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Sonny Eliot is one of those guys, like Ernie Harwell, Dick Purtan, and J.P. McCarthy, who hung around this town for a long time and did it with class. Actually, Sonny Eliot was here longer than those other guys. 63 years to be exact. Unlike a Bill Bonds, Eliot never became a self-parody. His shtick was maybe a little well-worn, but it was timeless rather than tired. He's hanging up the weather map for the final time after his 4:20 report tomorrow afternoon on WWJ.

But, as Arlo Guthrie once said, that's not what I came here to talk about. If Sonny Eliot had never cracked a joke or gave a temperature in Spanish, his war record would still be worth talking about. The Jewish-American Eliot piloted B-24's during World War II. After being shot down, he survived an 18 month stint in a German prison camp. That's bad ass. 

Here's hoping, Sonny Eliot enjoys a long and healthy retirement. He'll be missed but certainly not forgotten.