More detail on this person: My father CWO Billy
E. Ball, was active duty for almost twenty years.
He served as an infantryman in Korea, went through
flight school and flew H-21s in Vietnam early in
that war (1963 I think it was), and retired in
1967. After leaving Germany upon his retirement,
we moved to Ft. Worth where he took a position
with Southern Airways as an I.P. at Ft. Wolters.
He flew there until that training was moved to Ft.
Rucker in the early 70s. At that point gave up his
love of aviation, returned to the private sector
as a businessman in Ft. Worth, and I lost him to a
heart condition in 1993. This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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Date posted on this site:
03/11/2023
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He inspired me for my entire life, so much so that
I too become an aviator. My eyesight kept me out
of the military (20/12 far vision, 20/30 near
vision...that killed my chances), so I went the
civilian route and was hired by Northwest Orient
Airlines as a flight crewmember in 1983 (my vision
had "matured" to a perfect 20/20 by then). I've
been with them now for 25 years, fly currently as
a Boeing 757 Captain, and continue my love of
aviation (especially as it applies to military
flying). A side note, my son will commission as a
2nd Lt. from his Montana State ROTC program this
spring.
I'm currently writing an article about something
that my father did for me that (to this day) is
one of the most incredible memories of our time
together. When I was roughly 12 yrs old, he
several times took me out to Ft. Wolters with him
to "ride shotgun" during his days training cycle.
I would sit in on his student briefings, ride out
to the "Stage Field" in a pickup truck with
whomever drew that duty for the day, and spend the
next several hours just "playing mascot" to all
the I.P.s and students that came and went through
the building at that site. You were all so much
"bigger than life" to me back then (and still are
by the way), and the hours that I spent in that
world of noise, action and (perceived) danger was
like nothing I had ever experienced. Those were
amazing hours to say the least.
From: William Ball