1948 - The Flying Midshipmen

Nowadays, Midshipmen are all at the US Naval Academy and are in rank limbo. They are not officers...yet. They are not enlisted men, unless they do something stupid, which happens periodically. They are college students who get paid to go to college. Go Navy! (I'm waiting for your response. Still waiting.)

This was not always so. Right after World War II, for four years, there were Midshipmen who were in the fleet and flying; hence the title of this episode, "The Flying Midshipmen."

This is from the Flying Midshipmen website:

Almost a year to the day after V-J Day, the Navy faced a shortage of Naval Aviators as the thousands of men who answered the call during World War II returned to civilian life. The Naval Aviation College Program sought to fill that void, offering young men payment for four years of college and flight training in exchange for a period of active service, during which time they initially held the rank of Aviation Midshipman before receiving a commission as Ensign, USN. The program lasted four years until phased out for purely economic reasons. Those who manned the cockpits as “Flying Midshipmen” (a colloquialism for the more proper term, Aviation Midshipmen), included not only astronaut Neil Armstrong, but also Jesse Brown, the Navy’s first African-American Naval Aviator. All of these aviators distinguished themselves in the Korean War, the early years of the Cold War and beyond.

These Flying Midshipmen were an anomaly and as such, are famous within Naval Aviation circles. Tom Cruise...I mean Pete Mitchell...excuse me...Maverick would know about the Flying Midshipmen, I'm just sayin'.

[Why this history lesson? It is interesting, but what's it got to do with Hughie Don? Waaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiit a minute!]

You guessed it. Hughie Don was one of the fabled Flying Midshipmen! Isn't that exciting?

They used to have their own association and yearly meet-ups. Hughie attended a few of those meetings and had a good time.

Hughie was one of the few, the proud, the FLYING MIDSHIPMEN!

Below is a chart of current Naval officer ranks. Notice that Midshipman is NOT on that list.

1966 - Vietnam Briefing #3

This is another story Hughie told even into his later years. He liked this one also.

There was an Army (I think he was a Colonel, so let's call him one) Colonel with his superior officer in a briefing being given by LCDR Hughie Don. Have I mentioned in the last few posts that Hughie was a Navy pilot, who planned battles for the Army while he was stationed in Vietnam? 

It was and is an odd thing for a Navy officer giving instructions to Army officers. (And when I wrote "odd" I meant that interservice rivalry was very strong to the point of distraction at best and incompetence at worst. [Wow! That got dark!]) Just FYI. (Foreshadowing)

Where was I? Oh yeah, Navy pilot Hughie Don was giving a briefing to Army brass (that's in-the-know lingo for top officers). Just before Hughie started, the aforementioned Colonel got up and walked out of the briefing. It was clear that he did NOT appreciate the Navy briefing the Army on Army matters.

The General (for those of you who don't know, a general outranks a colonel. That is important to this story.) told Hughie to carry on with his briefing and Hughie did. 

When the briefing was over and Hughie was packing up, an aide to the General told Hughie that the General would like to speak with him.

Hughie went to see the General in his office and the General (remember, general outranks colonel) told him he wanted Hughie to go the Colonel's office and give his briefing over again.

*****

Interesting related side note: The Military Academy at West Point, Army, and The Naval Academy at Annapolis, Navy, is one of the most storied football rivalries in the history of football (American football, mind you...the only real sport of "football.") The rivalry is so strong that at the end of EVERY football game played by Navy no matter who they played the band plays their school song and at the end of the song the whole Navy contingent yells, "Beat Army!" Army does the same, but they yell, "Beat Navy!" (Duh!)

Comment on the related side note: It's hilarious that when Navy plays Air Force, at the end of the school song, they still yell, "Beat Army!" (Army does the same, but again, yells, "Beat Navy!" Talk about the respect a red-haired step child (Air Force) receives...

Another side note: Sometimes in the Army, a colonel is described as a "full-bird colonel." That's because his insignia (at the top of the page) is an eagle. A lieutenant colonel does not have an eagle as his/her insignia. The Lt. Col. insignia is a silver oak leaf, not as cool as an eagle.

Another Another side note: How in the world is colonel pronounced "kernel" in English?! Who knows. We do know that most of the military terms we have are from the French back when they fought a lot and even won sometimes. So colonel in French has been adapted to the pronunciation of "kernel" in English.