{"id":256815,"date":"2026-04-19T12:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T12:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/256815\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T12:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T12:33:10","slug":"he-flew-missions-over-korea-decades-later-fleet-week-houston-gave-him-a-moment-hell-never-forget-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/256815\/","title":{"rendered":"He flew missions over Korea. Decades later, Fleet Week Houston gave him a moment he’ll never forget."},"content":{"rendered":"

Fleet Week Houston brought out families, kids and aviation fans. But one visitor’s story stood out from the rest.<\/p>\n

HOUSTON \u2014 Fleet Week Houston<\/a> offers visitors a rare chance to get up close to Navy and Marine Corps aircraft at Ellington Field and meet the service members who fly them. But for one visitor, the event became something far more personal.<\/a><\/p>\n

Among the crowd of curious visitors was 98-year-old Lt. Cmdr. Paul Martin, a Navy fighter pilot who flew missions over the Korean War. Martin was greeted by a Navy admiral at the event.<\/p>\n

“I’m Adm. John Hewitt. Nice to meet you, sir.”<\/p>\n

Martin introduced himself simply.<\/p>\n

“I’m 98 years old\u2014your oldest living fighter pilot here, I guess.”<\/p>\n

The admiral took a moment to honor Martin’s legacy, telling him he represented the foundation of naval aviation.<\/p>\n

“You were the legacy and foundation of naval aviation, and I want to show you the future of naval aviation,” Hewitt said to Martin, who responded with characteristic humility.<\/p>\n

“Well, I know you’ve gone way beyond what I did.”<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Martin served 12 years in the Navy and flew several planes during the Korean War. He walked the flight line, pausing to point out aircraft that defined his career, including one known for a distinctive sound.<\/p>\n

“They called it ‘whistling death,’ because it made so many whistles as it came down to drop bombs,” Martin explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He also spotted the very first plane he ever flew.<\/p>\n

“First airplane I ever flew in my life was the SNJ,” he recalled.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Martin’s path to military service was shaped in part by tragedy. His brother died during World War II, but he left a letter behind, encouraging Martin to serve. Martin said flying was always his true calling.<\/p>\n

“Growing up all I wanted to be was a fighter pilot,” he said. “I grew up during World War II, and I watched those fighter pilots with their 20-mission hats, and I thought, ‘Wow, that’s the greatest thing I could be is to become a fighter pilot.’ And I did, and it was as wonderful as I thought.”<\/p>\n

Looking back, he said he has no regrets.<\/p>\n

“The time I had flying was the best time of my life,” Martin recalled.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Martin left the event with a Navy challenge coin, a keepsake marking the day past and present came together on the same flight line. He marveled at how much aviation has evolved.<\/p>\n

“Everything has totally changed for the better,” Martin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And while he admired the modern aircraft surrounding him, Martin kept his sense of humor about his own limitations.<\/p>\n

“Wish I could fly one of them, but I’m a little old to do that,” he joked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the next generation was already catching the bug. An 8-year-old named Jude was practically buzzing with excitement.<\/p>\n

“I love T-38 military helicopters\u2014those ones over there,” Jude said. “I love everything, everything, EVERYTHING!”<\/p>\n

His goal is already set: “I want to be an Air Force pilot.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fleet Week Houston brought out families, kids and aviation fans. But one visitor’s story stood out from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":{"0":"post-256815","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-houston","9":"tag-houston-headlines","10":"tag-houston-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}