About the author
Welcome to my website. I'm so glad that you've landed here on my page. I'm a first-time author, and it is my pleasure to bring you a heartfelt story about my Great Uncle, Felix Ernest Scott.
I've spent the last four years researching as many details as possible in an effort to be able to fully tell the story of a little Texas farm boy who dreamed of being a pilot. Felix was my maternal grandmother's, Aletha Scott Stephenson's, only brother. While growing up in the 1980s, I never heard much talk about Uncle Felix, but nevertheless, I was always fascinated that he was a P-51 fighter pilot, and I often imagined that he must've died in a horrific, yet heroic, battle in the sky. For me, he was a great uncle who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving our country during WWII. I didn't know any of the actual details of his life, and, like the rest of his family and friends, I wondered how he had ultimately died while piloting his P-51 in the faraway land of India.
My mother, Mary Jane Bass, always has said that none of Felix's sisters ever talked about Uncle Felix. Perhaps it was too sad for them to talk about it. My cousin Ruvonne said that Felix's mother, Viola, had a very hard time after Felix died. They were all quite worried about her. My mother and my Aunt Nancy spent a lot of time visiting their grandparents and all the kinfolk in and around San Saba when they were children in the fifties, and my mother said that there were decorative objects in the house that they were told were from Felix, and there were pictures of him, but no one ever talked about him. They knew there were a lot of Felix's things in their grandmother's cedar chest because she opened it one time and showed them some of his things.
I was playing my favorite WWII Call of Duty video game one day in March of 2020 when I felt Felix's spirit asking me to tell his story. He literally described the concept for the book, and I even wrote ten chapter titles right there in my chair. It was an extraordinary vision, and I immediately shared it with my family. I have a passion for military history, and through meticulous research, I believe that I've crafted a touching narrative that brings Felix’s story to life. A very special thanks to my wife, Michelle, for her support throughout this project. My mother, and my Uncle Mack & Aunt Barb Stephenson, along with my cousins, Wayne Blanton and Ruvonne Underwood Dennis, provided me with various personal recollections, pictures, or personal belongings of Felix, all of which proved to be extremely helpful in putting together the information found within the pages of this book. The scope of this work was quite daunting when I began the first chapter, since I'm not an avid reader, and I wasn't the best student in English class during my school days. I had no idea how many rabbit holes that I'd need to dive down, but I can proudly say that I left no stone unturned in my quest to complete this project.
The visions with Felix continued throughout the last several years, and he provided me with a great deal of guidance along the way. I've uncovered many details, tidbits, coincidences, and some inspiring, and even hair-raising details while working on this book. Of course, there are some fictional pieces that were added to the story which helped to fill in some of the blanks for the time that Felix spent here on earth. There were many long days with a sore neck as I worked to make Felix's story come to life, but in the end, this was a labor of love. Many thanks go to my mother for the countless hours that she spent proofreading this work, and for the valuable insight and suggestions that she provided along the way. I would also like to give a shout out to my nephew, Kevin Hickey, for assisting me with the initial concept for the cover of my book.
I'm a Southern California resident with deep Texas roots, and military service has been a big part of our family for generations. As a youngster, I stood in my grandparents' living room with awe as I looked at the medals that my maternal grandfather, Wallace Louis Stephenson, had earned for his service before, during, and after WWII. I can undoubtedly say that, he too, was an inspiration for me to want to embark on this wonderful journey. I'd like to give a tremendous thank you to Lynn Blankenship at the San Saba County Historical Museum, and to Lisa Kalmus, curator at the Sanders Corps of Cadets Center at Texas A&M University. Many thanks to John and Karen Jernigan for all of their help with my questions regarding times past in King City, CA. A special thank you to Eric Wydra for his help with my questions pertaining to the University of Oklahoma. Bill Beigel, WWII researcher and author, was instrumental in finding many things about Felix that I couldn't even imagine. Mary Ellen Goddard, a volunteer at the Costa Mesa Historical Society, was also very helpful with my research pertaining to Felix's time at the Santa Ana Army Air Base (SAAAB). Heartfelt gratitude goes out to another cousin, Bobbie Lynn Morris, and her husband, Phillip, for providing me with a place to stay during my research visits, and for sharing their boundless knowledge of San Saba County. Finally, this work would've had some holes if it weren't for the invaluable help of John and Debbie Simon along with Nick and Sheryl DeJong. Ray Simon was John and Sheryl's father, and he went through traIning alongside Felix at four different training bases. Additionally, Ray proudly served as a P-51 pilot with Felix up until the time of his death over in India.
