On Saturday he was on hand again, for the 50th anniversary and rededication ceremony for the depot, now a multi-agency regional center of fire management known as the Missoula Fire, Science and Technology Center.
Saturday's event didn't draw quite the crowd the original ceremony did on Sept. 22, 1954, when an estimated 30,000 people flocked to the depot grounds. But a couple of thousand people attended the 50th anniversary celebration, enjoying mild, sunny afternoon weather after an ominous morning of drizzling rain and gray skies.
When it was originally dedicated, the Aerial Fire Depot housed the regional smokejumper base and fire cache. Now the complex includes the Intermountain Fire Sciences Laboratory, the National Weather Service, Missoula Technology and Development, and the Northern Rockies Coordination Group that provides interagency support and coordination for wildland fire management.
Kimbell called the facility "the nation's premier wildlands fire management center."
Saturday's festivities included two red, white and blue water drops by air tankers provided by Neptune Aviation Services in Missoula, a demonstration jump by smokejumpers at nearby Raser Ridge, open houses at all of the center's facilities, and a display of four of the original smokejumper airplanes - a 1928 Ford Travelair, a Twin Beech, a Ford Tri-Motor and the DC-3 used to carry smokejumpers to the Mann Gulch fire in August 1949, where 12 of the 15 men who jumped died in the fire.
Saturday's dedication ceremony also coincided with a weekend reunion of the National Smokejumper Association, with about 1,000 former smokejumpers in town.
The Ford Tri-Motor on display became an unofficial gathering place Saturday for many of the older smokejumpers attending the reunion.
Brauer - who jumped in 1941 and '42, and again after serving as a pilot in World War II, from 1946 to 1958 - held court at the Tri-Motor much of the afternoon, greeting old smokejumper friends and swapping stories.
"My God," said Brauer, "some of these guys I haven't seen for 50 years. Oh yeah, I jumped out of this Tri-Motor lots of times. These and the old Travelair were the only ones we had."
Brauer was chosen to give the welcoming address for Eisenhower because he had met the president during the war. He was a pilot in the 439th Troop Carrier Group that led the airborne invasion of Normandy
in 1944.
Eisenhower, he said, "had come down the line of aircraft and wished us all God speed and told us how important this mission was."
When he returned to Missoula after the war, Brauer continued smokejumping as a supervisor.
"I went back jumping until 1958, when they threw me out when I was 40," he said. "The Civil Service wouldn't let you jump after you were 40. I'd have jumped until I was 55 if they'd let me."
He continued his career in the Forest Service as director of the retardant and helicopter firefighting programs in the region. He also hired and trained new smokejumpers for the Missoula base.
Brauer, 87, was the dispatcher who sent the crew to the tragic Mann Gulch fire.
"Lots of old friends are here getting reacquainted," he said of this weekend's smokejumper reunion.
He was chatting with several of his old smokejumper buddies, including Bob Hewitt of Memphis, Tenn., who jumped from 1956 to 1958; Herb Fischer of Parker, Texas, who jumped from 1957 to 1960; and Chuck Viviano of Cyprus, Calif., who jumped in 1953 and 1954.
The stories, they said, kept unfurling like parachutes all weekend.
"And some of 'em might even be true," said Fischer. "Like one of my friends said, 'Some of my fondest memories never happened.' "
Not surprisingly, the perils of jumping out of airplanes provided plenty of grist for yarns.
Like several others, Hewitt said his most memorable jump was his first one.
"Anybody who says they get used to jumping out of airplanes needs to be in a mental institution," said Hewitt.
Parachute malfunctions weren't uncommon in the early days of smokejumping, he added.
"We had lots of 'em," he said. "You know, when you're going to open a thousand parachutes, a few of 'em aren't going to work. I never had one, but Herb had two."
"My supervisor told me, 'Don't think you can have the rest of the day off just because your chute didn't open,' " said Fischer.
Riding in the Ford Tri-Motor "was like a carnival ride," said Hewitt. "The old cables on the wings were slapping the side. There was a lot of vibration. You can't hear yourself think inside there. But it was a lot of fun to ride."
Smokejumping, Hewitt added, "is like a fraternity. We're just friends for life, most of us."
"Most of these guys aren't the 8-to-5 type," said Viviano. "One ex-smokejumper is an astronaut. Another is a Medal of Honor winner. It's quite a bunch. We've all got our stories."
Bob Sallee of Spokane, the last surviving member of the Mann Gulch smokejumper crew, also was a speaker at Saturday's rededication ceremony.
Seeing the old DC-3 that carried the crew on its fateful journey in 1949 brought back memories for Sallee.
"It reminded me of one or two trips I took in that plane," he said.
The first was a practice jump near Missoula. Local dignitaries were invited to watch from bleachers set up near a landing target in a field. Strong winds blew most of the jumpers "almost out of Missoula County," Sallee said. But he was heavier than most of the other jumpers.
"I got hold of the risers and pulled as hard as I could," he said. "And I hit the spot right square in the middle. Earl Cooley ran out, and I thought he was going to congratulate me. But he said, 'Darn you Sallee. We spent all that time teaching you to roll, and you landed like a sack of ----.' "
His second trip on the DC-3 was to Mann Gulch.
"It was real turbulent," he said. "And most of the guys got sick. I was never happier than I was to get out of that airplane."
"When I watched that plane take off today with all those young smokejumpers in it," he said. "I couldn't help but be excited. Once you're a smokejumper, you're always a smokejumper."
Reporter Daryl Gadbow can be reached at 523-5264 or at dgadbow@missoulian.com
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