Captain John Francis Dailey, Jr
His sister said to Johnny
“You’re going to go to war
The draft board called your number
They’ll be knocking on your door”
Johnny said “I don’t like marching
And I’ve never loved the sea
That only leaves one option
It’s the Army Air Corps for me”
So he dropped out of his college
And joined the Army Air Corps
He learned to be a pilot
And then he went to war
He was not a fighter pilot
He didn’t fly a jet
He piloted the transports
The biggest you could get
He was flying in the South Seas
When he met an Army nurse
Then something clicked inside him
It was love right from the first
They had to wait the war out
Till the Army nurse went home
They married in her hometown
Then the Air Corps made them roam
In October then of forty-six
They had themselves a daughter
In the Panama Canal Zone
Then he’s flying off over water
Then they lived in Puerto Rico
Where they had themselves a son
September then of forty-eight
They were proud of what they’d done
When they moved to Massachusetts
Johnny’s hometown state
He transferred to the Reserves
Still flying that airfreight
They had another daughter
January – Nineteen-fifty
They were settled into a quiet life
Till Korea got too shifty
Johnny said “I am a pilot
And I was born to fly
I’m going back to full time service
I belong up in the sky”
So he’s back up in his transports
In missions he did live
He said “I’ll do what I must do
And I’ll give all I can give”
In July of nineteen-fifty-one
Another daughter’s born
Then Johnny’s off and flying
His heartstrings all but torn
Then October of that same year
On a quiet home bound flight
Out among the Azores
His plane dropped out of sight
No activity in the area
No SOS last call
He said “I see the Azores”
That was it – that’s all
Despite a massive air search
The biggest one to date
Not a piece of plane or personnel
Nothing known yet of their fate
They searched the sea for weeks and weeks
The airwaves – this and that
He left behind a loving wife
Four kids, a dog, a cat.
Captain John Francis Dailey, Jr. USAF (1918-1951)
It was 60 years ago this October that we lost our Dad. We never really got to know him but miss him just the same.
Mdailey 10/15/11
Copyright © Mike Dailey | Year Posted 2011
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