General Yeager’s Salvation After World War II: the High Sierras

General Chuck Yeager’s words:

Rocky Mountain Basin Lakes, High Sierras, Nevada

“I’d seen the Alps and the Pyrenees from the air, and I’d watched the sun come up on the Atlantic Ocean-but I was truly taken aback by the spectacular beauty of the Sierras. I guess I’d finally found the Shangri-la I’d been looking for.

I’ve never smoked or chewed tobacco, and I gave up alcohol without a second thought a number of years ago-the only thing I’m addicted to is adrenaline. The Sierras got my adrenaline flowing like nothing else since the War – and what a relive that was. I had seriously wondered if my combat experience hadn’t been an impossibly tough act to follow, if perhaps the rest of my life was going to be one long letdown. But in 1945, I had a new career as a test pilot at Muroc and those mountains to explore. Both gave me fresh challenges that might well have been my salvation.”

c. VSY