I never fully understood his feelings for her. He loved her and I had to share him with her. She was hard and cold yet he loved her and put his life in her hands every time he boarded her.
She carried him many, many miles, to and from everywhere in the world.
At times he would ask her to carry the burden of completing a mission with an engine shut down and she would. Hydraulic fluid could run down her belly, or her landing gear would fail, yet, as he spoke her language she would come through and bring him home.
He knew her needs and would go to her defense when no one else would. It didn't matter ... she was a part of him.
-----------They knew each other---------
As he sat at her panel and flipped her switches they became one. He touched her - she responded. He felt her fluids run, her power build and a surge would go through him as if life itself joined them.
She never made demands - just answered his call..
This special lady sat proudly as troops ran to her sanctity. She hauled them, dropped them and supplied them. She brought home the wounded and gave comrades their final ride home.
A round she never fired even when her sides were peppered by enemy fire as she sat with engines running to load Marines in Laos, babies in Vietnam, Students in Granada or troops during Desert Storm.
When asked she would land on Arctic ice, desert sand, or sub-standard runways in South America. She would sit and wait for the next mission of mercy, ask no questions, but give it her all....
Her name is STARLIFTER. She takes to the sky like an eagle and dances on clouds like a ballerina ---She touches the face of God---
By Lynda Jane Slaughter Case widow of CMSgt William (Bill) L. Case III
