John Glenn has passed away. He was a Marine F-4U pilot in WWII, an F9-F5 pilot on his first tour of duty in Korea and one of his sqaudron was Ted Williams the famous baseball legend, and the F-86 on his second tour of duty in Korea while TDY (temporary duty) with the USAF. The F-86 is famous for the inscription in red and yellow (USMC colors) "Mig Mad Marine". It is often thought that he had that painted on the aircraft, but it was the ground crew that did that because when Maj. Glenn returned from his missions he would complain to the ground crew "there were'nt enough Migs up there today".
Later in his career he flew a RF-8 Crusader to a record breaking flight accross the U.S.A. Some time after that he was selected for the NASA space program and became the first American to orbit the earth in outer space. As if that was not enough, he would become a U.S. Senator from Ohio and at one point take a run at getting the Nomination for his party to run for president.
After he retired from the U.S. Senate he had an office on the Ohio State University Campus. I had an association with the University and had the opportunity to meet him and talk with him a few times and that is one of the high points in my life. I have autographed pictures of the F-86 "Mig Mad Marine", The RF-8, the Mercury Space Capsule, and the Space Shuttle he went up in at age 77. Semper Fi, and "God Speed John Glenn"