This is the story of our father, born in 1933 during the Great Depression on a Texas farm located in the southern fringes of the Dust Bowl. After receiving his B.S. degree in Petroleum Engineering, he joined the US Air Force Aviation Cadet Corps and received his wings and commission as a Pilot and Navigator. He was trained to fly and navigate the largest US Air Force cargo plane, the C-124, across the Pacific. Stationed in Hawaii, his story describes in detail all the pitfalls of the crew working to keep the aircraft airborn while flying across the Pacific. During his three-year tour of duty, he flew to eleven different countries with twelve different cultures: Japan. Okinawa, Taiwan, Philippines, South Vietnam, Thailand, India, Momote (Admiralty Islands), Guam (Marianna Islands), Tongareva (Cook Islands), Kiritimati (LineIslands), Kwajalein Atoll (Marshall Islands) and Eniwetok Atoll (Marshall Islands). After release from active duty, Dad worked in the oil and gas industry in Midland, Texas, where he went to church with two future presidents of our country, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. After a short time in Midland, he elected to take over management of an irrigated farming operation from his father-in-law, where he became a cotton variety breeder and developed the earliest maturing cotton variety in the country. From there, he went back to the oil industry as an independent oil and gas well operator. Dad’s story is full of laughter, joy, disappointment, success, failure, excitement, love, and happiness.