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by jdmo at 4/16/2008 11:07:28 AM
My father had been visiting a friend’s house in Des Moines, Iowa on a crisp September night in 1959. As he navigated the narrow road by the Des Moines airport he reached down to change the radio station. Even though it was a quick glance when he looked back at the road a deer jumped in front of his red Ford pick-up.
He cranked hard to the left on the steering wheel and avoided the deer, but then the truck began to fishtail wildly. He did his best to keep it under control, as the truck left the road and shot down a long steep embankment traveling fast. When he reached the bottom of the hill the ground flattened out abruptly giving the truck a heavy jolt. Dad’s head slammed the steering wheel and dazed him.
The pickup broke through a fence and within a few seconds was back on pavement. He raised his head and looked out the windshield as his vision slowly focused back to normal. The bump on his head from the steering wheel left him confused for a minute. “What road was he on? Where did the fence come from?”
The sound of a distant siren could be heard. He looked around and noticed off in the distance flashing red lights. Not just one set, but two dozen or more. He squinted to try and tried to judge which direction they were going. Within a few seconds it was obvious they were heading right for him! As the cobwebs finally cleared he realized he was on a runway at the airport.
With only a few seconds to plot a course of action he figured he might as well leave the way he came in. He circled the pickup on the runway and headed back for the fence. He tore through the opening and angled the truck to try and make it up the hill. When he reached the top and got back on the road he noticed he didn’t have any headlights. The impact must have broken them out. It was another 20 minutes, driving in complete darkness before he made it home.
He wondered why so many police cars responded so quickly at the airport. He found the answer the next morning. The première of the USSR, Nikita Kruschev was due to land that evening and the FBI, CIA, KGB and the Des Moines police were all there in large numbers to protect the foreign visitor.
My father went to be with the Lord March 18th, 2008. He lived a life full of adventures and he’s the only one I know who could have almost started an international incident from the cornfields of Iowa.
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