Video

Video by Staff Sgt. Randall Moose

Lasting Legacy: WWII stories from my father Wilbur ‘Bud’ Klint - Part 3

301st Fighter Wing

June 14, 2021 | 3:54

In this 3-part video series, 301st Fighter Wing Honorary Command Chief Rob Klint shares stories from his father, WWII B-17 Bomber Pilot ‘Bud’ Klint. Currently, Rob serves as the wing’s first-ever honorary command chief for the 2020 – 2022 term.

Yet for the 2018 – 2020 term of the 301st Fighter Wing Honorary Commanders Program, Klint was originally invited to serve as the 355th Fighter Squadron honorary commander, the wing’s active-associate unit. Klint explains how research led him to discover that the 355 FS flew 13 fighter escort missions for his father’s B-17 in the European WWII Campaign.

In the series finale 'Foes by Fate...Friends by Choice", Klint shares how the Klints and the Schaefers (WWII enemies) and their children ultimately became good friends as well as how the Schweinfurt Memorial commemorating those citizens, Airmen from the 8th Air Force and German Luftwaffe pilots who lost their lives on October 14, 1943. He concludes with his experience as an honorary commander and how the work Airmen do today can impact others and affect the "Rob Klints" of the future.