Former PAFB siblings' father honored on Pride of the Adirondacks

Jun. 27—PLATTSBURGH — A mid-century love story ignited at Nitzi's is how Howard Donald Gage Jr. of Williston, Vt., and his sister, Julianne Manilli of Manassas, Va. came to stand beneath the Pride of the Adirondacks' bombardier escape hatch on a recent rainy Saturday.

Together, they pulled on a string attached to a flag for the big reveal of their late father's name, Maj. Howard Donald Gage Sr., who flew on the Boeing Stratojet, a long-range nuclear bomber of the USAF Strategic Air Command (SAC).

"He joined the Air Force about '55 or so," Don said.

"Dad is from Mississippi and became a navigator. He came up here. His first station was here on base with the B-47 as a navigator bombardier (Active Duty with a Reserve classification). About '64 he went back to school because he wanted to go in the regular Air Force, so he went a year down to Florida State University to learn about meteorology, which he didn't particular care for but it made him regular Air Force."

AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT

Then, the Gages went to England where Don Sr. was assigned to RAF Mildenhall, where he was a detachment commander.

"From there we came back and went to Thailand, Taipei, Thailand, and about nine months into that tour, they brought a plane back for maintenance," Don said.

"Our family was now living on base waiting for him. He got on a commuter flight out of JFK, and it took off too soon after a 747. It went about 90 feet in the air, and then it went straight in.

"He pulled a bunch of people off that airplane. Everybody in the first couple of rows were killed. But he got hurt, then we went down to Barksdale, Louisiana where he studied weather again. Then we went there to Travis AFB for C-141s and C-5s, again as a navigator."

PAFB DISPLAYS

Across the Clyde A. Lewis Air Park home of the static displays of the B-47 and the FB-lll, the siblings could see the Glens Falls National Bank, on the site of the former Plattsburgh Air Force Base Hospital where they were born in 1959 and 1961, respectively, to their parents, the former Carol Teakle and Don Sr.

Carol was in nursing school, and Don Sr. was stationed on the base when they crossed paths at Nitzi's, established in 1925 on Route 9 just south of the City of Plattsburgh in the Town of Plattsburgh.

"Apparently, Dad was there with his best friend, Gary Simpson, who was also a navigator," Don said.

"So, he was down there, and my mom was there with her friend, Sue, and so they got to talking. As mom tells the story, (of course they're now divorced), so the story gets a little changed with time. She didn't initially like him but eventually ..."

CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

Don doesn't remember what house they lived in when he was a baby, but they lived on the New Base.

"We lived on Maryland Avenue back in '67 or '68," he said.

"It's a four-plex. I was driving over there I guess it's been about eight months. I'm nostalgic about it. I think those of us who moved around a lot even as brats, every year becomes pretty profound. I lived in Elizabethtown for a year. To me, there's a lot of memories associated with that. But I have friends that are from there and they're like it's just like another year.

"That one year that we lived here while my dad was overseas, I have all these memories of the place. I think (military) brats and service people, that's the way it is.

"There's actually a book on brats. It's amazing how much of it is true. One of the things is, and it's not actually a good thing, you're so used to moving on that you don't really think about the past. I had friends at Travis. I don't know where they are now. You're so used to leaving places. I went to 12 schools. I lived in a lot of places, but this is home."

Don spent quite a long time in North Carolina.

"My mom's family is from North Creek, so we had local relatives," he said.

"But Dad's family is Mississippi. I don't have the same feeling of going home when I go to Mississippi."

PLANE CEREMONY

Don and Julianne posed for a burst of pictures beneath their father's name.

"This was the escape hatch for Dad if had to use it," he said.

The Plattsburgh Aircraft Restoration Group has been restoring the FB-111 and the B-47 since 2017.

"This is the reason why we do the restorations that are out here because of memories like yours and we get lots and lots of people," Bob Taillon, master mechanic, said.

"So your Dad's name on this airplane is representative of dozens of people who were stationed here because of airplanes and because of the Air Force and that's why we do this."

Don and Julianne took in the moment, which was layered with memories of the past after their father's retirement from the military.

"They moved from Travis AFB up here because my mom had some land down in a place called Lewis, near Elizabethtown," Don said.

"They tried to make that work. He was trying to sell life insurance there. He tried to sell cars. He tried to sell insurance, and all that kind of stuff like that. Worked in the oil field a little bit, but not up here. He recently passed about a year ago down in Pensacola, Fla. I was trying to think of some way to just honor him."

'HE WOULD BE SO AMAZED'

Asked what his father would think of his name on the B-47, Don said: "He would be so amazed."

"I have one more thing for you guys," Taillon said.

"A couple of years ago, they had an arts festival in Keeseville and an artist who is from New York but he lives in Montreal now, came up here and he stood right over there and painted, in just a couple of hours, this park, these airplanes. He did that, and we just happened to see him doing it. We talked to him for awhile and what he did for us, he signed limited edition prints of this painting. This is an original print of an original painting signed by Patrick McPhee, who is the artist."

"I can't tell you guys how much this means to me," Don said.

"This is amazing. It's really amazing."

Email: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com

Twitter@RobinCaudell