Lipout1

Quote from the hall of fame:
FedEx founder Frederick Smith was one of two Tennesseans inducted Saturday evening into the National Aviation Hall of Fame.
Smith, 62, flew crop dusters at age 15 and during the Vietnam War flew more than 200 missions with the Marines.

I really don't know the answer to this question so help me out. I was under the impression that Fred rode on a few observation missions, but he was not a pilot in Nam. Am I wrong. If he was a pilot, what aircraft did he fly? If he rode around, what did he ride around in? 200 missions?

MEMA300

From http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/p...mber/smi0int-1
Can you be more specific about what you learned about interpersonal relations?

Frederick Smith: Well, you have to remember, When I was in the Marine Corps as a lieutenant, I had come up from a good background, went to a fine university at Yale. I wasn't exactly exposed to folks that were in the blue collar professions and occupations. And then here I was in the Marine Corps, and became a platoon leader, and I was surrounded by kids like that. I maybe was three years older than they were. I was 21, they were 18. But these were youngsters from very different backgrounds than I was. You know, blue collar backgrounds, steelworkers, and truck drivers, and gas station folks. And there we were, out in the countryside in Vietnam, living together, eating together and obviously going through all sorts of things.

I think I came up with a very, very different perspective than most people that end up in senior management positions about what people who wear blue collars think about things and how they react to things, and what you should do to try to be fair to those folks. So in that regard it was an invaluable experience. And a great deal of what FedEx has been able to accomplish was built on those lessons I learned in the Marine Corps.

I dont think you go from a platoon leader to a pilot. I think your correct, he rode a few missions as a forward air observer.

FDXLAG

I would never dis his service it sounds proud and honorable. He never claimed to be a pilot and just gave a lawyerly answer. But, perhaps he "intended" to be a pilot. In the fedex mind that is just as good as being a pilot. Just ask the MEC.

Albief15

The Hall of Fame isn't about his flying, its about all the flying his vision created.

MEMA300

I dont think anybody is dissing his service. There are more than a few media outlets that have said he was a pilot or flew in vietnam. They have always gone uncorrected.

FDXLAG

Sorry, didn't mean to give the impression that he was being dissed.