Mark Young
I miss him terribly. My Uncle Dave was tremendously fun and taught me a lot about life. He inspired my love of aviation and one of the reasons I became an Army Aviator is because of his inspiration. I took my first flight in a light airplane, an Aeronca Champ, at five years old and he let me fly the airplane. I was hooked.
Here is a story that I remember from my childhood about his cool head under pressure. At the time my father was stationed in Naples Italy on the USS Lester and was working. My Uncle Dave, Aunt Romona and cousins Susan, Jeff and Diane were visiting for a holiday. On this particular day my Uncle Dave took us to Mt. Vesuvius, a volcano near Naples Italy that is famous for destroying Pompeii. At the end of the visit we climbed into the small Volkswagen square back station wagon and proceeded down the mountain where the car ran out of gas! I was really worried and we all were complaining loudly but my Uncle was as cool as he could be. Since we coasting we had built up some speed and luckily we coasted right into an Esso station at the bottom of the hill and right up to the pump. It was incredibly fortunate but he never showed the slightest concern whatsoever. Totally cool. I'll never forget that.
Mark D. Young
Colonel, US Army (RET)
