Maggie's Farm

special, special breed. longe range solo combat patrols required extreme aggressiveness in situations of extreme danger and extreme isolation. extreme, extreme, everything extreme.

8th AAF had similar percentages KIA throughout most of the war. 1943 and early '44 were even worse. My dad was one of 'em -- a B-17 pilot in late '43 and early '44 (he was shot down in Feb '44 and spent the rest of the war in a POW camp). i asked him once, when i was a kid, how he had the guts to keep flying when every mission was losing a quarter of the planes. he said something like (maybe word for word) "well, we just assumed we weren't gonna make it --when you're already kaput it gets much easier."

thanks, Barrett -- your girls'll be fine, i bet -- dad's got his values firmed up -- that's a big start!

this post got me wondering about that old Stalag Luft 1 website (www.merkki.com) i found years ago -- i went back and there's been lots more content added -- damned if i didn't find deeply buried in the links a picture of dad -- one none of has ever seen before (tho i just emailed it to a buncha the family) -- the internet is just beyond belief -- there he was, 15 minutes ago, 24 yrs old, in a German POW camp, skinny, staring back at me from the monitor. we lost him in 1986, so it was a moment, just now.

tralfaz--this is about Okinawa:
http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/hanson052402.html
--from memorial Day 2002 and still one of the best things i've ever read--

if you ever want to read a really good book -- one which takes you into the enormous deep technical expertise those guys had -- try "Clear the Bridge!" by Wahoo exec and later Tang commander Richard O'Kane:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_H._O%27Kane

One of the finest WWII reminiscences you will ever read. Tang's story is incredible, too --

Folks assume that after Midway in mid-1942 that the Navy had the war won -- not so -- 1943 EOJ navy was still a match or more for USN in most of the Pacific and the US subs deep penetration missions were critical to spreading out the enemy initiative and holding the line until those Essex class carriers started really rolling out in 1944.

one of the best films ever -- tense -- wow -- i think THAT bunch -- the WWII german sub service -- lost three-quarters KIA -- i'd say what a waste but it's not my place to do so. let that surviving quarter say it.

BTW i tried to post the URL of that pic i found but the spam preventer won't allow -- wonder why --

thanks, P -- good tip --