An Interview With Chuck Yeager

Snidely wrote:
We were absolutely justified in locking up Japanese during the war, to
suggest otherwise is retarded.

Interning enemy aliens is fairly standard, and generally thought to be a
good idea, sure.

We were not, however, justified in locking up American citizens, born in
the United States, who happened to have parents of Japanese descent
(often also American citizens, but naturalized rather than native-born).

Nor did they see a need to do this in (for example) Hawaii, where you
might think there was an even better argument for it.

And there was *certainly* no justification in confiscating and not
returning their property into the bargain.

The whole thing was barbaric, and a major national embarrassment.

The Rape of Nanking was barbaric, but it tells us nothing about the
ethical or practical considerations involved in herding a bunch of
American citizens into concentration camps. To think that it does is
the very essence of racism.

redc1c4 wrote:


there may be no "i" in "team", but try spelling it without "me"......

redc1c4,
(and what got edited out of the interview before you saw it? %-)
--
"Enlisted men are stupid, but extremely cunning and sly, and bear
considerable watching."

Army Officer's Guide



This being a binary group, Gordon doesn't have ready access, but has sent
me these comments.




"We used to meet him several times per year. A group of us would run into
him and invariably, he would lash out at one or another of us - loyal camp
followers whose only crime was wanting to be close enough to hear a bit of
history from the lips of this larger than life belligerent. Once, I found
myself in a huge auditorium with just him and I - we looked around, waiting
for the inrush of American fighter aces and their throng of fans. He sized
me up for about the twentieth time, then made a disgusted snort and went to
sit down at his table. the guy that ran the reunion came in and offered me
a free Yeager poster for him to sign. He signed it crisp and clean but
couldn't help himself. "That f_____ will be on eBay before the ink is dry."
Another snort. This time, I was fed up. "General, I first met you on a
cross country flight 16 years ago - over the years, you have singed about
twenty things for me, and they make up the heart of my little kid's ace
collection. I've never sold anything you signed for us. Never will." With
that, I stomped off to be with some ace friends with a little less jackass
in them.

A couple days later, a large buffet table outside the winding down
conference. The last of the 'camp followers' sat around, trading stories of
Chuck's abuses over the years. All eight of us had at least a couple good
stories of being berated, insulted, belittled, etc, at the hands of the
master. At this moment, Chuck himself walks up to the table and looks at
all of us. We freeze. Here it comes boys. Steady, lads...

What followed was about a minute long thank you from Chuck. He salted it of
course, but the point was, he was grateful that we looked up to him and the
other aces. His peace stated, he turned an walked away, close on the 6 of a
passing lovely woman. Get'er Chuck! We sat at the table in total
disbelief. "Now where in the hell does THAT go in our anthology of Yeager
stories??" It was so out of character was all sat there laughing. Chuck
said something nice to us! I bet all eight of us from that table all
remember that particular moment, when we interacted with General Yeager and
he _didn't_ say something crass."




--

Cheers

Dave Kearton

"Jose" wrote:

Look! A PC idiot! The truth always draws them out. Probably loses sleep
that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuked, too.

Do you have any evidence to support that statement? No.
Are you even capable of addressing the points I raised?
I see no evidence of that. Should I take it for granted
that you're a bigot who despises the Constitution, or
do I even need to ask that question? Never mind, you're
going into my killfile.

Meanwhile, to stay on-topic, here's a picture from

http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~jaf/caf.html

showing Ben Kuroki, a gunner in B-24s, after he completed
his missions over Europe. Everyone else in the picture seems
glad that he wasn't interned.

--Bill Thompson

William R Thompson wrote:

"Jose" wrote:

Look! A PC idiot! The truth always draws them out. Probably loses sleep
that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuked, too.

Should I take it for granted
that you're a bigot who despises the Constitution, or
do I even need to ask that question? Never mind, you're
going into my killfile.

What? He made an on-topic. ironically funny remark supporting your point (at
least, that's how I took it). Or am I not getting you being
ironic/sarcastic?

Anno.

"William R Thompson" wrote in message
ink.net...

1: There is a considerable difference between "Japanese citizens living
in US territory" and "American citrizens of Japanese ancestry." Interning
foreign nationals during time of war is legal, and obviously a good idea.
Detaining American citizens on the basis of their ancestry is neither
legal nor a good idea. (And I don't recall that any of my Prussian
ancestors were locked up during either of the World Wars.)


While it was not as wide spread and is not nearly as well known as the
incarceration of Japanese-Americans, there were Americans of Italian and
German descent that received similar treatment. I'm working from memory
now, but I believe approximately 5000 Italian-Americans, 10,000
German-Americans, and 120,000 Japanese-Americans were interned during the
war. As I recall, Italian-American internment ended shortly after Italy
surrendered in 1943. German-American internment lasted until well after the
war ended, 1947 I believe. Some internees were even transferred to Germany
after the war! I don't remember when Japanese-American internment ended.

I remember back in 1986, I was stationed at Beale AFB in California. My
wife and I were shopping in the commissary and Chuck Yeager was in there
also. I tried to speak to him and he totally ignored me. He lived outside
the Grass Valley Gate at Beale and was seen alot on base. On the other
hand, when I was stationed at Wright Patterson AFB in Ohio, I used to take
care of Paul Tibbits and his wife when I was a medic in 1990. He is a very
friendly guy and willing to speak with anyone.
wrote in message
et...


