Fini flight: Retired Fairchild colonel honored following sea plane flight

Strong winds buffeted the steely waters off Independence Point Saturday morning as retired Col. Bruce Lauderdale took off in a sea plane. Lauderdale, 88, didn’t know who would be waiting at the dock for his return. Gathered on the dock were more than 30 members of his family — adult children, grandkids and great-grandkids — as well as a group of airmen from Fairchild Air Force Base who had come to honor him. Lauderdale is a former commander of the Air National Guard’s 141st Air Refueling Wing at Fairchild.