago. We drove around Roanoke to show Michael some of the beautiful neighborhood and beautiful homes. We then went to Lagrange to visit with Susan's high school best friend, Sally and her family. Sally was just as gorgeous as ever, and their little dog Jasmine, a Shih Tzu (spelling?) was so cute. Caroline played us a concert on her cello (Mary Had a Little Lamb). We visited at Sally’s home for an hour then went to the square in LaGrange and ate at an Italian Restaurant. Susan was so busy talking and she could not eat very much. We had a wonderful time talking, laughing and left at nine. I gave Caroline $20.00 for her fund-raising. She was so happy. Michael and Kip fought to pay for the dinner and Kip eventually lost the fight.