Isaac's presentation on Great-Grandpa Tim Bailey

This is a transcript of Isaac’s presentation in his 5^th grade classroom at Coram Deo Academy from September 30, 2020.  Isaac impersonated his Great-Grandpa Tim Bailey.  Isaac wore a bomber jacket and aviator goggles during the presentation.  He gathered all his facts from Great-Grandma Bailey on September 3, 2020 when our family visited her in Iowa.

 

My name is Leslie Bailey, and I grew up in the 1930s during the Great Depression.  I had a dog named Buster, and I had to ride my horse 6 miles to school.  

 

So one day, it was a really stormy day, and I had to ride my horse 6 miles in the storm.  So by the time I got there, school was cancelled because it was so stormy and I still had to ride 6 miles back in the storm.  Can you imagine riding 6 miles in a storm and then having to go back?

 

I also liked playing jokes on people.  So, I thought it would be kind of funny because my older sister was going on a date with her boyfriend, and I thought it would be funny to pour a bucket of water on them!  So later that night I crawled up on the roof with a bucket of water, and as they both came out the door, I poured a bucket of water on them!  The boyfriend said, “I’m going to catch you and give you a whipping!”  So, then he crawled up on the roof and chased me around a bit until I said, “I know this roof better than you do!” and with that he angrily left!

 

So, when I was a little bit older me and my friend Russ went to the Air Corp.  I flew gliders, and he flew glider planes.  Well, what is a glider?  A glider is a light plane that flies really fast and doesn’t make a sound, and this is what one of them looks like this.  

 

(Isaac showed his classmates a picture of a glider that Grandma Bailey had given him and said, “My great-grandpa flew this.”)

  

During that time, I trained in Lubbock, Texas for two years.  During that time, my friend Russ was killed in Italy, and then I was shipped to Italy.  Then, I was assigned a rescue mission.  So, a Burmese soldier’s family was in Burma, and the Japanese were making raids on the village townspeople.  So, I went there, and I could not speak the language, so I had to beckon to them to hurry up and to get their stuff out!  And, I thought it was pretty funny that they carried chickens in baskets as if they were their pets!  They also carried bags of rice and other food items.  

 

After the war, in 1945, I was a farmer, and I worked for Burlington Railroad Shops. And I owned my own shop called Pumps and Well Drillings.  During that time, I had 3 boys and 2 girls.  Their names were Randy, Kevin, Ridge, Susie and Dinah.  The best part of my life was when I was 30 years old and I accepted Jesus Christ into my heart. 

This is a picture of Grandpa Bailey holding Isaac at the Silent Wings Glider Museum in Lubbock, Texas!  David, Isaac, and I drove to Lubbock to meet Grandpa Bailey, Papa and Nana, Uncle Kevin and Uncle Randy for the World War II Glider Pilot Reunion in the fall of 2010.  Isaac was just a few days shy of turning 1!  

Isaac interviewed Grandma Bailey about Grandpa Bailey's life while we visited her last September.

Josiah, Emma, and Isaac on Grandpa Bailey's tractor (September 3, 2020)