B-25J and Texans taxi out April 20th, 2013 for Doolittle fly-by. Destin, FL
This weekend up at the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, three of the four surviving Doolittle Raiders gathered for one final somber and sad mission. Robert Hite, the other surviving Raider, was too ill to attend this gathering. So Ed Saylor, Richard Cole - Doolittle's co-pilot, and David Thatcher gathered at the museum to break open the 1896 bottle of cognac to salute their departed comrades. Why 1898? That was the year Jimmy Doolittle was born. With this solemn action, another chapter of valour closes.
I was so fortunate to see Saylor, Cole, and Thatcher at the 71st Reunion earlier this year. To shake their hands and say thank you. Thank you again Raiders for lifting American spirits when it seemed the future was so bleak.
World War II in Germany is just a flyleaf on a book away. Might be found on a stretch of road. Or that person sitting next to you on the S-Bahn in Hamburg or Berlin.
Margot Friedlander was rounded up in April of 1944 after being in hiding for 13 months. She was sent to the concentration camp of Theresienstadt which is now in the Czech Republic. She met her husband there and they emigrated to the United States after the war. Since neither had family left in Germany they had vowed to never return. Time moves on and Margot's husband died. She wrote of her wartime experiences and even had readings of her story. A German producer happened to hear one of her readings and invited her to come back to Germany for a show. She did and then something incredible happened, Margot decided to live in Berlin. She tells her story to German youth who know of the Final Solution only in books. She gives a voice and face to the horror the Nazis inflicted upon people.
In Aachen Germany the locals are trying to preserve a tangible piece of World War II history. Aachen was the first German town to fall to the advancing Allied armies. The fighting was fierce as the Germans tried to hold the Siegfried line, thus casualties on both sides were heavy. Directing the German defenses of Aachen was the Lousberg bunker. The bunker still exists but has now been sold to developers who want to turn it into apartments.
Another bit of Germany's Nazi past is about to be paved over. Near Berlin is the A11 motorway. About 2.5 miles of the road is still the original surface that was laid down by the Nazis when they first built the autobahns. After many decades and heavy traffic, the concrete road surface is in such poor shape it will be replaced in 2015. Thus erasing the last bit of the original autobahn.
Finally there is the story of Jennifer Teegee of Hamburg. Her mother is German and her father is Nigerian. Until she saw a book in the library and on the flyleaf a picture of the author she had no idea of her family history. She had been given up for adoption and when she did see her birth mother, Monika never talked about it. But from that book she learned that her mother was the illegitimate daughter of Amon Goeth, the real life Butcher of Plaszow as depicted in Schindler's List. Jennifer had seen the movie while in Israel and knew her birth name, but she never made the connection until reading that book. Since that discovery, Ms. Teegee has embarked on a quest to fully understand her heritage and family history.
This inscription is found as part of the WWII Memorial in Washington D.C.
"Earned our undying gratitude," I wish the current President of the United States and members of the Democrat Party could comprehend such words and honor them.
Instead today we saw a great injustice attempt to be perpetrated upon some of the rapidly vanishing cadre of WWII veterans. 69 years after many stormed the beaches of Omaha, Sword, Juno, Gold, and Utah and others stormed ashore at another place called Inchon some of those went to see the WWII Memorial as part of an effort called Honor Flight.
Veterans from Iowa and Mississippi went to the memorial today to find a very strange sight. The normally open memorial was barricaded. The excuse being it was closed due to the government shutdown. These veterans showed they still had courage even though many are now confined to wheelchairs. While Rep. Steve King and others launched a diversionary attack that distracted the unpaid Park Police, the veterans breached the barricades to see the memorial dedicated to their sacrifice and valor before they to finally joined their compatriots among G_d's Battalions.
I squarely blame the Democrats for this cheap and tawdry attempt to punish those who risked all to defend this country. To attempt to score cheap political points by disrespecting these veterans' service. To be respected, one must earn respect. Today all the Democrats have earned is an even greater amount of contempt.
