"You have a tendency to want to duck but you can’t duck because you have a job to do."

Alfonso Bernard Perez

Alfonso Bernard Perez, contemporary photo War: World War II, 1939-1946 Branch: Air Force Unit: 9th Bomb Squadron, 7th Bomb Group Service Location: China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater Rank: Lieutenant Colonel Place of Birth: El Paso, TX

Sharing his experiences with a classroom of special education students, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Alfonso Perez, who served throughout the China-Burma-India Theater in WWII, recalls his most difficult take-off: “We were all lined up. The first plane went to take off. He didn’t have the speed and exploded. On the next plane, apparently the pilot was nervous. He started putting on the brakes, and he exploded.” Perez recalls losing twenty of his friends while waiting to depart. “And then we were next to take off. And the pilot just decided we were going to make it all the way -- we were going to have full power. I remember that. Thanksgiving Day, 1943.”