One of the joys of St. Patrick’s Day and the coming of Easter and Spring is watching the TV films of ‘The Quiet Man’ with John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. It is the story of a retired prize fighter who goes back to Castletown, Ireland, the place of his birth. He winds up with Maureen O’Hara as his wife. My own life is similar. After retiring from the airlines I found my own version of Maureen in Annette, my own hometown Colleen.

When we started flying to Europe in Lockheed Constellation four engine propeller flights, Shannon Airport was a most welcome refueling stop after a long 9 hour flight from Gander, Newfoundland. And the stay at Limerick while the plane continued on to Frankfurt was comforting and fascinating.

On one of our flights we ran into a problem while in the traffic pattern of Shannon Airport. Our landing gear failed to fall into position. We alerted the airport while we frantically tried to lower the gear manually by pumping a lever. Meanwhile they started the crash crew to prepare for a belly landing. After the captain and copilot failed to manually crank down the gear it was my turn to handle the lever. I pumped with all my might. Just as I was about to give up the gear dropped into place. We had a normal landing. Thank God! Whew!

I can appreciate the concern that my dear friend and neighbor Dan Dooley, the retired U.S. Air Force Sergeant, has for Dundalk, the Irish city on the North Sea’s side of Ireland on his periodic visits and his postcards and Irish tea.

Thanks Dan for Happy Memories!

Thank you for your courtesies.

Very truly yours,

Peter Book/a.k.a. Pedro Libro