joe cononton, a native of tuscaloosa, alabama served as a navigator, bomb dear on 47 missions in the european and pacific theaters. joe was decorated with three medals and four battle stars. hisnit received an award for support provided the french expeditionary force in italy. after returning home joe took advantage of the g.i. bill to pursue a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering from the university of alabama. he began working for the university army missile command in huntsville in the late 1950's. for 27 years joe worked for the army missile command's research, development and engineering division at red stone arsenal. he and his engineering team helped develop and perfect weapons systems critical to maintaining our military edge during the cold war. this included the lance, helfar and thaad missile propulsion systems. when joe and his colleagues were working on the missile which is carried primarily by the appatch khaoe attack helicopter -- apache attack helicopter there was a problem in bad weather. a missile of this propulsion system gives off smoke plume cannot b