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Memories of a loved one

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Holly Brown
  • 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  Mary Ellen's friends convinced her that she would be crazy not to go to the officer's club luau with the handsome pilot she met in Michigan. 

Nearly fifty years later, Mary Ellen brought her three children, daughter-in-law and four grandchildren to share the memory of her beloved husband at Shaw Dec. 30. 

The warmth of the sun was evened out with a slight breeze that afternoon. As she walked toward the static-displayed aircraft, Mary Ellen pointed at the supersonic F-101B interceptor, "that's the one he flew." 

Retired Major Donald Arbuckle and his wife came to Shaw from Incirlik Air Base, Turkey in 1965. 

Mary Ellen's eyes moved slowly across the base around her. 

"This looks like heaven," she remembered saying when the couple and their two children moved to what was Shaw Field at the time. 

Arbuckle was assigned to 9th Air Force Headquarters as the assistant operations officer and scheduling officer at Shaw. 

"He loved flying," Mary Ellen said. 

A smile came across her face as she remembered the time she was expecting her first child. 

Her husband stayed behind when his unit left for a training mission, Mary Ellen said. He brought home his flight manuals and every night they studied them together. 

"He told the guys, I'm going to teach M.E. (that's what he called me) to fly the 101," she said. 

Arbuckle also flew the T-28D, a training aircraft which was also used for counter-insurgency missions. His son, Don, remembered stories of the major's time in Southeast Asia. His father flew 162 combat missions while assigned to 606 Air Commando Squadron, the majority at night. 

"I can't prove it, but I think my dad and John Wayne were the same person," he said with a laugh. 

The first of three Distinguished Flying Crosse awarded to Arbuckle was for a mission in Southeast Asia, he said. Don's father flew so close to a burning truck, he could make eye contact with the man who was shooting at him, Don said. 

Between the distant stares and teary eyes, the Arbuckle family took turns telling more stories of the husband and father's heroism. He retired after 20 years of service. 

As the sun lowered and the air cooled, the family made their way back to their cars. 

"Can you imagine flying faster than the speed of sound and being in total control?" Mary Ellen asked. "He got to do what he loved and that's what it's all about."