THE PILOT WHO WOULDN'T FLY

"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: 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

Hold on a bit. Bravery is not a never-ending supply.

Agree, Walt. Bravery and, just as important, mental sharpness both are
exhaustible resources.

Look what happened to Guy Gibson - too many times to the well and ended up
killing his hapless "navigator" and himself. His "bravery" (or internal drive
to grapple with the enemy) was the primary reason both of these airmen died.

The top British nightfighter freely admitted he was shot down and captured
because he was mentally exhausted by too many operational sorties; he "spaced",
made a rookie mistake that nearly got him and his nav killed when they were
caught at low altitude and low airspeed by enemy fighters. (That same sort of
mistake got Duke and Driscoll shot down after the biggest day of their flying
careers, but for different reasons than the Brit nightfighter.)

Expecting men to face death daily over a period of years is not a way to find
out who is brave and who is not - its simply a way to expend them like
cartridges, or leave many of them as broken shadows for the rest of their
lives.

v/r
Gordon

In message , Krztalizer
writes

Hold on a bit. Bravery is not a never-ending supply.

Agree, Walt. Bravery and, just as important, mental sharpness both are
exhaustible resources.

Look what happened to Guy Gibson - too many times to the well and ended up
killing his hapless "navigator" and himself. His "bravery" (or internal drive
to grapple with the enemy) was the primary reason both of these airmen died.

At the time of the dams raid Gibson was so exhausted and run-down that
he had a large carbuncle on his cheek that made it painful to do up his
oxygen mask.

From what I have read (I have no experience of combat) many writers have
said that every man has a given deposit of courage and endurance. When
the withdrawals exceed the deposit then that's it.
I read of one excellent navigator who, on his first mission over enemy
territory, clung to a spar in terror all the way there and all the way
back. He was removed immediately, of course, but it seems impossible to
predict any individual's reaction to danger.
The poor sod whom Art described was taken too far, but it was
unpredictable.


The top British nightfighter freely admitted he was shot down and captured
because he was mentally exhausted by too many operational sorties; he "spaced",
made a rookie mistake that nearly got him and his nav killed when they were
caught at low altitude and low airspeed by enemy fighters. (That same sort of
mistake got Duke and Driscoll shot down after the biggest day of their flying
careers, but for different reasons than the Brit nightfighter.)

Expecting men to face death daily over a period of years is not a way to find
out who is brave and who is not - its simply a way to expend them like
cartridges, or leave many of them as broken shadows for the rest of their
lives.

Yes, I saw a paratroop sergeant break down in tears on television once,
after describing his experiences in NI. A paratroop sergeant! The
toughest of the tough.

Mike
--
M.J.Powell

Subject: THE PILOT WHO WOULDN'T FLY
From: "M. J. Powell"

Yes, I saw a paratroop sergeant break down in tears on television once,
after describing his experiences in NI. A paratroop sergeant! The
toughest of the tough.


It's not what you do on television that counts. It is what you do in combat
that counts. No Air Medals for TV appearances.


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:
"M. J. Powell" wrote:

Yes, I saw a paratroop sergeant break down in tears on television once,
after describing his experiences in NI. A paratroop sergeant! The
toughest of the tough.

It's not what you do on television that counts. It is what you do in combat
that counts. No Air Medals for TV appearances.

Also, the true test of one's character is judged by what he does when
no one is looking. No Air Medals for Autocollimator appearances.

In message , ArtKramr
writes
Subject: THE PILOT WHO WOULDN'T FLY
From: "M. J. Powell"

Yes, I saw a paratroop sergeant break down in tears on television once,
after describing his experiences in NI. A paratroop sergeant! The
toughest of the tough.


It's not what you do on television that counts. It is what you do in combat
that counts. No Air Medals for TV appearances.

Sometimes Art, you show positive genius in misunderstanding people.

Mike
--
M.J.Powell