-Bob
Whited
In Bingham, UT in the year 1933 Charles R. Whited was
born. He grew up in a town that is now a very large hole in the ground. As a
kid he loved to play sports and make model airplanes because he dreamt that he
could fly a P-39 and beat the Germans in a war that was unfolding. He is my
hero, but his hero growing up was his uncle who was a machine gunner who died
at his post while others ran away.
He decided for
himself that he would get a good education so after getting relatively good
grades all his life he entered the U of U on his way to getting an electrical
engineering degree.
He was also in the ROTC to help fulfil his dream to fly
only this time he would not be fighting the Nazis, he would be fighting the
communist North Koreans in the later years of the Korean War. When he first got
into the actual USAF he did not know how to fly. So to help his country he
helped design and test TT-76 missiles in White Sands New Mexico. His team
chased missiles in mid-flight and that is when he knew he would fly. He got his
pilot’s license just in time for the very beginning of the Vietnam War.
During the war my Grandfather had a couple of jobs. One
was to be an on-call pilot for two star General Billy Mitchell. Another job was
to fly rescue missions. He also helped out around the base and in general
peace-keeping in villages. He flew mostly H-19 and H-21 helicopters which were
the precursors to the Chinook. I think
my Grandpa was very brave not just during his flights but also at the AFB.
After flying Billy Mitchell back to Korea my Grandpa stayed in his aircraft.
The General climbed up the side of the H-19 and asked my grandpa if he would
like to go back to his quarters for a drink. Without thinking he blurted out,
“No thanks sir, I don’t drink.” After realizing that might not be the best
choice of words he had a mechanic tell the General that he would love to just
have a 7up with him. So they had a good time just chatting.
When I asked my Grandpa what was the scariest moment in
Korea or Vietnam I was expecting something along the lines of being shot at by
VC, which did in fact happen. He instead told a story of how he had to ferry a
C-47 Skytrain from Spain to the U.S. In midflight he started to doze off when
his plane gained altitude and an engine went out. There was a panic and the
other went out. They were flying over the Atlantic with both engines out.
Though it was terrifying, they were able to fix both before they landed.
I asked him what he thought of
the Vietnam War and if he agreed with the decision to withdraw from the war. He
said that we thought it was a bad idea to go into the war in the first place.
It was a war of attrition. He remembers growing up during World War II but that
war had a different feel for him. He says that since America was actually
attacked everyone wanted to join to help their country. No one fled to Canada
to avoid the draft. He wasn’t overloaded with joy when they got out of the war
but it was probably the better decision.
After getting back from the service he decided to put
his master’s degree in electrical engineering to use. He took a job at BYU to
be a professor in his field. As a professor he was able to partake in a lot of
experiments with the first emails sent to colleges across the country. I asked
him what the most significant thing he did. He said that he and a team of
engineers helped make one of the very first 3D images on a computer. It was a
model of a kitchen chair. It turned out to be one of the most advanced programs
of its day. He still has some of the processing cores from this project and
showed them to me during the interview.
Last year my Grandpa was diagnosed with lung cancer.
This was pretty difficult on my family. He had never smoked a day in his life
but somehow he had just received a terrible disease. After some research we
think it was a steels company near his hometown that burned hazardous chemicals
and those fumes may have caused cancer in some of the people there. He started
to see some doctors and the first one said that the
lung cancer was a death sentence and that he should just enjoy the time he had
left. He wouldn’t take that for an answer. He tried a different doctor who told
him that he actually had a very good chance of beating the cancer. After a
biopsy my grandpa was eligible for a new drug that targets just the cancer
cells. This was good because normal chemo therapy kills all cells, not just the
cancerous ones. Trials have been good and the drugs have started to kill the
cancer. The only side effect is some sores on his skin but that can be taken care
of easily. I think that he is really determined because some would have just
taken the first doctor’s advice.
I really think that my Grandpa has gone above and
beyond in the way of living life. He has really tried it all. After the past
little while I have gotten the chance to get to know my Grandpa better than a
lot of people might. In terms of hero qualification Charles R. Whited has
pretty much all of the characteristics. He is admired by people, he has faced
adversity to accomplish what he thinks is right, and he is just an overall good
person. I hope I can be like him someday.
No comments:
Post a Comment