The Postwar Reunion of a Flyboy and His Pinup Girl

Another chapter in the continuing saga of a World War II romance unfolded Wednesday when former 96th Fighter Squadron Comdr. Richard Willsie and his “Lightning Lady” girlfriend, Jackie Brundage, met for the first time in 41 years.

It wasn’t exactly a Hollywood ending with Willsie’s wife, Marilyn, and Jackie Brundage Gardner’s husband, Paul, very much a part of the reunion. But when old buddies gather to swap stories, they like a lot of listeners.

Jackie Gardner was the squadron’s pinup girl during its tour of duty in Italy during the war. Squadron members chose her picture from 38 submitted by female employees at Lockheed Aircraft’s Burbank plant where the P-38 Lightning was built.

The war hero and the pinup girl didn’t meet until after the war when Willsie was invited to visit the Lockheed plant. The two dated for several months before Willsie decided his heart belonged to Marilyn.

The 96th Squadron has reunited in the intervening years, but lost track of its pinup girl. Until, that is, Paul Gardner saw a story about the search for his wife in The Times earlier this month.

Now that she’s been located, squadron members feel their date with Jackie is long overdue and they’d like her to attend their annual reunion next October in Atlanta.

Willsie, however, beat them to the punch again by inviting the former pinup girl to a quiet dinner Wednesday night. They were accompanied by Marilyn and Paul, of course.

Before dinner Dick Willsie and Jackie Gardner met at the Planes of Fame Air Museum at Chino Airport to re-enact the photo session that brought them together 41 years ago. The photo will be used to publicize the first national P-38 convention to be held next year in Southern California.

The museum, which is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., houses “the most exotic collection of flyable war birds in the world,” said Howard Wilson, the museum’s general manager.

All pilots, ground support crews and technical representatives who were involved with P-38s during the war may attend the reunion May 13-17, 1987. For more information write: P-38 National Convention, P.O. Box 727, Sun Valley, Calif. 91353-0727.

Tracking the Ring

While camping with his parents on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, Cyril Snyders found a ring. He was 16 at the time.

Now 32, Snyders has decided it is time to look for the owner of the ring--a size 11 sterling silver school ring from Cal Poly bearing the school seal and the date 1901.

Officials at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo and California State Polytechnic University in Pomona determined the ring came from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo between 1947 and 1972. It was probably lost by someone hiking near the Hoh River at the base of Mt. Olympus, south of the town of Forks.

“When you look at it, the whole story comes across in front of your eyes. He was washing a pan and it came right off,” said Snyders, who uncovered the ring in a fire pit.

Snyders can be reached at (206) 479-6519 or by writing 148-0 Russel Road, Bremerton, Wash. 98312.

An Answer From Afar

Off the coast of Northern California, Helga Gergens of Long Beach leaned over the railing of her cruise ship and flung a bottle into the ocean. Inside the bottle was a dated post card requesting that the finder write her.

That was two years ago and Gergens, now 15, had almost forgotten her romantic gesture--until she received a letter from Japan the other day.

A little boy, Shigekatsu Takamine of Okinawa, wrote to say he had found the bottle on the beach while fishing with his father. Shigekatsu, who Gergens estimates is 10 or 12 years old, returned the post card, pictures and a map of where he found the bottle, along with a picture of himself and a letter.

“I was moved,” he wrote. “A little bottle was swimming all alone from America.”

Gergens, who wrote back immediately, said she hopes some day to follow her bottle to Japan to meet her new friend.

Getting the Golden Touch

About 80 high school students from Roosevelt High School and Catholic Charities Youth Organization recently participated in a free enterprise seminar at USC called “The Midas Touch.”

TRW and Volunteers of America of Los Angeles sponsored a second conference for about 100 students from several inner-city high schools. Both programs made a point of mixing business with pleasure; the youths spent their days listening to small business entrepreneurs and making plans to set up their own businesses while evenings were filled with dining and dancing.

