A tribute to nation's gallant warriors

This is a Memorial Day tribute to two fallen, but not forgotten American heroes.

While traveling through France recently, my wife and I were walking from the train station in Arles to our hotel, when we discovered a monument in a small park, called the Place Lamartine. The plaque on the monument read “in memory of Lts. William J. Tippett and Walter C. McConnell Jr., pilots in the U.S. AAF (Army Air Force), killed in action in Arles, Aug. 14, 1944."

Members of the 48th fighter squadron, the two young pilots died helping the French Resistance liberate their city from the Nazis. “For our liberty, the City of Arles offers its grateful recognition,” the plaque says. The plaque was installed in May of 2002, after the 9-11 disaster, in support of French-American relationships which date back to the Revolutionary War.

As a former Air Force fighter pilot, I stood at attention and saluted these gallant warriors who helped protect our freedom and that of other nations — as we all salute those who died for and risked their lives for our country and its freedom.

JAMES W. RAMSEY

Kootenai