The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

& \ y 3 | TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2009 MNORTHUMBERLAND TODAY.COM PAGE 13 s f sn e o ioâ€"oâ€"+_ _i ns 0 uin 1 L OO . woat 3 e m tWBGAE HA0L Bs hov > - t c ul + J ,?Alvlé\,?!‘i\?\tter home has become a treasured family heirloom . _ â€" . : f aiimipsolut mss ts . A oane matare Aambas on ol x + 1+ â€"I B CE | "K Sepuuate td NhL Lo cJt ,} "F U 4 5S » 1 M s .’ ’» $ : i ! ¢ ic <â€" k wl .\ # J where he had to retrain to rockherselfh? her chair _ _ > | PfiTR1ClA CALDER‘_ \C y F P n + .‘ i upgrade his skills for the new fly L{:}uriomtybgrtegvhélfiag‘?i‘z; | i8 n kn % o l ue / faster aircraft. His plane wi e years bu C 13Et2;’12$'}2y1fia2d§?,a-‘1'{"“31 o ~ Yalle B ~ ‘ P 1 : crashed into a hillside; only . was so profound and enduring f Ksn fearefaro mecesnons.. l % _ e t d 4o y - v § | two of the five fliers survived. â€" that I was prohibited from f \ da Y peces sone. l filke... ; © # e fln Eommc | Multiple surgeries for comâ€" â€" asking questions. I did not e 6Aâ€"yearâ€"old creases. It was U C [X t . CEZy~@ : ~# y [ â€"pound fractures left half his â€"know my uncle, Jack Calder, written by Uncle Jack to my P y 4 im« 'H;J e ;{ s Lanat® * l) | face scarred, one eye, and pins â€" personally, so I am surprised grandmother three days F,, W "?' Prmiie ) "ule "¢ B4 ol p es AMI â€" holding his leg together. by my own emotion whenever | before he was shot down in â€"I O &A * o m s l J p harris 9 He said to his buddy, the . Ilookat his writing. ; _ World War II. \ B N C P1 | * ay W . pilot Keefer, "Don‘t worry, _ _ I wonder what makes a solâ€" Part of it reads: i ai.p> 7 Ta ns 2 e ©**o .sâ€"â€" pl xi Bobby. One more graft and I‘ll dier. I ponder whether the solâ€" foi8k 3 f se ul Â¥ j f W\ | still be better looking than. â€" diers who have been repatriâ€" > Mom, a lot of the boys : note e C you." 10 00 V srated are heroes not because i leave letters behind to be sent l > NOX A After a long recovery, he â€" they died, but because they . .â€" | to their people if anything i *4 4 Ao couldn‘t wait to rejoin his unit / were willingto go. _ | should happen to them:. I ie â€".| s c‘ M b and navigated bombers for the ... Three died just miles from _ _ â€"_ _ | never have written that sort of: "cp, C NSÂ¥ O next six months. As he wrote . the site on the same highway. | letter to you and never will. im. & â€"P1Tes 36 at/ ol to his mother, "Well, I‘m back . in Afghanistan where three of ‘ > "I feel quite strongly that I . | m 1Â¥4 Y % % , * ie \ « ~because I wanted to come their comrades had been am not going to be killed; and, *~_ _ o d hine, ling. CE * Back to it. I wasn‘t born to failâ€" â€" killed a few days earlier, Like » ‘ because we shall be travelling. Flight Lieutenant Jack Calder piciémrninice ns °8 00. + % oo ‘ure and disappointment. _ Uncle Jack, they wanted to be | much higher and faster than I . Y is ' is Quite a bit of me was broken.â€" serving with their fellow solâ€" 4 ever have before, we shall be.â€"doesn‘t change with a different. _ |J fhes * : Goas, s up last time. But the realizaâ€" diers regardless of danger. . ‘sater) ._ . | < geography. A P 4 P : S tion of what is within us allâ€" Many veterans of Afghanistan . "But I don‘t want to preâ€" _ Three times my grandparâ€" | K ~p hi © k > wasn‘t broken, thank God." have volunteered for a return f clude all possibilities and I . ents received the dreaded teleâ€" e W 3i h. 2l His legs were shot on a misâ€" mission. .‘ > | _ know that you can: be told _ gram that Jack was missing in _ | @7 C ; i k . o . : ‘siod to Hamburg, and the _â€" The children of today‘s solâ€" these things now: That I am, \ action. Three times my mother. ,| DW ie 4: j t 17 * Wl plane went down. diers who die will grow up very happy. That if we should â€" was taken into a private room _ | We cS i ) : . teelh. | «_ Jack drowned in the North _ with ghosts, just as I have. _ be attacked I ‘am better â€" by a nun:â€"where she was told ‘ n t .. ge.s Sea. The code of the military is informed and more alert than â€" that her brother was missing, + matk ) 8 l His body washed ashore and _ much more than team spirit. ever before about getting.out presumed dead. $ ( §â€" â€"~ ies s T } is buried in the British Military .. War is not a sport. These solâ€" of trouble. That if I should go Even though I never met 1e ) > *\ FJ Cemetery atKiel: f diers, male and female, make . > missing then I‘would want you. _ Uncle Jack a shadow was cast 4 i * * : Fee ,4_#' 1 Jack became a skeleton in _ a total commitment, whateyer to be very quiet about itâ€" parâ€" © over my history; the size of his ‘f "Ad B\ the closet because neither my the outcome, to obey senior ticularly when the newspapers . memory has shaped whoTam. > \ + N@par . a f mother nor my grandmother â€" officers and politicians who | phone â€" because I probably . The personality of this larger > Cz Fu.] â€"could talk about him. The few _ craft their fate. > I > would be walking back to you. _ than life hero mesmerizes me . | FC®) times I tried asking, my Where does the»courage | "And if I should fail to get â€" just as the legacies of today‘s . The Calder brothers; (from left) Jack, Jake, Phillip and CGerald mother‘s eyes would fill with _come from? I can‘t even imagâ€" clear, I would want you to _ servicemen and women will *h iss s hR. < sn _ tears and she would turn away . ine. iR ' °_â€" think of me as walking affect the lives of their sons ... < !_‘_ â€" hiz & ; or leave the room. My grandâ€" 4 s } towards you anyway, for thatis and daughters, nieces and inform you your son safe in.‘ mother‘s eyes would mist over, Patricia Calder is a retired | what I would want to be â€" nephews. & «Great Britain." ) her face would smile a certain secondary school English doing. | : | Mfackwent back into service _ special smile, and sheâ€"would _ reacher. She lives in Colbornel _ "Love to all, Jack." h 3 D ol ribet pere cCME] shonihe * *~â€"* she wac. P se