“We showed them you don’t have to have a grandiose plan for a large company,” said Jack Boyd, chairman of the committee for the Rotary Club. “You can start small and work hard and your chances are pretty good.”

Sylvia Rodriguez, 17, of Sacred Heart High School, said she identified with the speakers, most of whom started out like the students--young, poor and with menial jobs.

“This kind of experience can’t be found in a textbook or a library,” said Jaime Aguilar, 18, of Roosevelt High School. “We learned it is not so much the money, but reaching a personal goal, to be more of a person, to be content.”

Rekindling a Dream

In 1927 American and Japanese children dreaming of world peace and understanding exchanged dolls as a symbol of friendship. Dashed by the devastation of World War II, those dreams are being rekindled this summer by 76 Japanese children who are visiting Los Angeles and four other U.S. cities to give dolls to the children of America.

To combat anti-Japanese feelings in the United States in 1927, an American missionary--Dr. Sidney L. Gulick--rounded up 12,000 dolls from children all over the country and sent them to Japanese schoolchildren during Japan’s annual Doll Festival in March. In return, 58 life-size handcrafted Japanese dolls were sent to U.S children in time for Christmas that year.

World War II wreaked havoc on the dolls in both countries. One doll from the city of Kyoto, however, was preserved at the Boston Children’s Museum. She was spotted there by a representative of Kokusai Bunka Kyokai--the International Cultural Assn.--who took her back to Japan for a much-needed restoration.

The association also decided to revive the exchange of nearly 60 years ago. Children, ages 8 to 14, were chosen from each of Japan’s prefectures to bring 100 handmade dolls to children in the United States.

The children visited the Los Angeles Children’s Museum last week to present two dolls and to meet and sing for more than 300 children visiting the museum that day. Japan is featured this year in the museum’s “Ethnic L.A.” exhibit.

Looking for Cheap Thrills

Summer is waning, the television set is leering and across the Southland kids are wailing, “I’m bored--there’s nothing to do. I don’t want to go swimming again.”

Here comes Children’s Entertainment Hotline/Update to the rescue.

So many people were calling Ric and Julee Morton to find out about their next puppet show, they concluded that parents need more information about inexpensive entertainment for their children. So they recorded a two-minute message that parents can call to learn the times, locations, telephone numbers and prices of children’s entertainment, programs and workshops. The charge is 95 cents.

Information on tours, museums, special events, fairs, films and puppet shows is changed every Monday and Thursday. The number is (213) or (818) 976-CHLD.

Tackling the Last Frontier

Will Reynolds, founder of the Space Community Foundation, was looking for a special group of boys and girls for NASA’s Teacher in Space program--kids who are not yet aware that some things can’t be done.

The first hurdle for the 100 finalists was coming up with the $1,000 it costs each participant to attend the space education program at USC, explained Reynolds, originator of the seminar.

Undaunted, one finalist asked her home-town water company to pay her way--and it did. A Pittsburgh youth wrote to the founder of a multinational space and aircraft corporation, suggesting that since they shared an interest in space, perhaps the company founder would be interested in paying the boy’s expenses. He was.

Meanwhile, a 14-year-old American boy living in Kuwait got through to the president of an international airlines and for his effort received a free ticket to the United States. The man then called the president of a national airline who arranged for the remainder of the boy’s trip.

The 80 students who made their way to Los Angeles for one of three two-week sessions this summer were escorted through such places as Mt. Wilson Observatory, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, TRW, Vandenberg Air Force Base and most of the major aerospace plants in Southern California. Among those who spoke to the students were writer Ray Bradbury, Sen. Jake Garn (R-Utah) and Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.)

They used USC labs to work on projects, proposing and designing plans for possible space industries relating to medicine, agriculture, tourism and mining. Some of the students plan to use their proposals for school science projects. And a few have visions of turning their dreams into careers.