Sgt John James Kristan

Dad was the top turret gunner on B-24 42-78127. Thanks to David Korkuc, he lived for 55 years after the plane went down July 5, 1944. He considered each day after the crash to be a bonus day.

He would have been 89 today. We miss you, Dad.

A picture we dug up this summer in Mom's photo closet. We only have a few pictures of Dad as a young man. This one, with only two stripes, was new to all of us kids.

I wouldn't have been sure that picture was Dad if this clipping weren't taped to the photo holder.

This postwar picture of Dad and Mom (Dad doing his best Marlon Brando impression in the camera booth) is my favorite picture of them together.