President Harry Truman is best know for a few turns of phrase. But one that applies in this case comes from a citizen. "Give'em Hell Harry!" Lets give the Democrats Hell over this.
They were turning the R-2600 over using the starter on this B-25J I guess for the film crew. I learned that you have to turn each engine 9 or 11 blades by hand before trying to start since all the engine oil settles to the bottom cylinders and causes hydraulic lock.
This was probably one of the most laid back but fun encounters I have had with Warbirds. Usually airport authority or when on a military base, the cordons will be maintained at all times. Except for the planes blocked off for filming; the ramp area with the Texans and the B-25J Killer 'B' was open. Of course when the folks with the planes or the ramp crew asked people to move, the people did. Everything was perfect including the weather.
This is the CAF B-25J Yellow Rose taking off for the parade flyover. You can hear how brisk the wind is along with the sound of two R-2600s producing 1,700HP each. I apologize for the shake-cam but did not bring a tri-pod with me. Was not expecting to be allowed such close viewing and hence take such footage.
After the parade fly over the B-25s went to visit the air fields used by the Raiders to train in 1942. If you paid $425 you got a chance to ride in one of the B-25s, be part of the flyover, and the visit. It was sorely tempting to fork over the money.
Panchito again. Metal gleaming in the morning sun.
B-25J-32 Killer 'B'
B-25J of the CAF Yellow Rose
SNJ-5 VC-10 6 of Diamonds
Only the SNJs, T-6s, and the B-25J Killer 'B' was available for public inspection. Yellow Rose, Panchito, and the other B-25J that was painted like a Doolittle Raider were roped off because of a documentary film crew.
Killer B and Yellow Rose were both painted in a North African scheme of sand and green over neutral gray. Both sported the brief Torch national insignia of a yellow surround to the white star in a blue circle. Also they had RAF tri-color fin flashes. Made for interesting contrast.
I am always amazed at what lurks in the Life magazine photo archives.
In the center is TBD-1 6-T-16 of VT-6 from USS Enterprise. They are flying past Diamond Head, Hawaii. Tail is painted True Blue. The cowling, fuselage bands and wings are painted Orange-Yellow. There are no wing chevrons, like the white ones on 6-T-6, since they are the same orange-yellow color as the wings. What's trailing behind 6-T-16 are radio wires.
Looking up TBDs in Lynn Ritger's site we can identify the Bureau Number and fate of 6-T-16 and 6-T-6.
6-T-16 is Bu. No 0346. Was re-assigned to VT-4 aboard USS Ranger. Stricken on Jan. 31, 1944.
6-T-6 is Bu. No 0327. Later re-numbered as T-14 of VT-6. Lost at the Battle of Midway on June 4, 1942. Crew for that mission was Ens John Block and ARM3c John Blundell - KIA.
In case anyone missed it because the media decided to worship their sun god Obama, yesterday was a special day. Twenty five years ago President Ronald Reagan sounded the clarion call for freedom in what used to be West Berlin. He demanded of Gorbachev to "tear down this wall!" Which wall? Why the Berlin Wall of course, a gray concrete monstrosity that encircled West Berlin in an attempt to prevent people from escaping that paradise called East Germany. Many paid with their lives in the attempt.
That day in 1987 is fondly remembered in countries of the former Warsaw Pact. For example Poland and a guy named Lech Walesa struggling to free themselves from Soviet tyranny and dreaded visits by the secret police. It told them they were not forgotten even when some in the free West, like the rioters in West Berlin protesting Reagan, wanted to forgot so they could 'normalize' relationships with the USSR. The classic do not provoke the Russian bear least get eaten type.
Just a few years later, many Germans, East and West, were busily smashing those concrete walls with hammers. And a market for bits of the Wall rapidly sprung up. Pundits in the West declared it was the end of the Cold War. One even bravely proclaimed it to the be end of history.
So where are we in 2012. Obviously we did not reach the end of history that was predicted in those heady days. As for the end of the Cold War. Has it really ended? Looking at things across the globe in objective terms, that answer is also no.
