THE PILOT WHO WOULDN'T FLY

THE PILOT WHO WOULDN'T FLY

I am only telling you this story because he passed away two years ago. I won't
reveal his identity. Let's call him Captain Johnson.
Captain Johnson's plane was badly hit over the target. He and his crew bailed
out. But Johnson never liked to keep his chute harness buckled tight. It gave
him cramps. So he wore it loose. On this occasion, as he bailed out he slipped
out of the harness and it tangled around his foot. That meant that he dangled
head down in his chute as he came to earth. He was badly shook up on landing
and hospitalized with severe cuts and bruises and a good deal of shock. After
he recovered he was returned to duty. At that time we needed 65 missions to go
home. He had 62, Only three more to go. But he refused to ever fly again. This
was serious business with a war on. He was sent to London and a staff of
psychiatrists worked on him, but he wouldn't fly. Then they said if he flew as
an observer on the lead aircraft he could get 1½ missions credit for each
mission, He could fly two and get credit for three, and go home. He still
refused to fly. What was to be done? You can't really court marshal a man with
62 missions for cowardice in face of the enemy. But he still wouldn't fly. But
everyone else in the 344th damn well had to fly. Feelings were running high.
The talk around the group was, "If I have to fly, then he has to fly. No free
lunch. He had a bad bailout? Too frigging bad. We all have our troubles." My
pilot Paul Shorts said, "he was weak". When his name was brought up, the
universal response was disgust. Then one day he was gone. Fast forward 15 years
to a reunion of the 344th Bomb Group. Who should walk in but our old friend
Captain Johnson. No one spoke to him. Many just turned their backs on him. I
felt sorry for him. But while we were risking our necks over Germany and losing
good men, he was curled up and whining under a blanket. He flew with us, but
not a single man in the 344th considered him to be one of us.
Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

(ArtKramr) wrote:

YOSSARIAN, THE PILOT WHO WOULDN'T FLY

What a bunch of brain-dead ******s you are/were. PINKS.

Grantland

In message , ArtKramr
writes
THE PILOT WHO WOULDN'T FLY

There, but for the Grace of God....

Mike
--
M.J.Powell

Subject: THE PILOT WHO WOULDN'T FLY
From: "M. J. Powell"
Date: 2/3/04 1:25 PM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:

In message , ArtKramr
writes
THE PILOT WHO WOULDN'T FLY

There, but for the Grace of God....

Mike
--
M.J.Powell

YUP !


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

"ArtKramr" wrote in message
...
THE PILOT WHO WOULDN'T FLY

snip

Shakespeare understood this.

"....he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."

He flew with us, but
not a single man in the 344th considered him to be one of us.

Human nature hasn't changed much has it?

The CO

On Wed, 4 Feb 2004 09:38:17 +1030, "The CO"
wrote:

Shakespeare understood this.

"....he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."

The CO

And what then of the war when those few, those happy few, that band of
brothers are reviled by their countrymen as baby-killers and
murderers? Where "gentlemen in America now a-bed" don't have the
slightest inkling of the accursedness of not being there?

Then, we who were there will hold their manhood cheap among ourselves
when we gather and speak of those who fought with us.

Henry V, never would have imagined the modern citizen of the English
speaking world.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8

Ed Rasimus wrote:
"The CO" wrote:

Shakespeare understood this.

"....he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."

The CO

And what then of the war when those few, those happy few, that band of
brothers are reviled by their countrymen as baby-killers and
murderers? Where "gentlemen in America now a-bed" don't have the
slightest inkling of the accursedness of not being there?

Then, we who were there will hold their manhood cheap among ourselves
when we gather and speak of those who fought with us.

Henry V, never would have imagined the modern citizen of the English
speaking world.

Perhaps, but John F. Kennedy certainly did:

"War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector
enjoys the same reputation in prestige that the warrior does today."

Subject: THE PILOT WHO WOULDN'T FLY
From: "The CO"
Date: 2/3/04 3:08 PM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:


"ArtKramr" wrote in message
...
THE PILOT WHO WOULDN'T FLY

snip

Shakespeare understood this.

"....he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."

He flew with us, but
not a single man in the 344th considered him to be one of us.

Human nature hasn't changed much has it?

The CO



And I don't think it ever will.


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

Subject: THE PILOT WHO WOULDN'T FLY
From: Ed Rasimus
Date: 2/3/04 3:55 PM Pacific Standard Time

Then, we who were there will hold their manhood cheap among ourselves
when we gather and speak of those who fought with us.

Ed. I am sure you have known many who were severely wounded, recovered over
time and came back to their flying duties and just kept going. I do.We all do.
Men who were wounded and recovered and kept flying were the norm. Johnson was
not.


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

Hold on a bit. Bravery is not a never-ending supply. The British found
this out a long long time ago. Our forces need to learn from them. I
read that in WW2 the Brits pulled the men out of the front lines after
about 30 days to decompress, get a hot shower, clean unis, decent
chow, and live normally - as normal as one could get wherever they
were. The US Army did not do this. If you get a chance watch 'The
Battle of San Pietro' - it covers the flak-happy syndrome, battle
fatigue, what ever you want to call it. If you read 'Night Fighter' by
C F Rawnsley you will read about him and 'the twitch' - too many times
to the well without a break. And the amount of 'bravery' a man has is
quite variable; some can go on and on and others need a break sooner
(famous bell curve). One of the unfortunate consequences of staying in
continuous combat too long is the degradation of judgement. FWIW I
remember hearing about a pilot who flipped out while on his 748th
combat mission in SEA. Anybody else remember that case, supposedly
around 1971, or was it just another rumor?
Now, for the really worthless SOBs, how about that BUFF pilot who was
willing to sit alert with multiple Hbombs but his conscience wouldn't
let him go over to SEA and drop dinky little HE bombs on people.
Walt BJ