General George T. Babbitt (81) is a retired United States Air Force
four-star general who served as Commander, Air Force Materiel Command (COMAFMC), from 1997 to 2000.

As a teenager in the late 1950s, Babbitt joined the Ventures rock
group, replacing the original drummer, Skip Moore. Just before
the band gained fame with their huge hit "Walk Don’t Run" in
1960, Babbitt had to drop out because he was not old enough to
play the nightclubs and bars the band was beginning to work in.

Babbitt was commissioned in 1965 through the Reserve Officer
Training Corps program at the University of Washington. He
trained as an aircraft maintenance officer and served as officer
in charge of fighter flight lines in the United States, the Pacific
and Europe.

He twice commanded aircraft maintenance squadrons and was
deputy commander for maintenance of a European F-15 wing.

Prior to assuming command of Air Force Materiel Command,
Babbitt was director of the Defense Logistics Agency at Fort
Belvoir, Virginia. (Wikipedia)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Louisiana man who is the oldest living World
War II veteran in the United States has marked his 112th birthday.

Lawrence Brooks celebrated Sunday with a drive-by party at his
New Orleans home hosted by the National World War II Museum,
The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported. He
also received greetings from Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards,
who tweeted, “Mr. Brooks, the entire state of Louisiana thanks
you for your service and we all wish you a joyous birthday.”

Hogan’s Heroes is a television sitcom set in a Nazi German
prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during World War II. It ran for
168 episodes (six seasons) from September 17, 1965, to
April 4, 1971, on the CBS network, the longest broadcast
run for an American television series inspired by that war.

Bob Crane starred as Colonel Robert E. Hogan, coordinating
an international crew of Allied prisoners running a special
operations group from the camp. Werner Klemperer played
Colonel Wilhelm Klink, the gullible commandant of the camp,
and John Banner played the blundering but lovable sergeant-
of-the-guard, Hans Schultz.

From  left: Bob Crane and Werner Klemperer

Leon Askin takes a break.

Robert Clary (left) and Bob Crane.