LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – For nearly four years, thousands of volunteers poured through Lubbock on their path to join the glider pilot program during World War II.
Throughout April, the Silent Wings Museum is sharing their stories through their own words.
Tanis Blount, a former English teacher and education coordinator for the City of Lubbock’s museums, is helping show World War II through the eyes of glider pilots.
“This allows us to share glimpses of the personal experience, personal emotions, feelings, and thoughts of those glider pilots who were risking their lives on a fairly regular basis just by getting into the sky,” Blount said.
Training thousands of pilots
More than 5,000 pilots came through the South Plains Army Flying School. Once they completed their training, they delivered soldiers and supplies to support some of the most crucial actions of the war.
“Battle of the Bulge, paratroopers on the ground said ‘without them, we were dead,’” Blount said.
Throughout the war, pilots used their writings to inspire each other. After the gliders were grounded, they used them to remind one another.
“What we did was important. If they don’t remember, that’s okay, we remember, we know,” Blount said.
For some families, memories and mementos of their glider pilots is all that would come home after the war. For a Mrs. Shropshire, it was her son’s uniform pin she treasured most.
“‘Above my heart where pride sings, I wear a pair of glider wings. To me they are as a fond caress from my son, whom the angels blest,’” Blount said.
For 7,000 men who served with silence, it’s the written word that speaks the loudest.
Along with this month’s exhibit, the Silent Wings Museum is hosting a competition for student authors to write about the experience of flight. It will announce a winner Friday. The works can be seen at the museum until the end of April.
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