VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – Just days after turning 100 years old, retired Navy Lieutenant Commander Leo Dorman took a trip to the Pungo Aviation Museum.
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“I love it. I come down here a lot,” Dorman said as he gazed at displayed bomber jackets. The sight jogged his own memory and he starts asking about his own.
“It’s hanging up in a closet at home,” recalled Dorman’s neighbor who spends a lot of time with him. On Sunday, they spent their time at the museum with six other World War II veterans. For Dorman, the comradery makes for a nice trip down memory lane.
“Well, I joined the military when I was 18 years old,” said Dorman with a smile. “I’ve flown a lot of airplanes, close to forty. My logbooks will show you around 10,000 flight hours.”
Those hours were spent in the skies above not only during World War II, but also during the Vietnam and the Korean War. He was also the operations officer on Ebeye Island, a remote site in the Pacific Ocean where nuclear tests took place.