The Last B-24

Normally I dread Thursdays. That's the day I'm gone from sun-up until well after sun-down. I have classes from 9am - 3pm, then I go straight to work until 8pm. So you see why Thursdays are not really my most favorite day of the week.
But I was pleasantly surprised this Thursday with my 12:00pm Social Studies for Elementary Students class. My professor stated we were going to have guests in class today. My guess was that it would be a few professors from some random university, observing our class. The two gentlemen who arrived were volunteers from the Tulsa Air and Space Museum. One of them was holding a tan colored item in a plastic bag. My curiosity was definitely peaked (is that correct grammar? I'm gonna go with it anyway). The volunteer docents begin to tell a story to our class that bears repeating.
In Tulsa, Douglas was a defense plant (later changed to McDonnell Douglas, later Boeing). In the 40's this plant built B-24 bombers. In 1945, it was determined that the last B-24 bomber to be built in Tulsa would be built by Douglas employees. Those in charge felt this should be a big deal. They decided that employees could help in the building of this bomber. They set it up so that employees could buy $25 war bonds which would go towards the cost of this plane (about $250,000). There were special rewards for those who bought war bonds. Each person would have the chance to submit a name for the plane, of their choosing. Also, their name went into a pool and one name would be drawn out for a ride in the last B-24 bomber. A man by the last name of Addington, was the winner of the name contest. He chose The Tulsamerican. This plane also had a few extra unplanned upgrades. Each person who bought a war bond signed their name onto a scroll. This scroll was put into a leather bag that was painted with the same nose art as the plane. This leather bag containing all the names of the workers was put under the pilot's seat. Many of the women workers also included some pictures and letters that apparently got the airmen's attention.
After the completion of this plane, it was flown to Europe, in order to receive it's seasoned crew. The newbies who flew it to Europe were possibly a little disgruntled that they would receive an older junker plane to fly into combat instead of the bright, shiny, brand new Tulsamerican.
We can only hypothesize why the pilot took the scroll out from under his seat. Maybe it was that he felt he deserved it or maybe he was afraid it would go down with the plane, when and if it was destroyed in combat (it was later shot down and sank off the coast of Croatia). What we do know, is that this pilot took it, and immediately mailed it to his wife. When the man came home from war, he would keep that leather-surrounded-scroll on top of the refrigerator for the next 70 years.
After the man passed, his son contacted a volunteer at the TASM and promptly put the scroll into a Fedex box and sent it to them.
Through contacts and pure luck, Dr. Wilson my professor, provided a rare opportunity for her small class today. The docents removed the scroll from the leather bag and rolled it out on a long countertop in order for Dr. Judy Moody to scan the scroll so that an electronic copy can be made for display at the museum.
They needed some volunteers to handle the scroll. Well, naturally I snapped some latex gloves on and heartily volunteered.
I looked at the names on this scroll, in such amazing condition it looked as if it were only a few years old instead of almost 70.
The men and women of Tulsa who built the last B-24 bomber for Douglas had pridefully written their names, addresses and department numbers.
I thought of the sacrifice that not only these families made by joining the workforce, but of the sacrifice of the men and women who fought in World War II.
They allowed us to take as many pictures and videos as we wanted.
It was such an amazing opportunity, to be one of the few who will ever touch that scroll.....that scroll that made its way across oceans and lived through a time that many men and women didn't.
I stood in patriotic awe and such gratefulness.
It was definitely one of the best days of school ever!