What My Dad Did In WWII [VIDEO]

As we celebrate this Memorial Day and honor those Americans who gave their lives to defend our freedom, I remember, as a child of the 50s, a common conversation among me and my friends: What did your dad do during the war?

Almost every baby boomer's dad - and some moms - had been in the military during World War II. As we've discussed on 710 KEEL many, many times, Erin McCarty's dad was a Marine in the Pacific theater, winning the Bronze Star for bravery during the bloody and protracted battle on the island of Okinawa.

So, what about my dad?

Well, my pop joined the Army Air Corp in 1939 and became a glider pilot. His craft, the Waco CG-4A, was a transport glider carrying supplies, troops and even vehicles, silently behind enemy lines. And the most amazing fact about these engineless flyers? They were, for the most part, made of wood and canvas.

Early on, my dad flew the CG-4A , which were darkly referred to as "Flying Coffins", because so few, after dropping their cargo, actually made it back to their home base. Later on, he was reassigned to California, where he spent the remainder of the war as an instructor.