The USSR, the arch nemesis, no longer exists this is true. Many of the countries it controlled with bayonets and bullets are no longer its satrapies. But has the country that replaced it, Russia, given up the idea of global ambitions? With Putin at the helm and supplying such rogue governments as Iran with the means of nuclear warfare along with its efforts to undermine US foreign policy, that answer most definitely is no.
That other communist super power of the Cold War, the Peoples Republic of China, still exists. And its power and influence has grown whilst that of the USSR has waned. Even if it's economy appears headed for the wall, the ambition and military might of this country can not be ignored as US re-alignment of its military posture towards the PRC shows.
So now that I have offered evidence that the Cold War has not died but merely changed a few labels, what is the US doing to answer this challenge? One I have already mentioned, the shift of focus from Europe to the Pacific. There is also increased interfacing with countries being threatened by the PRC, except in one instance - the current administration has denied Taiwan 66 F-16 fighters. Meanwhile the US Navy, who would bear the brunt of fighting for the US to assist allies and itself to keep the sea lanes open, is seeing its strength drop from a hoped for 313 ships to 'around 300.' Aegis cruisers are being retired and $3billion DDGs of the Zumwalt class are simply too expensive. Meanwhile the Littoral Combat Ship is being produced in two incompatible types. US Air Force fighters are getting older while the F-22 has finished production and still waiting for the first F-35, which means the F-16 will still roll off the production lines. Of course a lot of this procurement assumes Washington D.C. will get its act together before mandatory sequestration strikes the Dept. of Defense budget and guts everything.
So while the Cold War seems to be still alive though socialists are loathe to admit it with their constant harping it's over, foolishness and shortsightedness in elected officials in Washington D.C. still seems rampant. So do not mind me if I am getting a pre-WWII in the Pacific vibe from all this. Only firm clear leadership can sort out this problem before another Pearl Harbor is experienced
Seventy years ago history of the Pacific War was changed. Afterwards Japan would find its ill-gotten gains stripped away during one brutal battle after another until Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Approximately 1025 on June 4, 1942 32 Dauntless dive bombers of VB-6 and VS-6 found themselves over the First Air Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Also arriving over the same carriers were 17 Dauntless aircraft of VB-3 lead by Lt. Cmdr Max Leslie. And there were no A6M-2 Zero fighters to oppose them, the valiant and almost futile sacrifice of VT-6, VT-8, VT-8 Det., and VT-3 had seen to that.
So a perfect storm of retribution fell upon the attackers of Pearl Harbor. When the men of all three dive bomber squadrons pulled up from their dives, they witnessed three carriers in flames.
The butcher's bill had some charges still to add. The surviving Japanese carrier Hiryu would launch two strikes at the American fleet. Both times they struck USS Yorktown, finally crippling her and forcing Capt. Buckmaster to order abandon ship. Just as this was happening Lt. Samuel Adams of VS-5 found Hiryu.
As Hiryu struggled to gather enough planes and pilots to strike at what they thought was just one remaining American carrier, Spruance's dive bombers arrived overhead in the dusk. Survivors of VB-6, VS-6, VB-3, and VS-5 plunged down in their steep dives. Soon Hiryu was wreathed in flames and rocked by explosions like Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu.
Lt. Samuel Adams would die on 5 June, 1942 while trying to sink the IJN destroyer Tanikaze. Amazingly the destroyer escaped without damage. Japan would soon lose the heavy cruiser Mikuma due to attacks by Enterprise and Hornet air groups; the cruiser had earlier collided with it's sister ship Mogami while trying to evade the US Navy sub Tambor. Even the surviving TBD Devestators would attack since there were no enemy fighters to defend the hapless cruisers, they still failed to score any hits.
The final casualty of the Battle of Midway would be USS Yorktown herself as IJN sub I-168 slipped through the destroyer screen. Four torpedoes were fired at the wounded carrier. Two struck the carrier while a third broke in two the destroyer Hammann. Yorktown would finally sink the next day, 7 June 1942. Thus ending a battle that could have easily gone the other way if not for extraordinary actions by men of the United States Navy.
