Another Mustang Driver Is Gone

[Jack Cook]

One of the legends of Salem Airport just passed away.
Bob Morrow owned and flew 2 P-51Ds here in the 1960s
and also has 2 SNJ-5s along with other vintage
a/c he rebuilt including a J-3 that won Grand Champion
at Merced.. Bob Served in the Calvery in the mid 30s.
How anyone could rate has a expert rifleman on a horse
is beyond me. I well remember has a kid staring in
awe at the crossed sabre tatoos on both his forearms.
Bob rejoined the Army during WWII and served in the
18th Calvery Recon Sqd of the 7th Armored Div. Has a
T/Sgt he was wounded twice. The scar on his upper
arm from a MP-40 Schmeisser at point blank range was
something to see and the story of what he did to the
German soldier who shot him was some thing else.
Crusy to the end he welded, stripped paint, painted
and wrenched with out any form of protection and
smoke cigars till the end. I don't remember him ever
being ill a day in his life. He was one tough no BSing
hombree!

Bob , his Mustang and his cigar. This is now Tom Friedkin's a/c.

Last edited by Jack Cook on Sat Aug 04, 2007 9:08 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Forgotten Field]

I'd ride anywhere with those old guys, and got a few chances to do so. They had an incredible seat for guys in their 80's. That is a generation gone for good- all the ones I knew are dead. Godspeed, from a former cavalry scout...

"Fiddler's Green

Half way down the trail to Hell
In a shady, meadow green,
Are the souls of all dead troopers camped
Near a good, old-time canteen,
And this eternal resting place
Is known as Fiddler’s Green.

Marching past, straight through to Hell
The Infantry are seen,
Accompanied by the Engineers,
Artillery, and Marines,
For none but the shades of Cavalrymen
Dismount at Fiddler’s Green.

Though some go curving down the trail
To seek a warmer scene,
No trooper ever gets to Hell
Ere he’s emptied his canteen.
And so rides back to drink again
With friends at Fiddler’s Green.

And so when man and horse go down
Beneath a saber keen,
Or in a roaring charge or fierce melee
You stop a bullet clean,
And the hostiles come to get your scalp
Just empty your canteen,
And put your pistol to your head
And go to Fiddler’s Green."

[T J Johansen]

I think I've heard his name from a WIX member back in time. Which 51 was his second one?
And knowing your capabilities, any photos of said second 51...?

T J

[Steve T]

FF--

Have never seen that poem before. Interestingly, the old route from the town of Ancaster out to Mt.Hope (where CWH is) is Fiddlers Green Road. Have always wondered where that rather evocative name came from.

Also coincidentally, was on a Hamilton Cemetery historical tour this morning, focusing on veterans of the American Civil War who are buried there. One of these, Colonel William Winer Cooke, perished in 1876 at Little Big Horn; the tour docent described a situation very like that in the poem. (The main feature of today's tour was a ceremony marking the finding of the previously-unmarked grave of a Civil War soldier. By pure coincidence, just as the ceremony began, CWH's Dakota rumbled overhead...a troop transport overflying the commemoration of a fallen soldier, how apt.)

S.

[Jack Cook]

Bob 1st P-51 was s/n 44-73856 working on the 2nd.
SNJs were N3642F fatal crash a couple years ago in CO
and N5488V now in DE (?) with Paul Faltyn (sp).

[L. Thompson]

Bob also had N210D, 44-84952.

Here I am (11 years old) with Danny Wilgus (shorter kid) circa 1966 parked right next to (north of) Salem Aviation (where it normally sat in those days).



Later we moved to Silverton and we lived right next to the airport. In the summer Bob would buzz that historic grass strip in the red, white, and black Mustang about every Saturday morning. Always a thrill.

[mustangdriver]

We lost alot of legends in tha aviation world this year. Very sad.

[T J Johansen]

And of course you were the guy who mentioned it and also sent me the photo Leroy. Gotta get back into my old computer soon!

By the way, are you going to leave the Idaho forrests and join in the fun in Ohio this September?

T J

[Mudge]

There leaving us at a more rapid rate now that they're in their 80s. Brokaw was right.

Mudge the saddened

ps...Irregardless of how John Wayne may have pronounced it, it's CAVALRY not Calvery.

[skydaddy61]

ps...Irregardless of how John Wayne may have pronounced it, it's CAVALRY not Calvery.

One comes over the hill to save you, the other IS the Hill...

[muddyboots]

CAVALRY dangit! He served in the last true cav unit in the Army, I believe. He was a tough old bird from what I read. The army lost one of its good ones. I hate to pick on a fella as great as Jack, but it would be like me calling a B29 a Superbomber...

[Mudge]

Everybody is aware of what a "geezer" I am so it won't come as a surprise that I can recall, back in 1939-40-41, going to Ft. Myer, VA to watch the cavalry exercises. Way cool.

Mudge the old guy

ps...Ever ridden a McClellan saddle. OUCH!

[muddyboots]

Yes, I have. With the Old Guard. Admittedly, it is something you have to get used to. But a damned fin peiceof work, IMHO. There's a tribute to them where their stables were, I believe it was over near Generals row...