B-24s and Bombers

Today is me Grandpa Joe's birthday. He would be 117 years old if he had made it this far, a feat which likely would have impressed even him.

For whatever reason his birthday had popped into my mind today, I suppose because I found myself thinking about World War II, and then about his role on the home front. He worked at Willow Run, Michigan, where the Ford Motor Company made military aircraft, specifically B-24 Liberator Bombers. That thought got me to thinking about something else.

When our kids were toddlers and going through potty training, we would ask them from time to time if they needed to make 'bombers', that is, go number two. It was nothing more than a cutesy parental way to explain the process. Yet like other ideas, it had unintended consequences.

Several years after the boys had learned to manage such bodily functions, they happened to be with me as I was with a cousin. We were talking about Joe, specifically his war work. "He made bombers at the Willow Run airplane plant," I remember saying.

My sons stared at me, that awkward, confused, wondering stare which asked, "What in the world are you talking about?" What could the government possibly do with those? Did I mean that their Great Grandpa Joe's effusions were, uh, effective as munitions? His peculiar output was part of the war effort?

Ignoring all the obvious jokes now, they were just young kids who misunderstood a point. Joe, however, I think might have gotten a kick out of the story. Happy Birthday Grandpa.