Lt. Col. F.C. “Hap” Chandler, still spry at age 90, showed up to his first aquatic therapy session wearing a bathing suit — and leather bomber jacket.
The outfit caught the eye of Harriet Adams, owner of Integrated Therapy, an aquatic therapy clinic.
She was curious about the story behind that bomber jacket. Chandler, undergoing physical therapy after knee replacement surgery, joined the Army Air Forces of World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He served in the Eighth Air Force, which was founded in Savannah. He flew 34 missions from 1944 to 1945, using maps and compasses to help bombardiers hit their targets.
Adams first met Chandler during the late 1990s. Chandler has been a patient off and on ever since.
Adams has intently listened to the World War II combat stories — bombs exploding, airplanes crashing, icy temperatures.
The back of Chandler’s jacket featured 34 bombs, one for each mission.
“With the first mission, I didn’t know what I was doing,” said Chandler, who lives in Sandy Springs. “It was a hectic time with airplanes blowing up. Parachutes everywhere. And it was 40 degrees below zero. I said to myself, ‘This is no place for a Georgia boy.’ I had frost on my eyebrows, the only place that was exposed. ... I was so nervous, and yet, with all of the excitement, I was sweating underneath all of the layers of clothes.”
More than 26,000 members of the Mighty Eighth died during World War II.
“I think about all of those men who were so young, 19 and 20 years old,” said Chandler. “I was 23 and they would call me ‘Grandpa.’ ”
Adams wanted to do more than get Chandler back on his feet. She wanted to honor Chandler and other veterans. She decided to join their effort to support The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Savannah.
Two years ago, Adams organized a “Boots, Blue Jeans & Bomber Jackets” fundraiser for the museum which brought in $50,000.
She decided to do it again this year at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport. The honoree for this year’s event, being held Saturday, is the late Frank Murphy, an Atlanta native who joined the U.S. Army in 1942.
Murphy flew 21 daylight combat missions with the Eighth Air Force during the early days of the air war without the benefit of a fighter escort to and from the targets.
On his 21st mission, he was shot down and wounded over Münster, Germany. He was held as a prisoner of war for about 19 months until the end of the war. Upon his release from the Army, Murphy obtained the rank of major. After returning to Atlanta, he went to law school, got married and raised four children. He retired in 1987 as vice president, Lockheed-Georgia International Services. During his retirement, Murphy penned a memoir, called, “Luck of the Draw; Reflections on the Air War in Europe.” He died in 2007.
Chandler first introduced the museum to Murphy, his close friend.
“I invited him to the museum, and within a couple months, he was a trustee,” said Chandler, honorary chair of event. “I miss him every day.”
The money raised at this year’s event will help pay for the restoration of a World War II Flying Fortress B-17 Bomber at the museum.
Opened in 1996, the museum features vintage aircraft, oral-history interviews, memorial gardens and a reflecting pool. The museum also displays several chocolate brown bomber jackets (and sells replicas of them in the gift shop).
“We treat them like gold,” Chandler said.
Adams, 44, and mother to 5-year-old Anderson and a baby on the way, said it’s important for her and her husband to remember and honor veterans.
“As a parent, it’s my and my husband’s responsibility to make sure Anderson knows about Hap Chandler and other guys and how important those missions were and how dangerous they were.
“And the fundraiser is a way to say thank you to these guys,” said Adams, who lives in Atlanta and whose father served as a judge advocate officer in the Air Force. “It’s because of the sacrifices they made and the courage they showed that enables us to enjoy the freedoms we have today.”
Credit: Phil Skinner
Credit: Phil Skinner
EVENT PREVIEW
Blue Jeans & Bomber Jacket BBQ Fundraiser
7 to 11 p.m. Saturday. Tickets cost $100 per person; $900 for a table of 10. (Can be purchased at event or by calling the museum at 912-748-8888 ext 107) Epps Aviation Hangar, DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, 2000 Airport Rd., Atlanta.
