Just before Thanksgiving 2017, a US Air Force active duty service member was able to give his mother a special early Thanksgiving surprise, thanks to a family friend who is a general aviation pilot.
Major James Carpenter III had just completed training in Washington, D.C., for a new post in Southwest Asia. He was scheduled for an overseas flight the day after he completed training.
Since his parents live in Chesapeake, Virginia, that left little time for a proper sendoff or even a casual family goodbye.
James, Jasmine and Arthur before their flight to surprise James’ mother.
While his sister, Jasmine, lives in Washington, D.C., driving to Chesapeake from DC would take more than five hours on a Friday afternoon, thanks to traffic in the nation’s capital.
Luckily, Carpenter has a close family friend who is a pilot, Arthur Billingsley.
James (left), Arthur (right) and Jasmine in the back on their way to Norfolk.
James’ father asked Arthur to fly his son from Washington, D.C., to Norfolk, Virginia, to surprise James’ mother, Veronica, at the school where she works as a teacher. Of course Arthur said yes.
Mom, Veronica, at her desk in her classroom, with James III, James and Jasmine.
Carpenter is a graduate of Howard University, as well as a graduate of the Defense Language Institute (DLI) in Monterey, California. His father, James, is a Navy veteran, as is Arthur Billingsley.
Major James Carpenter III
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Wonderful story. Thank you for sharing and thank you for your service, Major
Jay Manor
LtJG, MSC, USNR.