Wesley was the rarest of men. He was a creative fellow, that’s for sure - a dreamer. But he also had a strong practical streak. Probably got that from his father, the police officer. Growing up Wes was fascinated by airplanes and the future of aviation. He was determined to make his living from flying, and he did. But not like you might expect.
He turned out to be quite a pilot. While with the Army Air Corps in World War II he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service at Guadalcanal. He came home a hero, but so did a lot of men and women. As Wes would say, “They were all heroes.” I’d have to agree.
After the war, Wesley signed on as a commercial pilot. He was assigned to trans-Atlantic flights, flying routes all over the world - Europe, Asia, Australia. It was on a late-night flight over the Syrian desert that one of his engines caught fire. Almost before he could react, both engines were burning. The plane was going down and there wasn’t a thing Wes or the rest of the crew could do about it.
They crashed in the middle of the desert. Only eight people survived, and just one crew member, Wes, and he was injured. He knew it was up to him to save the rest. He had to get help. He remembered that just before the plane went down, he’d seen some lights far off in the distance. So he sent two passengers who could walk in that direction, not knowing how far it was, or how long they would take to reach those lights.
You might think that it had gotten about as bad as it could get, stranded at night in the middle of the Syrian desert, but you’d be wrong. Out of nowhere came a band of desert nomads bent on looting the bodies and probably killing the rest. With every ounce of strength and courage he could muster, Wes faced down those cut-throats. He shouted and acted crazy and told those thieves they’d get those people’s property only over his dead body!
Even though he was outnumbered, they must’ve known he meant business, because they turned and left without taking a thing. As morning came, so did rescue. The survivors told of Wes’s courage in the face of that roving band of bandits. Once again, Wes was a hero. But that was enough of tempting the fates for Wesley, let me tell you. He decided that it was time to do something else, something a little safer.
You remember I told you that Wes made his mark in the world from flying, and so he did! But it was after he stopped flying aircraft and started writing about them that the rest of us took notice. It’s a Little Known Fact that the hero of that fateful flight would go on to create the most popular science fiction series of all time, Star Trek. The talented Gene Wesley Roddenberry.