In response to a channel showing the movie Midway starring Henry Fonda and Charlton Heston, here is actual footage of the battle. Next week will mark the 70th anniversary of that climatic battle that in the words of Walter Lord in Incredible Victory, "Midway showed that every once in a while 'what must be' need not be at all. Even against the greatest of odds, there is something in the human spirit - a magic blend of skill, faith, and valor - that can lift men from certain defeat to incredible victory."
One of the things Admiral Nimitz did during his buildup of defenders for Midway Island was send the director John Ford to document the battle. One of the voice-overs you hear is Henry Fonda. The historians and model builders will spot things like the two-tone green B-17Es with white paint covering the previous red dot in the center of the insignia. Also about the 6:30 mark when the camera goes crazy, that was when John Ford was hit by enemy shrapnel during the attack. Of Red Parks Marine fighters, they were slaughtered. The Vindicators and Dauntlesses would score hits against the Japanese but at a fearful cost, one of the casualties being Lofton Henderson - the airfield at Guadalcanal would be named after him. The 4 B-26 Marauders would try to torpedo the Japanese, only two got back. To add to the tragedy suffered by VT-8 off USS Hornet, of the six TBF-1 Avengers of VT-8 Detached assigned to Midway only one made it back to Midway with two survivors and one dead aboard.
To honor and commemorate the sacrifice suffered by VT-8, John Ford made this second film focused solely on the men who followed Waldron off USS Hornet that fateful morning, steered precisely to where Nagumo's First Air Fleet was, drove the attack home without fighter cover, and paid the horrific price of 29 out of 30 being killed, all 15 planes lost, and no hits scored. The color footage of the men posing before two TBD-1 Devestators is priceless and sobering. One TBD has the precise and straight demarcation a freshly painted plane should have. The other TBD has a wavy demarcation that sees the blue grey upper surface color wrap around the leading edge of wing and over-paints the under-surface color of light gray - this plane was probably repainted aboard ship. And to truly top off the uniqueness of this footage, the three Devestators shown taking off was taken after Hornet and Enterprise set sail for Point Luck - the TBDs all have twin .30 cal machine guns that John Waldron had scrounged off the Dauntless squadrons in an attempt to make his lumbering planes more surviveable.
September 13th, 1944 saw the 8th Air Force launch a total of 1,015 B-17s and B-24s to attack vital targets in Germany. They hit oil refineries, an air field, a marshaling yard, and targets of opportunity. By the end of the day 15 heavy bombers had been lost in combat. One of the B-17Gs lost carried Lt. Emil Wasilewski. Only one man managed to bail out before the plane crashed.
Until 2007, a casket laid buried but empty at St. Casimir Cemetery. This was the resting place for Lt. Emil Wasileski. Then it all changed when the Army contacted his nephews for a DNA sample. It turns out human remains had been uncovered in the former East Germany that might have belonged to fallen American airmen. Using the DNA sample, it was confirmed that some of the remains belonged to Lt. Emil Wasileski. This June he will be interred with full military honors and an overflight in Arlington National Cemetery. And if further remains are ever found, their ashes will be sprinkled over the empty casket so Emil Wasileski can finally be home and rest with his parents.
Welcome home and G-d bless.
Post script - why you never laugh at the Tomb of the Unknown at Arlington. It's called respect.
The P-40E Kittyhawk I that was discovered earlier this year in the Egyptian desert has been identified. The people working the issue, who are on the Key Publishing forum, are simply amazing in their knowledge and tenacity.
From post on 23 May, 2012 by Shepsair - Now that 1035 has been reported and with the link, it is safe to report
that the P40E Kittyhawk in the desert is now confirmed as Curtiss
P40E-1-CU Curtiss number 1035, construction number 19761, US serial
41-35928 and British serial ET574.
The Copping family were made aware of the confirmation early last week.
