The Gresham Family: Connection to the Past

My grandpa Thompson was a tailgunner in World War II, spending hours on his belly flying over Europe on missions. We were fortunate about 10 years ago to watch him fly once more in a B-17, the restored Liberty Belle, which gives flights out of the Hillsboro airport once a year. One of the things I loved most about living under the flight path of the Hillsboro airport was that time each year when the B-17 would fly overhead multiple times per day for a couple of days - it was a unique reminder of my grandpa and everything for which he stood... and how fortunate I was to see his face the day he got to step back into a B-17 40 years later.

Kind of a strange family portrait, but it makes me happy to thinkof my grandpa Thompson - he would have LOVED Kyle and Ryan ... especially when they are naughty.

Can you imagine hundreds of these planes flying overhead??

It was a delicate balance trying to explain a tailgunner to a 3 year old when I don't like to use the words shoot or gun. By the end I was calling them ion blasters.

Little Kyle and big Liberty Belle.

Ryan and I waiting in line to get into the plane - only Kyle and I were able to tour the plane.

Kyle looks ticked and Ryan is chewing on his hands, but since I don't get a whole lot of photos with my 2 boys and me, I love this photo.

Kyle in the forward gunning area... he was aiming at his dad and Ryan.

See Doug and Ryan down below?

These narrow passageways were perfect for a 3 year old, but not so perfect for a nervous mother. I cannot imagine 10+ men in one of these as they are being shot at.

One of the inoperational guns.

Way back there, you can see the seat in which the tailgunner was staged. My grandpa Thompson spent hours on his belly looking out the end of a B-17 and counting down the days until he could return home to his wife and two kids.