Members of the community along with students of MC Amarillo College had a special guest speaker on October 26, 2010.  For more than 60 minutes, Harter related his early military career with his eleven crew member that all manned the B-24 Bomber called the Jeeter Bug.  The pilot of this B-24 Bomber was Frank Jeeter and Herb Harter was his co-pilot.  A documentary was shown to those attending that explained how it was a consequence that both the pilot and the plane both were named Jeeter.  The documentary film was about how the crew that Herb Harter served with  bonded.  The B-24 lost an engine when they were on a mission near Iwo Jima.  The crew was trying to contact Iwo Jima to let them know they were going down. They landed in the mist of the fighting where our Marines were fighting.  There was an air strip but no runway lights.  Harter explained how the land soldiers used their guns by firing them in the air to help light up the area were the runway was located. Herb said how they all felt out of their element on the ground, "We were just a bunch of Flyboys".  

An engine was sent to them on an aircraft that was going to pick up wounded soldier in Iwo Jima.  They were able to replace the engine by taking great care with each and every part especially with the spark plugs off the old engine.  To the crew's amazement the engine started and they flew out of Iwo Jima with the sound of Japanese bullets pinging on the outside of the boxcar like plane.

Amarillo College invited Herb Harter to come speak to their students and the community as part of a program they have called the Common Reader. This semester they were reading the book Flag of our Fathers by James Bradley.   James Bradley is scheduled to be in Amarillo on October 29, 2010 at 7 p.m. at the Globe News Center for the Performing Arts. This is at no cost to the public.  The Common Reader program is designed to help incoming freshmen interact with the larger AC community through the shared experience of reading a book.  Books may be used in academic classes as well as in student group activities.

"Learning" is about ideas and how ideas are discussed.