Still no word on the final fate of Dennis Copping. His body is still somewhere out there in the vastness of the Western Desert. I hope he is found and properly buried before Siag Travel leads mobs of tourists tromping over the site. Today they are visiting the crash site.
Official group insignia of the 79th FG USAAF that fought in North Africa
My friend Mut over at the Temple of Mut is working on a post detailing the widespread devastation that is occurring throughout Upper and Lower Egypt. So I will focus on a more recent occurrence of destruction.
In February of this year an oil exploration team operating in Egypt's Western Desert stumbled across an amazing find. Pictures were quickly snapped and then posted to a Polish modeling magazine.
Curtis Kittyhawk I somewhere in the Western Desert of Egypt.
Lost for 70 years an RAF Kittyhawk was discovered in Egypt. At this time the exact identity of the airframe and name of it's lost pilot is unknown. The sand has scoured much of the paint away. Some have played with the photographs posted searching for the plane's identity. What is known is this airplane is a P-40E-CU-1. Six wing guns. Ring and post site. No fin fillet. Intake on top of cowling. RAF roundel has a yellow outer circle. And there is red paint still remaining on the propeller. All the above tid-bits have lead some to speculate this is Kittyhawk I ET574 HS-B assigned to 260 Sqn and lost in 1942 while being ferried from one airbase to another for repair. The pilot for this mission was Flt Sgt Dennis Copping. This is all speculation but once the media found out about this lost warrior, well it was definitely Copping's airplane. The UK Metro even wrote on how the brave pilot tried to get the plane working again ... with the propeller and gear box wrenched off I wonder if they even looked at the photos. Or the CBC calling it a WWII jet fighter.
So right now the British Ministry of Defense is trying to work with the Egyptian government to preserve this airplane and and find its pilot so the story can be finally told. They better hurry before there is nothing left of the airplane.
Perfectly intact canopy after 70 years.
The canopy has now been shattered and someone has shot up the armoured windscreen.
Who knows what else is vanishing with every passing moment. The survey crew has tried to protect the location, for example the original online photo album has now vanished, but the crew also had local guides. And then had to report the plane to the Egyptian Army because ammo was still in the plane that the Army then went and removed. So things have started to happen to the plane, it has suffered more damage in the past few months than the previous 70 years. And with each piece that vanishes, perhaps the clues needed to find the lost pilot also disappears into the desert.
P-40F Warhark with Group CO Col. Earl E. Bates. The Egyptian hieroglyphs are supposed to be the Group's number.
I will leave it to the readers to tell me if the insignia at the top or at the bottom has the hieroglyphs correct. I wanted to include an American fighter unit in this post is to show how integral to the whole desert campaign were Curtiss' P-40s and to show the lasting impact ancient Egyptian culture has on our modern world.
Interesting footnote - The intelligence officer for 260 Sqn when Copping and his plane vanished was none other than Sir Christopher Lee who later gained fame as Dracula going against Peter Cushing as Dr. Helsing. Or when he appeared in the Lord of the Rings.
Those words galvanized a group of 80
men who found themselves just 600 miles from the Japanese home
islands. How they got there and what happened after is an amazing tale on heroism, inventiveness, and intrepidity. It was 70 years ago
today, April 18th, the Doolittle Raid occurred. And the
five surviving Raiders are at Wright Patterson and the Museum of the Air Force this week to mark this historic event.
It all started just after the
devastating attack on Pearl Harbor by a most curious route. Admiral
King wanted to know if Army bombers and transports could take off
from an aircraft carrier for the invasion of French North Africa. It
was the Army Air Force under Gen. Hap Arnold and the energetic Jimmy
Doolittle who made the concept King's staff had of using Army bombers
from a US Navy aircraft carrier to strike at a target President
Roosevelt wanted hit at the earliest moment – Japan feasible.
Once it was determined it was
possible, the next step was to make it reality. Soon two B-25
bombers managed to take off from the flight deck of the aircraft
carrier USS Hornet, a brand spanking new carrier still doing work ups
before transfer to the Pacific. The date was Feb. 3, 1942 and those
two B-25 crews had no idea what they had accomplished or what would
come of it. Secrecy was paramount.