In the process of writing this book, I got to know and see the places and people where my Mother's side of the family were born and lived. My mother has always said going to Bend and San Saba and seeing the cousins, the pecan trees, the rivers, is like going home again. On one of my research visits, we all went to Harry's Department store so I could buy boots and a hat. Another cousin, Dardon Ann Hayter, and her husband, Dennis, had come to see me and my mom and Bobbie, and she was with us at Harry's. She helped me pick out the hat. It was as if she'd known me my whole life. It was a good visit. My mom, Bobbie, and Dardon Ann, had known each other their whole lives, and they were doing a lot of laughing. I hope that y'all enjoy my narrative pertaining to the life of an uncle who has been long gone, but never forgotten.
Fly high, Felix, you'll always be in the hearts of your family.
Author insights
A simple orange, a remarkable yearbook.
When I set out to begin writing my book, Flying with Felix, more than five years ago, I felt excited, yet overwhelmed as well. I had a military yearbook from Felix's time in Phoenix, Arizona. I had pictures, I had a patch that had been sewn onto his jacket, and I even had some of his personal belongings. However, I knew that there were plenty of facts and details that were missing, and I knew that I would need to somehow come up with the information to make my project as accurate as possible. I figured that my journey to discover more about the life of my Great-Uncle, Felix E. Scott, would be arduous, but I was up for the challenge. I knew that there would be plenty of digging, extensive and time consuming research, and perhaps, even a little bit of luck needed along the way to make his story come to life.
Back in July of 2023, I reached out to John and Karen Jernigan on Facebook.They are local historians in King City, California, and I was hoping that they might be able to assist me with locating Felix’s yearbook photo from his pilot training stint there at Mesa Del Rey. Mind you, I had run into many dead ends along the way, so I really wasn’t expecting to hear back from them. A few days had passed, and I was beyond excited to see a reply from Karen, where she mentioned that she had found a copy of Felix’s yearbook photo. When I anxiously opened the attachment, I was amazed at what stared back at me on the screen of my phone. Not only was Felix’s picture visible on the page, but his autograph sat right above his picture. There were several other pictures of pilots visible in the image that Karen had sent, and autographs were present on some of the other pictures as well. I was stunned, and entirely thrilled that I could now check off one of the mysteries that had been bugging me for years.
Now you might think that finding this yearbook photo would be the end of this particular story. Granted, I felt that this had to be one of the most amazing things that could possibly have happened. However, I had no idea that there was much more of the story to come. In the weeks prior to discovering this amazing yearbook photo, I had been writing chapter 10, Pre-flight at SAAAB. In this chapter, Felix arrives by train in Southern California, ready to begin the first step in his pilot training. With a day to kill prior to having to report to the Santa Ana Army Air Base, Felix and his friends decided to spend the day down at the beach near Balboa, California. In this chapter, Felix meets a fabulous young woman named Elsie, and at one point, he walks with her out to the end of the Newport Beach Pier. After retrieving an orange from his pocket, he showed off a bit by throwing it far into the ocean in front of them. Although the orange could no longer be seen, Felix hoped that he would be seeing much more of Elsie in the months to come.
As a diversion from writing the book, and from doing my regular day job, my wife and I enjoy going to the beaches in Southern California to search for magnificent specimens of sea glass. Being that we don’t generally find a great deal of sea glass, we routinely pick up bottle caps, broken bits of styrofoam, and other pieces of trash that had washed up onto the shoreline. The morning of August 31, 2023, started out just like any other day at the beach for us. I began to venture one way, while my wife decided to look for hidden treasures within a pile of rocks that had accumulated along the high tide line. To my amazement, there in front of me on the white sandy beach was an orange in all of its glory. To many, it was just a discarded piece of fruit; something that had probably been left behind from someone’s picnic days earlier. It was still rather early that morning, and after looking around to see if anyone was watching, I reached down to pick it up. After gripping the orange, and having recalled the story that I had just recently written about Felix’s own experience with an orange at the beach nearly 80 years prior, I threw it as far as I could into the pounding surf.
