In Recognition of Veterans Day - Coffee with Vets [Image 18 of 25]

BOISE, ID, UNITED STATES

09.16.2019

Photo by Thomas Alvarez 

Idaho Army National Guard

J.W. Young, 90, U.S.Air Force, 1947 - 69.

Young was born in Greenville Ohio. He joined the newly created Air Force out of a sense of duty to his country. He eventually spent 22 years in the Air Force and was trained in aircraft maintenance. Early in his military career he became an aircrew member as a crew chief. Young flew 104 missions during the Berlin Airlift. He recalls the duty days were long and the work exhausting.

Young said he was once part of a CIA operation to airlift two people from Poland to Germany. His plane took off and landed at a remote airfield somewhere in Poland. There was a man and woman waiting in the field. Neither one spoke any English but the crew quickly ushered them aboard the aircraft and was airborne within minutes. When they landed back in Germany they discovered the couple were not the CIA contacts but just two people out for a stroll.

After his Air Force career Young settled in Burley, Idaho working for the JR Simplot Company many years and eventually the Farm Bureau.

(Young was interviewed and photographed on September 19, 1999. He passed away October 30, 1999.

• Date Taken: 09.16.2019
• Date Posted: 11.08.2019 10:29
• Photo ID: 5897836
• VIRIN: 191101-Z-XK920-0018
• Resolution: 2700x1800
• Size: 1.94 MB
• Location: BOISE, ID, US