Retired Army Air Corps Capt Bob Houser recently passed away at the age of 92.  Airman Magazine had recently documented his story.

Turns out he had a diary from the war that he refused to let his family see until fairly recently.  He finally gave them to his daughter, Beth Houser, who turned them into the book, Scootin’ Thunder — the name of his B-24 Liberator.

Houser also wrote for the Press-Telegram for 40 years, and they likewise marked his passing.

The paper noted that his service in World War II was obviously a key part of his life:  When he was heavily medicated due to an injury in his final days, those were the memories he relived:

In one bedside visit, two family members standing post, on each side of his bed, held his hands. He lifted his hands in unison, as though handling a plane’s controls.

“It’s a bomber! It’s another bomber, Fitz!” he called out into a hospital room transfixed into a 1943 bomber in battle with a former co-pilot. “They’re on our tail!”

The “greatest generation” is passing quickly, but their legacy will forever remain.

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