Warbird Information Exchange

What would you do in the following situation?

On Saturday, an 86 yr old WWII veteran (B17 Ball Turret gunner) had his Purple Heart stolen. We have a suspicion who took his medal, but we have no proof.
We have taken the following steps:
- We have posted signs at the museum asking for information.
- We have contacted one of the people we suspect was involved and asked if he saw anything suspicious while he was by the B-17.
- We are watching e-Bay and Craigs list to see if it shows up there
- We have checked the myspace pages for the two people we suspect, but both pages are blocked.

Any other suggestions or recommendations? Personally, I vote for lynch mob, but I don't think that would fly.

There are many of us who are extremely angry about this and would like to see the medal returned and justice for the actions.

Thanks!
Cindy

...and if you have marginal people around watch them like a hawk or get rid of them!

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P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.

S: Took hammer away from midget.

What a frickin' L O O S E R stealing the mans Purple Heart. That just blows

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Kind Regards,
Gary Lewis
J.A.F.O.

Cindy,

On the MySpace issue, you just need to find someone who he/she might know that has a myspace page, or is willing to make one. Then send a friend request, and if accepted that person should be able to see the pages. Shouldn't be that big of a deal, and shouldn't develop that much suspicion.

I would also file a police report, as it would make the authorities aware that such a theft has taken place. If there is reasonable suspicion that the person(s) took it, the police have tools at their disposal to investigate the crime. If you never file a report, they aren't able to help you.

That totally sucks. We have a guy here at the museum, a B-17 bombardier, who sets up every Thursday and tells his story. I can't imagine how pissed we'd be if something happened to him or his stuff.

kevin

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on another thread on here about the vintage plane being vandalized, a wood chipper was mentioned. that works for me.

What circumstances were they stolen? Was it a table display at an airshow or ??

What a shame.

As far as the myspace option, send them my way, I'll follow up.

If it were me, I'd maybe take them aside, maybe out on a boat, and we'd talk, ya know, like man to man. I'd say, "Nice kneecaps, like to keep em?" They's probably answer, "Kinda." I'd make em a real nice offer to, like, ya know, have a friend or someone make a deposit back at the museum in the form of a really pretty medal. Ya know?

But that's just me...

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

When I lived in Knoxville, Tn.we had an airplane in a community hangar vandalized by what apeared to be someone taking a knife to it and ripping the fabric. It was owned by a local divorce attorney who was a nice guy at the airport and a tiger in the court room.
Everyone thought it was some kind of veiled death threat by one of his client's ex-husbands.
They way we solved the dilemma was we asked around to see if anyone had a "beef" with him or if he had made them mad since his airplane was in a shared hangar. Nothing. Then we thought of everyone we could think of that had been in the vicinity or on the airport the day before the event. This reduced to a couple of guys including a young punk.
The Tenn. Bureau of Investigation had a C-182 based on the field and we asked the agent if he could talk to the two guys we thought most likely to have done the deed. He said he would talk to the one we thought was the most likely to have done it. He had casual a conversation with the punk that went on for several minutes until the guilty one finally admitted he did it just out of boredom. Cased solved.

I sent you a P.M

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Keith Charlot

You send me his address and I replace it along with his campaign medals if he's lacking those!!!

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Don't touch my junk!!

When are people going to have respect for other people's valuables? It's a shame that kind of behavior is looked upon as "Cool" or "rebelious" by other members of their generation. I personaly vote for

Our best bet may be to PM Cindy with any serious suggestions as the ba$tard or ba$tardette who stole the medal may be a wix reader.

Sad to think but, perhaps a wise precaution...



This is a great plan. It may not be the same...but it has to be some comfort for the old warrior.

Jack, if you would like, I will share the cost of the medal with you. The woodchipper plan sounds great to me.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

Hi Cindy,
I am sorry to hear that this happened.

n5151ts is right.
There is a reason that you have suspicions... he/she is already a "bit" shady.
This person may not be guilty, but I would remove that suspect from any position where a future problem may happen.
Trust has to be earned.

If they are innocent... then you are doing them a favor by not putting them in a situation where they will be accused.
And you will most likely remove a future problem.
That is what I would do with your suspect (guilty or not).
It really isn't personal... it is just good policy.

And if you happen to catch this thief… send my Best Regards to them(via a boot in the A##).
I can not believe that someone would do this.
good luck.

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