Shortly after I donated a few builds to the airport, I was in there waiting for my turn with a 152, an older gentleman struck up a conversation with me. He was into R/C stuff, and was just hanging out, watching the planes come and go. He started asking about the models hanging in the lobby, and naming them off. When he got to the Zero, he turned white, and his voice just dropped and started stuttering.......th-th-that's a-a-a-a Z-Z-Z-Zero. It give me chills. He sat down calmly and started talking about his experiences at Pearl Harbor, Midway and Leyte (he was Navy). His arms and legs shook more and more as he went on, but his voice smoothed out just like he was talking about any mundain thing. I have never had the chills so bad, they were so bad, I got shivers even. When he finished his stories and came out of his trance-like state, he said, "It used to really shake me up to talk about it". I didn't know whether to laugh (as if a joke about his arms and legs vibrating the whole building) or cry. We both stood up, I shook his hand and said thank you........he teared up, and said in the 50 years since, no one has ever said thank you. He said with that one "thank you" a tremendous weight that he didn't really know he carried for 50+ years, was instantly lifted......I crumbled.
I had a few experiences similar to that with Vets that would climb aboard "FiFi"... One I'll never forget was about 15 years ago (maybe longer), in which an older gent needed a lot of help getting up into her waist.
We generally require folks to be able to enter and exit her without assistance(liability issues, ya know) , but this guy was a former B-29 crew-dog, so we made an exception.
It was hotter 'n Blazes that day, must been 115 inside her... Had the hatches and bomb bay open though, so there was a little cross-breeze. Anyway, I and aniother Fifi crew-dawg were sitting back with him, and he talked up a storm about the Superfort he flew in (gunner) from Tinian, the fighter sotries, the flak stories, engine fires, etc... Musta yacked with him for the better part of 45 minutes during the "ten-minute tour"... He went on and on, and we were mesmerized... He sat in the left waist seat, handled the turret controls and sight like he'd just finished B-29 gunnery school..
His eyes darted about the aircraft, he talked with his hands (in typical USAAF style) about the Jack he shot down over Yokahama, and the Zeke he flamed over Nagoya, the crash-landing on Iwo after they'd taken a hit from three 20mm rounds that came into the nose, that blew the bombardier's head off, mortally wounded the pilot, and blasted into the radio compartment, killing the Navigator as well...
He crawled through the tunnel to help with the wounded and to get the pilot's body out of his seat, wiping the bombardier's blood and brains from the canopy panels so the co-pilot could see to fly and land the aircraft, but had a helluva time doing it, since the aircraft had been depressurized and the blood and goo had frozen to the canopy, that kind of stuff... I mean, he told the stories so clearly it ws like he was in HIS B-29, telling it while it happened..
Anyway, after he got down and out of Fifi, his wife came over to us with tears in her eyes.. And thanked us... Profuesly.. We didn't get it right away, but then she went on... She explained that he'd had a stroke three years prior, and that was the first time he'd spoken more than a word or two in the entire time... He didn't show the slightest sign of that while he was in or near "Fifi"...
That "little old man" and that bomber were connected somehow, like "FiFi" had given him permission to talk... Best I can explain it anyway... But that wasn't the only time that old gal made some "little old man" open up... It was just the most memorable...
Man, I love those guys...