On 27-Apr-2007, "Byron Covey" wrote:

He is not "sort of a prick." He is 100% prick.



And he's a bigot. It's a shame to see that someone who was promoted up to
Brigadier General in the USAF could still hold such attitudes. Two years
ago
at EAA/Oshkosh, my wife and I went to see him give a talk titled "Best of
the Best", expecting it to be a motivational speech. He spent the first 10
minutes in a racist rant justifying locking up Japanese-Americans in
concentration camps during WW2. We were more than a little bit offended.
Several people of apparent Japanese descent got up and left. When he
finished this rant, we were disappointed that a number of people applauded
Yeager. We stayed awhile longer, and he began telling war stories about
being shot down and evading capture during the war. His language was foul,
and he came across as an arrogant asshole to us. We got up and left a few
minutes later. I won't bother seeing him speak again.
Scott Wilson

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote:

"William R Thompson" wrote:

1: There is a considerable difference between "Japanese citizens living
in US territory" and "American citrizens of Japanese ancestry."
Interning
foreign nationals during time of war is legal, and obviously a good idea.
Detaining American citizens on the basis of their ancestry is neither
legal nor a good idea. (And I don't recall that any of my Prussian
ancestors were locked up during either of the World Wars.)

While it was not as wide spread and is not nearly as well known as the
incarceration of Japanese-Americans, there were Americans of Italian and
German descent that received similar treatment. I'm working from memory
now, but I believe approximately 5000 Italian-Americans, 10,000
German-Americans, and 120,000 Japanese-Americans were interned during the
war. As I recall, Italian-American internment ended shortly after Italy
surrendered in 1943. German-American internment lasted until well after
the
war ended, 1947 I believe. Some internees were even transferred to
Germany
after the war! I don't remember when Japanese-American internment ended.

Most of the Japanese-American internment camps were closed by November
1945, although one in California remained in business until some time in
1946
(I think it was for internees who refused to take loyalty oaths).
German-American
internments officially ended in 1947, although apparently some people were
still in
custody as late as 1948. Some of the Italian and German internees were
relatives
of internees, who "volunteered" to be interned with them (how a child
"volunteers"
for anything is beyond me).

Your version of German-American and Italian-American internments is more
detailed than what I learned about a dozen years ago. There's a good
resource
(more up-to-date than what I knew) at

http://www.foitimes.com/internment/gasummary.htm

Very disturbing stuff. What's worse, interning everyone in an ethnic group,
or
doing an incompetent job of law enforcement against specific members of
another group?

(In an effort to stay on-topic, here's a picture of Ben Kuroki in his flight
gear.
I haven't found any pictures of his aircraft yet.)

--Bill Thompson

"Snidely" wrote in message
...
We were absolutely justified in locking up Japanese during the war, to
suggest otherwise is retarded. Unlike the so-called "wars" the US has been
in since then, WWII was a fight to the death. When up against a capable
and ruthless opponent that thinks of all others as sub-human, there is no
room for any PC bull****. Those that applauded that day understand this.

Any Japanese (or anybody else) that are offended by this need to read some
history about how they (the Japanese) waged war at that time. Our locking
up a few people was absolutely harmless in every imaginable respect in
comparison. Don't believe it? Start reading. As good a place to start as
any is what is now called "the rape of Nanking".


One case that I am familiar with is that of the Nakagawa family. They owned
an orchard in Oregon. When the decree was issued they were required to sale
their property, which they had recently purchased, within 24 hours. The
"sharks" came out and their best offer was about 1% of the value of their
property. They were required to leave with only the items that could be
packed in a suitcase and shipped out to a desolate camp in Idaho.
(http://www.nps.gov/archive/miin/home.htm)

One of the sons of this family was named Gordon. He was an A-6 Intruder
pilot during Vietnam and was unfortunate enough to be shot down and spend
some time in the "Hanoi Hilton" POW prison. Shortly after he was captured
his mother was interviewed by CBS television. During that interview she
stated "you know, this is the second time Gordon was a prisoner of war. The
first time was in Idaho." (http://www.pownetwork.org/bios/n/n041.htm)

You can't deny that the Japanese internment was based on race. Gordon is a
forth generation American citizen who was interned. I am a forth generation
American with German ancestry whose father didn't speak English until after
he entered public school. Gordon was lock up and my family were allowed to
continue a normal life.

Post war review of the families in the Minidoka camp has shown that NONE
were security risks. The only explanation for their internment is racism
and greed for the prime farmland they owned.

Wayne
CDR USN (Retired)
http://www.soaridaho.com/Schreder

"Wayne Paul" wrote in message
...

You can't deny that the Japanese internment was based on race.


What was German and Italian internment based on?

"Snidely" wrote in message
...

Not a good one for Yeager. He comes off as being quite arrogant and not a
little condescending. I'd heard rumblings from time to time that he's sort
of a prick, but until now had not seen or heard anything concrete.

I think it is sad.


I've heard him described as an arrogant braggard, but I don't think he comes
off as bad as you think in this interview. His comments about Gabreski are
what raised my eyebrows. The interviewer said Gabreski shot down a lot of
airplanes, Yeager "corrected" him, stating that Gabreski destroyed a lot of
airplanes but many were on the gtound. I believe Gabreski is credited with
28 aerial victories and 2.5 aircraft destroyed on the ground in WWII, with
an additional 6.5 aerial victories in Korea. Yeager is credited with 11.5
victories.