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Re: We lost

By: micro in 6TH POPE | Recommend this post (0)
Fri, 08 Dec 23 7:18 PM | 30 view(s)
Boardmark this board | 6th Edition Pope Board 		Msg. 48124 of 58519
(This msg. is a reply to 48121 by Decomposed)
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Good afternoon De!

I know they were all scared. Heck, even I was scared to go over to Vietnam and fight. I think anyone going into combat where they know the possibilities are very real you might not make it out or back sends some occasional chills down yer spine. You think about it. When ya see some of yer brothers in arms you have been with and fought alongside of get killed and some in horrible ways like being blown to bits and their insides are all laying out for all to see, it affects ya. Am I next? Am I ready to die?

I had those kind of thoughts. The B-29 squads knew that feeling in WW2 because they did not have support from our own fighters early on to fend off the Messerschmidt fighters due to mileage constraints of their fuel to get them to the target and back home. These were brave men who knew the risks and did their jobs and duty...

Yes, they had no desire to go down and be killed but they went anyway.. They stared fear in the face and overcame it. They got rid of it so to speak to be able to do their jobs. The fear left them and they performed. In my book that is an example of fearlessness. They knew the odds were against them yet they went on anyway.

I bet he did take heavy shrapnel. Those guys were flying over heavily protected German territory and most times before the P51's came out they did it without fighter support..

Those men knew there was a GREAT chance some if not all might not make it back yet they went anyway.

You could call it courageous but that would not be sufficient. A combination of that plus fearlessness, not thinking about their own lives but of their duty and the lives of those whom by destroying their targets might make it thru that war.. My HAT is off to all those combat airmen and soldiers of all those world wars and Korea.

Till one has been there and experienced it first hand it is difficult to explain what ya is feeling but somehow find the strength and courage to perform like you were trained to do.. That's how I got thru it and survived a few significant battles with NVA regulars with AK 47's and lots of mortars. Killed a lot of guerrilla types like the Viet Cong (charley) also...




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The above is a reply to the following message:
Re: We lost
By: Decomposed in 6TH POPE
Fri, 08 Dec 23 5:53 PM 		Msg. 48121 of 58519

micro:

Re: “Those men were fearless. ”No they weren't. Dad told me they were all scared to death most of the time. "You did your best not to think about it, but it was always there," he said.

The crew of his B-17 became very tight. We visited with many of them on our X-country drives, even though that was 25 years later. My dad washed out as a pilot (he didn't even have a driver's license at the time!) but was grateful that it went as it did "because at least we lived." The crews superstitiously believed that THEIR group was better than any others and would, somehow, make it through. My father's took heavy shrapnel on its flights. One member credited Dad with saving his life after he was hit in the leg and we exchanged Christmas cards with his family for the rest of his life. Dad told me once about two guys in his barracks who had to make up a missed mission after the rest of their crew had completed their roster. They went on a different plane for a final mission and were lost. Scary stuff...

One of my uncles was lost with his sub in the Pacific. Another was shot in the jaw in Europe and was horribly injured. Oddly enough, he wasn't disfigured from it. Eddie was a good-looking guy who died in 2019.

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