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Waco 69
of the year and we liked it much better than cards. 
Mayfield, the airmail field, was not far away, and the route was directly over our house. Many a rainy, or snowy night, we would listen for the ship to go over, or George knowing the ship was long overdue, would telephone the field, to see if Randy, (Randolph) Page, or Wag, (R.L. Wagner) were in, or had sent word, as to their whereabouts. If we had gone to bed, and the ship finally flew over, chopping them off, now just a few minutes from warmth and rest, I could feel George relax. I would snuggle closer to him, glad George was safe and warm with me, I said something to that effect once, and George shamed me for it. 

I believe it was Randy Page, who took the dare, and raised a beard. There had been so much ribbing about how pilots would look when they were old and grew beards, long white beards; how the children gathered at airports to receive their Christmas mail, by air mail, would think, there was a Santa Claus, after all! all, when conditions sometimes they thought they were anyhow. How would they swing a prop with a long flowing beard? Boosters on motors, yeah, but who the heck, except the Army and Navy guys could afford boosters?

And speaking of people gathering at airports, the greatest danger in flying was justthat. People who would run across the field while a ship was coming in for a landing, or run up to see how their friend had enjoyed their first ride, or someone's pet dog would get in the prop, unable to resist the whirring challenge of it, to the sickening horror of all present. Yes, aviation was dangerous, whenthe ship was on the ground, or, a girl who inspired a pilot to recklessness.

Paul Milnor, who had become a War Ace for his brilliant [[strikethrough]] brave [[/srikethrough]] feats in the Air Service, [[strikethrough]] died from the fumes of his Ford [[/srikethrough]] was asphixiated in his garage while working on his Ford. George led the formation that flew over his funeral procession, and during the burial. This was [[strikethrough]] perhaps [[/strikethrough]] the first air funeral in Chicago.