Meanwhile Doolittle was busy getting
the Army side of things organized. B-25s needed modification for a
host of upgrades including extra fuel tanks to extend range. Again
secrecy was important so no one knew why this Lt. Col was
re-arranging their war important missions, all they knew was Gen. Hap
Arnold fully supported this mad man so they got to it. Crews had to
be selected under the same stringent security. The men of the 17th
Bombardment Group and 89th Reconnaissance Squadron were
told it was a dangerous mission, practically everyone volunteered.
Twenty four crews were selected for special training down at Eglin
field in Florida. Here the crews were exposed to extremely short
field take offs in their planes and taught Navy habits by Lt. Miller.
Soon the men were launching their planes in as little as 350ft.
As soon as the men and planes were
ready, they flew cross country to California to meet up with USS
Hornet. Upon landing if they reported any defect in their plane,
that plane was pulled to the side. Ted Lawson's plane The Ruptured
Duck had problems with its top turret but did not report the problem.
So his plane with 15 others were hoisted onto Hornet's flight deck.
The other B-25s were left on shore while their crews boarded the
aircraft carrier to maintain secrecy and provide replacements in case
someone fell ill.
Secrecy was maintained until USS
Hornet and its escorts met up with USS Enterprise's task force beyond
Hawaii. Once the Navy men learned what the mission was, their
treatment of the Army crews changed dramatically. Lawson found
himself sleeping in a soft Navy bunk while its former occupant did
battle with a folding cot. When the Army crews had an issue on one
of their planes, the Navy machine shops and specialists were only too
eager to help.
The final plan was to launch the B-25s
about 400 statue miles from the Japanese home islands and hit after
dark. Those plans changed when an Enterprise scout plane found a
picket line of Japanese fishing bots over 600 miles out. As the
heavy cruiser USS Northampton started to slam shells into one of
these spy ships, a gutsy call was being made aboard Hornet.
Doolittle, Mitscher, and Halsey conferred and decided to launch
immediately though it meant there was almost no chance the B-25s
would arrive in China intact and the attack would be in daylight.
As the crews were called to man their
planes, Hornet turned into the wind. Five more tins of gasoline were
crammed into each plane in the hope it would help them reach friendly
controlled areas in China. Meanwhile the crews themselves loaded up
items of vital importance into their planes, guns being one item.
Into one plane went a phonograph player while the records were loaded
on a different plane.
Jimmy Doolittle then launched in the
first B-25. Everyone held their breaths as his plane seem to vanish
off the bow of the ship. Then everyone sighed in relief as the plane
clawed for air. After one orbit of the carrier to get bearings,
Doolittle flew off to hit Tokyo. Soon all the bombers were safely
off, every bomber going it alone because of fuel concerns. Then both
carrier task groups turned around and raced out of harm's way, their
part of the mission done.
Flying at almost wave-top level, each
crew saw different things when they reached the Japanese coastline.
They saw Japanese fisherman and farmers wave at them as they sped
past. The Japanese thought the planes were theirs, anything else was
beyond their imagination. It probably help in the confusion the
bombers' markings included a red dot in the center of the white star.
This is not to say the Japanese military were not expecting an
attack, they just expected it to happen as the carriers got closer
since carrier planes were short ranged. So the Raiders got the
surprise they needed as they struck Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, and Nagoya.
Next was the hardest part of the mission, the get away.
On the bombers flew, once again at
wave-top level into bad weather, shrinking fuel reserves, and
uncertain Chinese airfields. None of the China bound planes would
land safely. Some came down in the water while others crashed after
exhausting all their fuel. Only the plane that diverted to neutral
Vladivostok landed safely, the crew was promptly interned least Japan
attack the still neutral USSR. Doolittle thought the raid was a
failure as he sat next to the wreckage of his plane. Fate of many of
his men was unknown, it would be weeks before all of their fates
would be known. Two crews were captured by the Japanese and promptly
convicted of trumped up war crime charges, three of these men were
then executed by firing squad and another would die of disease before
Japan surrendered and the four survivors rescued. Ted Lawson's plane
crashed off a small island and four of the crew badly injured.
