The plaster of paris jet Johnny Sax made for his dad, Steve, in the third grade is more precious to the former Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman than his two World Series rings and all the baseball awards he won in his nine years with the Dodgers.
“When he made that jet for me he said, ‘Dad, this is what I want to be, an aviator,’” Sax said. “I was the same age when I told my dad I wanted to be a major league baseball player.”
Sax pauses and shakes his head as he looks at the framed pictures of his son dressed in his U.S. Marine Corps uniform and flight gear. He still can’t believe Johnny’s gone.
It’s been over a year since his son and four other ace Marine pilots stationed at Camp Pendleton died in a training mission crash in the remote desert near Glamis, California. They were flying in an MV-22B Osprey – a hybrid airplane and helicopter.
“It was double engine failure,” Sax said. “They fell like a rock out of the sky. Never stood a chance.”
These men were the best of the best. On board that day was Capt. Nicholas Losapio, 31, designated by the Marine Corps as a “one in a generation” pilot. Far and away the best the Marine Corps had in training.
He was on track to become head pilot on Marine One, the call sign for the aircraft – usually a helicopter – carrying this country’s most precious cargo – the President of the United States.
We’ve all seen Marine One take off from the White House lawn with POTUS waving from the window. Godspeed.
“John was so proud,” Steve said. “Losapio had handpicked him to be his co-pilot on Marine One.”
That little third grade boy who made a plaster of paris jet for his ball-playing dad had come a long way to fulfilling his own dream.
“I’d sit in the stands at his Little League games, and watch as the pitcher was delivering the ball to home plate,” Steve said. “Johnny would be standing in the outfield looking up at the sky at a plane flying by.
“He’d come running…
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