"Robert Sveinson" wrote in message
...
"arjay" wrote in message
m...

The only claim that the Kwai Bridge existed was the following:
"Mitchell Holman" wrote in message
...

It may have been better if I had replied to this when it first appeared.
Mitchell did not claim the bridge existed. For all we know, he has long
been aware of the two fundamental facts misrepresented in the novel and the
film -- that there were two bridges and not one, and that they didn't
actually cross the Kwai.
All Mitchell did was quote the title of the novel as if it were the title of
the film. See immediately below.

And then there is British director David Leans' "Bridge
Over The River Kwai", which credited the British for an
action that in fact Americans accomplished.........

Yes -- but Mitchell (whose contributions here I greatly value) has not
clarified which action he referred to.
Perhaps he meant the destruction, rather than the construction, of the
bridge(s).

Is it "irony" or "farce" when some one claims
credit, (in all seriousness) for something which they know
nothing about except that it is creditted to some one
else in *fiction*?

Once again -- Mitchell referred to "an action that in fact Americans
accomplished."
In the twin contexts of this newsgroup and this discussion, I take the word
"action" to refer to what used to be called 'a feat of arms' in more
romantic times.
Building a bridge -- or even two bridges -- is not a feat of arms.
But destroying it (or them) most certainly is.
The muddle of records and claims indicate that there were several air
strikes against the real bridges, and that one or both were repaired and
restored to use at least once -- which necessitated the second (and perhaps
third) strike.
There is only one claim that one strike was _not_ flown by a pilot of the
U.S.A.A.F. And in that case the aircraft was of American manufacture, the
organizing force was the R.A.F., and the pilot was a member of the R.C.A.F.

Mitchell may have weakened his case somewhat (if he was trying to make a
case at all) by countering the example of "Objective Burma," made during the
last year of the war, with a reference to two post-war films of obvious
fiction -- "The Sound Barrier" and "Bridge Over The River Kwai."
But with that reference he abandoned this thread, after two more sentences:
"Movies have always taking liberty with reality, and military
movies are no exception. Much ado about nothing if you ask me."

I believe we have made more than enough ado about this, even if the topic
isn't "nothing."
We are not in a discussion group. The focus, here, is pictures related to
aviation.
I delight in them, but can supply none. (Don't recall seeing any from you,
either.)
I'm going back to lurking.