Lawson himself was catapulted out of the cockpit and his left leg
ripped up. Only turret gunner David Thatcher was uninjured. Only
because of his valiant efforts, of which he was awarded a Silver
Star, were the others saved. Then they, like many other crews, were
assisted by Chinese civilians to escape and avoid the cruel fate the
Japanese would inflict. For helping so many
Raiders escape, the Japanese over the next few months
launched a brutal reprisal that would murder over 250,000 Chinese
civilians.
The raid was far from a failure. It
delivered a needed boost to flagging Allied morale. Doolittle was
awarded the Medal of Honor for this daring mission and would continue
to lead men into combat, this time in the North African and Italian
theaters of operation. It shocked the Japanese. The god-emperor
could have been injured. One has to wonder if in private Admiral
Yamamoto said to himself, I tried to warn the government attacking
the US was foolish. Instead the attack so panicked the Japanese
military, they green-lighted a plan they had been opposed to. So
Yamamoto was told to hurry it up and wipe out those pesky American
aircraft carriers before they really did harm the Emperor. So in two
months the Battle of Midway would happen. Once the last plane
landed, the offensive might of Japan had been effectively blunted
with the loss of four carriers and their valuable pilots. In that
battle would be Enterprise and Hornet. Hornet would be lost at the
Battle of Santa Cruz in October 1942, to the end she was a tough lady
as it took American and Japanese destroyer torpedoes to send her to
the bottom. Admiral Yamamoto would meet his own end on April 18th,
1943 when USAAF P-38 Lightnings intercepted his G4M Betty bomber and
shot it down killing him. Enterprise would fight through the whole
war and then suffer the ignoble fate of being cut up for scrap in
1955.
Books to read
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, 1943, Random House, Captain Ted Lawson
The Doolittle Raid, 1991, Schiffer Publishing, Carroll V. Glines
Miracle at Midway, 1982, Penguin Books, Gordon W. Prange.
The Big 'E' 1984, Ballantine Books, Cmdr. Edward P. Stafford
The most dysfunctional family in the United States continues to garner media coverage. How dysfunctional you may ask? Psychology Today put together a list of the top seven Kennedy sex scandals. Go read them, it is shocking. Then there was Ted Kennedy trying to collaborate with the USSR to destroy Ronald Reagan. But old Ted can justly claim he was just following in the family tradition, his father Joesph Kennedy Sr was a real piece of work in his rampant hatred of the Jews and love of German National Socialism. Kennedy, after fleeing London as the Blitz petered out, was sacked by Roosevelt and replaced as Ambassador to the Court of St. James by John Winant.
That the Kennedy family continues to garner media coverage and thought to be representative of America can only be ascribed to the pushing of a false narrative. It is a bundled package of smaller lies that hide behind the tragic assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, TX in 1963. To point out all the failings and outright crimes of the Kennedy family is to endure the ceaseless tirade of being unfair to the slain President. As in do you have no decency? History cares not for decency when it records a leader's achievements and failures, Kennedy's greatest failure at the Bay of Pigs lead directly to the Cuban Missile Crisis because the USSR read Kennedy as weak after that failed invasion. That is why the world almost vanished under multiple mushroom clouds. Daley Plaza can't cover that up.
So where am I going with this recitation of the Kennedy family crimes? Just the latest lambasting from the Kennedy Holier Than Thou pulpit. Robert Kennedy Jr, being a Kennedy, is no stranger to the spotlight. Oddly three days after filing divorce papers on his second wife, she was arrested on a DUI. He campaigned for Rep. Dennis Kucinich in that man's losing primary run, Kucinich lost to fellow Democrat Mary Kaptur and he was not graceful in his concession speech. Kennedy has also harangued about the danger of mercury in vaccines causing Autism. Notice how many corrections are at the end of the article, including a gross inflation of a percentage. For a less strident discussion, the FDA has a good precis including an incident in Australia in 1928 that gave rise to requiring a preservative in vaccines, out of 21 inoculated 12 died.