We returned home roughly two hours later, and after having had a nice warm shower, I sat down in my leather chair to begin my normal daily routine of surfing eBay. I had made it a point to regularly look for items that would benefit me in my quest to find information about Felix’s time in the United States Army Air Forces. After having seen the yearbook photo that the Jernigan’s had provided to me, I was inspired to be on the hunt for my own yearbooks for Felix’s time in King City, and also for his time spent in Lemoore, California. After entering a few key words, I was astonished when I saw before me two King’s Log yearbooks, offered as a set. Class 43-H and class 43-I were suddenly available for me to purchase. I had been looking for three years without any luck, so you can imagine that my fingers worked quickly as I selected the “buy it now option” to ensure that these yearbooks would soon be in my hands. I knew that finding the orange on the beach that day was a sign from Felix, and that it was meant for me to find the yearbooks that I had found listed for sale earlier that day.
After having waited for five long days, I felt like a child on Christmas morning as I ran to the mailbox to grab the package that contained the yearbooks that I was so excited to open. I ripped open the box, although I was careful to ensure that I wouldn’t damage the yearbooks in any way. After looking through each page of the yearbooks, I found a picture of Felix in both of them. Since the class of 43-H and 43-I ran concurrently there at Mesa Del Rey, it made sense that I’d find a photo of Felix’s squadron in the 43-H yearbook. I was very pleased to find the individual photo of Felix in the class 43-I yearbook, although I was a little disappointed to find that the only autograph happened to belong to the pilot who had once owned the yearbooks originally. They were in terrific condition, and they most definitely had that vintage smell and look about them.
You might ask yourself how could this day get any better for me? Well, with nothing to lose, I decided to reach out to Karen Jernigan to see if they would be willing to make a deal. I proposed a trade in which I would give up my two yearbooks for their class 43-I yearbook that contained the autograph of my Great-Uncle Felix. I was willing to throw in some cash and the kitchen sink if need be to secure this deal. I waited anxiously for a reply, and you have no idea of how happy I was to receive a response from Karen just a few hours later. I quickly scanned her reply looking for any indication that a deal could be made. I was thrilled when I saw, “John says he will make a deal. Let us know when you will be passing through King City, and he will be happy to meet with you to complete the trade.”
In another bizarre coincidence, my wife and I had a previously scheduled trip to Monterrey, which is north of King City. It was as if this was meant to be since we would be passing through King City due to a road closure on State Route 1, better known as the Pacific Coast Highway. Even though King City is more than 300 miles from my home, it was honestly a a place that we were going to be driving through anyways, and you can bet that I was going to make that stop. Anxiety was running through my veins all morning long, and I was restless in my seat as I trudged along the seemingly never ending road. After arriving in King City, my wife and my in-laws waited with their dog at a local park while I drove over to the Jernigan’s home. After introducing ourselves, we proceeded to have a very nice discussion. I couldn’t wait any longer to get my hands on the prize so to speak, so I reached into my backpack, and pulled out the two yearbooks that I would offer in the trade. To finally have a yearbook signed by Felix and many of his pals was something that I could not have even dreamed of just a month or so earlier. I can only imagine how happy Felix was when he autographed the yearbook on graduation day from Mesa Del Rey. I cannot thank John and Karen enough for agreeing to make this trade with me.
I have since had time to reminisce about Felix innocently throwing the orange into the ocean. I realize that it wasn’t the same orange that I had found decades later, just miles from where Felix had tossed his into the surf. However, I’m certain that it was a sign from heaven; a mere bread crumb of sorts for me to find on my journey. In closing, take the time to look around, be sure to see the sights around you in your own daily life. You never know when you just might find something special that might have all sorts of meaningful implications for you.
