Pat, that was such a great story! How neat that your Dad was able to achieve his dream of flying. What an interesting life your parents had. Jan in New Orleans On 5/28/2012 12:56 PM, laorlean-request@rootsweb.com wrote: Message: 4 Date: Mon, 28 May 2012 10:14:05 -0500 From: "pat pilgrim"<cwp5@suddenlink.net> Subject: Re: [LAORLEAN] Memorial Day 2012 Enjoyed this very much. I am the Miro Street girl who landed in Texas. My father, William Emile Lassalle, was a carpenter (graduate of Delegado Trades School) who build the PT boats at Higgins, and in WWII was stationed in San Diego (much to his chagrin..he wanted to fly!) where he could repair the boats and turn them quickly back around for action. When the war was over, he went to helicopter school and became a pilot for Bell Helicopter until he retired. He taught the young men who flew in Vietnam and when that war was closed, my parents lived in Isfahan, Iran, and he flew for the Shah of Iran before the revolution, in the Imperial Army teaching those Irani young men to fly in fighting their war against Iraq. History is amazingly convoluted. I became interested in genealogy too late to help him get any acknowlegement for all that he did, but we remain proud of the little guy (they knicknamed him "Satchel" at Higgins because at 5 feet, two inches and about 125 pounds, his foreman said he could fit in a satchel at the plant) from Miro Street who hit the big times! Thanks for listening to his story on this Memorial Day. Pat Lassalle Pilgrim