By R. Kurt Osenlund, BucksLocalNews.com


"I would like to thank the United States Air Force for the opportunity to serve my country," George Funk Jr. says at the end of an interview at his Newtown home. The acknowledgment is an addendum to an hour-long string of fond, grin-inducing memories. "I was happy to do it."

Funk is somewhat of an anomaly among war vets - he doesn't divulge a single sad story or haunting detail. Instead, the easygoing 79-year-old recounts his four-year run in the Air Force during the time of the Korean War with a light heart and a peaceful mind.

"I felt obligated to serve," he admits, "and I always wanted to fly airplanes anyhow."

Before he was flying airplanes, Funk was attending Philadelphia's Northeast High School, not far from Kensington and Mayfair where he grew up. When he graduated in 1947, he went straight into the workforce, landing a job as a Bell Telephone lineman. Three years later, the Korean War broke out, and Funk enlisted in the Air Force. He was 21.

He reported to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, then to Sheppard Air Force Base in neighboring Wichita Falls for basic training. Funk spent approximately nine months at Sheppard, enough time to become an Air Force mechanic and a certified sharp shooter (a skill for which he received a medal but never enacted in combat). He moved on to Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois for advanced training before landing at Westover Air Force Base in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he became part of the 20th Military Air Transport Squadron.

"It was like a 'you call, we haul' type of service," Funk says. "We flew cargo, people and supplies wherever they needed to go."

Funk ended up working on a C-54 Sky-master, a variant of the Douglas DC-4 plane developed during WWII. According to Funk, the plane was part of a 12-aircraft squad, each of which "had problems that were (his) responsibility to fix." On one mission from Westover to a base in Thule, Greenland, Funk's mid-air repair skills impressed a squadron commander who was along for the ride, and when the soldiers returned, Funk was promoted to flight engineer.

He held his position for the next year and a half, serving as an indispensable helping hand on missions to Greenland, Iceland, Africa and parts of Europe (he remembers one trip in which he and his crew flew 48 F-100 pilots into Germany). Though he never set foot on Korean soil, Funk's contributions of maintaining "anything and everything mechanical on the airplane(s)" undoubtedly played an integral part in the conflict.

In late 1953, Funk was transferred to McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, Washington just below Seattle. He joined the 43rd Air Rescue Squadron and participated in numerous air rescue missions all across the West Coast, a job he describes as "very interesting and exciting." McChord would be Funk's last stop in the service - he left the military in 1954.

"I was married, I had a child and the war was over or, settled, anyhow," Funk says. "I decided it was time to get out. It was best for my family."

Funk had been married through most of his time in the Air Force. He and his wife, Mildred (a "neighborhood girl" whom he met at church just after high school), wed on October 20, 1951 during a ten-day pass Funk had between his stints at Chanute and Westover. The brief window didn't allow any time for a honeymoon, but the couple was happy, and remain together to this day. They became the parents of a baby girl, Lynne, in 1952 and two more children, Kathy and George, shortly after Funk was discharged.

Upon returning home, Funk went back to Bell Telephone, until he eventually became the store manager of one of Mildred's father's supermarkets. Funk turned the job into a 30-year career and, in his spare time, he honed his flight skills as a private pilot, sharing the use of a small plane with a circle of thrill-seeking friends.

"Some people golf, I flew a plane," Funk says of his leisure activity.

In the mid-1990s, Funk served a two-year term as the Commander of Newtown's American Legion Post 440, with which he is still actively involved. He's looking forward to the post's upcoming parade on May 23, which will help to celebrate its 90th anniversary. He and Mildred, who often devote at least three days a week to activities within their church (St. John's Methodist in Richboro), just returned from a vacation in Florida. They also enjoy visiting Mildred's sister in Ocean City, New Jersey, and the Pocono home of their grandson and his family. Funk says he's also a fan of playing darts at the Northampton Township Senior Center.

"I'm busy all the time," he says, his voice calm and carefree.