I was fortunate enough to have the privilege to grow up 20 years of my life with a 97-year-old WWII hero I got to call Grandpa. Richard J. (Dick) Forsythe, my grandfather, was an American hero who left this world on August 15, 2018. Richard served the United States of America by enlisting in 1942 and becoming a pilot for the medium range B-26 Marauder. He flew 62 combat missions from August 1944 through the end of WWII for the 320th Bomb Group 441st Squadron. Among his awards are the Air Medal with silver and bronze oak leaf cluster, the European-African-Middle East Campaign Medal with silver star and Presidential Unit Citation with two bronze oak leaf clusters.

Richard Forsythe 1942

My Grandfather was a very humble man and rarely spoke of his vast accomplishments. After the war, he attended Rose Hulman College on the GI Bill, graduating in 1949 with a degree in Engineering. He then began his 33-year career as an engineer for Allison's located in Indiana. During his career at Allison's, he served as an engineer in aircraft engines as well as a number of other capacities including Liaison to the FAA and design, development of Boeing high-speed water hovercrafts.

Grandpa Dick always had engineers touch on almost everything he owned as he made sure many of his items had his business card with his name so it would never get lost. In my grandfathers final moments, he even said: "I need two screwdrivers, but I can't remember why." He was always ready to build or fix something.