When we think of America's veterans, we often forget those who served in the Cold War, which started shortly after World War II and lasted up until the early 1990s.
The Cold War was a period of heightened tension between the U.S. and Western Democracies and the Soviet Union and the Communist block in the East.
There were several international crises during this time. The first major crisis was the Berlin Blockade in 1948.
One Central Texan, who served his country by helping save the city he was once ordered to bomb, shared his story on this Veterans Day.
Jim Roadman is now in the twilight of his life. He spent most of his 85 years in the sky.
His life is chronicled on the walls, shelves and bookcases of his home -- everything from the uniform he wore and medals for his service to photos and paintings of planes he's flown.
Roadman entered the service in 1943, in the middle of World War II. He was 21 years old.
"I got into the Air Force, got my pilot's wings and they trained me on B-17s."
Roadman flew with the 401st Bomb Group.
"I dropped 35 loads of bombs on Germany without one of my men getting injured," he said.
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Veteran Jim Roadman
One Central Texan, who served his country by helping save the city he was once ordered to bomb, shares his story.
 
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First, Allied air raids bombed military targets away from cities and civilians.
But as the war escalated, large scale bombing was meant to destroy housing and civilian infrastructure. For Roadman, that meant a mission over Berlin.
"I think the 33rd mission was to Berlin," he recalled.
He was told he'd bomb railroad marshalling yards, but Roadman knew better.
"I always looked at the bomb load as I got aboard and I found that all of the bombs were anti-personnel bombs," he said. "They were only about 25 pounds, but they were very dangerous and the only purpose they had was to kill people.
"I had learned from my bombardier that our target was really a city park in Berlin and there were people living in tents in the city park.
"All they were trying to do was stay alive and we dropped our anti-personnel bombs on them. We should never have dropped those."
Thousands of Germans died from Allied bombs before Nazi defeat and the end of the war in 1945. When the war ended, Roadman's service did not.
Just more than two years later, Roadman would once again fly over the city he bombed, this time, not to destroy lives, but to save them from starvation.
In 1948, the Soviets cut off all access to West Berlin.
"Joe Stalin took it upon himself," Roadman said. "He wanted all the people there to be good Communists.
"The railroad rails were ripped up, the highways were blocked, the canals were stopped. There was no way that the 2.5 million Germans who were in the other three ... there was no way that they could get food or power for heat.
"The Americans and the British combined decided to haul food and coal up there in aircraft."
The mission of mercy had many dangers.
"About 70 percent of our flights were in fog," Roadman said. "We would operate day and night. We were on duty about 18 hours a day.
"Twice I landed at night at Tempelhof and I never saw a light, I never saw a runway.
"We did have to deal with the Soviet fighter planes. They would come up and harass us. They'd come up and sit on top of our airplanes. They didn't try to shoot at us because they knew that would be the beginning of the third World War.
"There were 31 Americans who died in accidents. One of the C47's crashed into a building in Berlin."
Many people Roadman talks to today know little or nothing about the Berlin Airlift and its place in history.
But, he knows the significance of his service and the hundreds of other pilots who flew to feed Berlin.
"It's significant in the fact that we managed to avoid an atomic war which would have been much worse than the Second World War was," Roadman said.
It also turned enemies into friends and forever bonded Berliners with Americans like Roadman.
The Berlin Airlift, which the American's coined Operation Little Vittles, lasted just less than one year.
It saved the city from falling to Communism and the Soviets. The effort by British and American pilots forever ingratiated them in the eyes of West Berliners.
Today, a monument at Tempelhof Airport lists the names of the 39 British and 31 Americans who lost their lives delivering life-saving aid in the airlift.
As for Roadman, he served in the Air Force for 13 years.
He retired as a Lt. Colonel and today lives in Cedar Park.
