THE AIR WAR: Weekend Warrior

After World War II, Albert C. Prendergast, a heavy-bomber pilot, went back to Dallas, to his insurance business and to his garden (he could make anything grow, his wife said). But on weekends, and whenever else he could, he headed for the airfield, flew long hours with a Dallas Air National Guard unit. When friends kidded him about being a weekend warrior, Prendergast, 34, would turn serious and say: "Weekend warriors are good fighting men and good citizens."

Last May, Texas' 136th Fighter-Bomber Wing, commanded by Colonel Prendergast, was ordered to Korea....

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