Oklahoma Veteran Who Flew Over 300 Combat Missions Laid To Rest At Arlington National Cemetery

An Oklahoma Korean War and Vietnam veteran was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery with full honors.

His wife, Marilyn Totten, says a big part of her husband Floyd's life was spent in the skies.

Floyd Totten had an impressive military career. He flew more than 300 combat missions and then spent the rest of his career training new pilots both in and out of the military.

Airplanes were the love of Floyd's professional life, so it's only fitting that he and Marilyn would start their 16-years of life together in the sky.

"Our first date was in a plane," she said.

"They just had a tornado in Parsons, Kansas. So, he took me up in the Colt to fly over and see the tornado's path," Marilyn said.

When she met Floyd, or Bud as he's better known, he was already a decorated fighter pilot with a storied career forged in what he called the "golden age of flying."

"You see, I didn't know him when he was in that world, but, I heard the stories," she said. "I wrote them all down, too."

Bud's career could fill a novel, and in those pages you'd read about his 15,000 hours of flight spent huddled inside the cockpit of 60 different aircrafts.

Marilyn recalled her husband's stoicism and confidence before a mission.

"I said, 'Weren't you nervous?' And he said, 'Well, up to a point. But when I walked out there and got in the plane, that was all gone," Marilyn shared.

Bud truly felt at home engulfed by the scream of a fighter-jet over Korea, or the deep rumble of a bomber he flew in-between wars.

"He really didn't like that ... He could not wait to get back into fighters," Marilyn said.

Bud would be back at the stick of a fighter in Vietnam where he flew missions dodging enemy fire to rescue downed pilots.

He would earn the Air Force's Silver Star, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, an Air Medal, and many other medals for his accomplishments and bravery.