In contrast to your 'Wings' presentation?? ours was a wonderful affair. I was at 3BFTS Miami Oklahoma and the Commanding Officer, Wing Commander Roxburgh sent invitations to attend the Wings presentation far and wide. Some 18 Americans and 80 RAF lads had their Wings pinned on by an American Army General in the afternoon followed by a grand dance in the evening.
One of my proudest moments.
Several of us had made friends with an American family who lived some 200 miles from Miami. These friends received an invitation to attend the presentation and drove all the way from Independence, Missouri to Miami. They watched us receive our wings and enjoyed the dance in the evening. They overnighted in Miami and drove back to Missouri the next day.
The evening dance was attended by us pilots, friends, 3BFTS staff, our flying instructors and girls from the local High School. It was customary to present each of our instructors with a parting gift to show appreciation of their work. Most instructors were friendly guys but my instructor was not quite so friendly! His favourite expression was "Davis, my ******* grandmother can fly this ******* aircraft better than you". Nevertheless we decided to give him a box of his favourite cigars. We gave him his present and tears came to his eyes. He exclaimed that it was the first present he had been given. He shook our hands, told us to be careful when we returned to England and to shoot down one of the b******s for him!
Gordon Davis