Last Class to Meet Mr. Crossfield

—  John Ziebka      

I really don't have much of a story, except I was one of the students in the Air & Space Basic Course at Maxwell AFB that Mr. Crossfield was speaking to the day his plane went down. There was a slight mix up in the schedule, so a couple of fellow students and I showed up a little late with our sack lunches in the classroom, while Mr. Crossfield was speaking. Rather than embarassing us as we were the only one's in the class with food, he welcomed us in and said, "feel free to go ahead and eat, just let me have some of it." We all got a kick out of that. He could have easily been upset or annoyed (after all, it was a military training course)but rather showed his true, humble, human side to us kids (at the time.)

We spent the rest of the hour hearing countless stories about Mr. Crossfields adventures, and his life in awe and amazement. Before he left he "coined" all of us with a United States Air Force Association coin. This coin is the plainest, most simple coin I've ever recieved, but it is the only one that truly means something to me. I will never forget who gave it to me, and always jump at the opportunity to tell the story about how Scott Crossfield, the legend, gave it to me.

A couple of hours after Mr. Crossfield left our classroom, we got word that his plane had gone missing. We all feared the worst. We ended up dedicating that course to Mr. Crossfield, as I know the impression he left on us will stay with us for the rest of our lives. It was an honor and a priviledge to have had the opportunity to meet Mr. Crossfield for that brief hour, and share our lunch.