06/28/2004. Remarks by Howard Rundberg: "The P-38 is not among my favorite aircraft because one of my close friends, Lt. Richard Thomas, was killed in an accident involving a P-38 during WW II. We grew up together in Redlands, California, USA and Richard once took me to visit the base at Ontario, California to meet his fellow pilots. There was a roster of squadron pilots and many names had been crossed off because of having been killed in accidents. It looked ominous.

Several months later news reached me that Richard had been killed bailing out of a burning P-38 on a training flight out of Ontario near March Field. Other pilots said he was clear of the airplane, but then it somehow circled back and caught his parachute over the wing. They said they saw him trying to get back to the cockpit before the impact. My son is named in honor of the memory of Lt. Thomas."