Now that I have established Robert Kennedy Jr's questionable track record in the public and private square that shows he lives in a large glass house, here is his latest cheap shot of record. Because Sen. Infoe is a skeptic and critic of man-made global warming, Robert Kennedy Tweeted a comment that would get Imus suspended and Carbonite to quit Rush. He called Sen. Infoe a prostitute in the employ of the oil companies. That is really discussing the heart of the matter there Robert, smear your opponent. Did you call Joseph P. Kennedy II a dictator's prostitute when he got cheap heating oil from Hugo Chavez of Venezuela? I bet you didn't.
Kudos to Powerline for this very sad tale. There are cemeteries in Benghazi, Libya where the fallen soldiers and airmen of the British Commonwealth are buried. According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission there are over 1,500 buried there. They are sons, brothers, husbands, fathers from across the Empire - United Kingdom, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and even the Sudan Defense Force - all are buried here. At least one Victoria Cross recipient is interred here. All killed during World War II resisting Nazi aggression. Even Italian war graves have also been attacked. No word if the British war cemeteries at Tobruk or Knightsbridge have been attacked.
And now their resting places have been brutally attacked and defaced, over a hundred known so far. The perpetrators? The same people the RAF, USAF, and their NATO allies helped to liberate last year from the tyranny of now deceased despot Gaddafi. They even filmed themselves toppling gravestones with Crosses and Stars of David while calling the deceased warriors dogs. Even the Cross of Remembrance has been smashed as seen in the video that Powerline has.
The reaction from the United Kingdom government has been diplomatic and couched with the caveat that Islam does not condone destroying graves. The Libyan transitional government has offered apologies. The Australians are not as diplomatic, calling it a desecration and sickening though no word if any Australian graves were smashed.
I am sorry England, there are graves and then there are the graves of infidels. All these men are infidels to their defilers and hence they do not belong in any land claimed by the faithful warriors of Islam.
The Western nations need to tell the Libyans to clean up their mess. To hold accountable to the fullest measure these criminals. If little or no action is done to these vandals, then Libya should be allowed to slide back into the 7th Century they seem to desire.
Post script - Talking about Libya and WWII always brings up the mystery of Lady Be Good, a B-24 Liberator that vanished with her crew during a bombing mission against Italy. To this day the body of SSGT Vernon Moore has never been found, he is presumed lost in the vast southeastern desert sea that comprises the border between Libya and Egypt. As for the plane's wreckage, it was last seen in 2001 in a Libyan police impound yard.
Turner Classic Movies has been running Oscar winning or nominated films this month in the lead up to this year's Academy Awards. This has afforded me the chance to watch such movies as One of Our Planes is Missing, The Lion in Winter, The Guns of Naverone, The Day of the Jackal, and The Train. One that really caught my notice was called The Red Danube.
What first caught my attention was the cast for this film. Walter Pigeon, Angela Lansbury, Peter Lawford, Janet Leigh, and Ethel Barrymore. Talk about some heavy artillery in the stars department. Then the premise hooked me. 1945 Vienna and a British Colonel has to turn over a refugee who is a star Soviet ballerina.
Water Pigeon is Col. Hooky Nicobar. He has lost an arm and in the recent war he lost his only son. He has become cynical and very doubtful there is such a thing as God. He has Peter Lawford as Major McPhimister who has no luck in finding true love. Angela Lansbury is Audrey Quail who keeps the office running with the help of an experienced NCO. Nicobar takes his team from Rome to Vienna to help the Allied powers administer divided Austria and help with refugees.
Nicobar's first shock is where they are billeted- in a convent. Ethel Barrymore as the Mother Superior is outstanding. She has a somewhat eclectic concept of her faith. She is not afraid to spar with Nicobar and has a sense of humor. Some argue the conversations Pigeon and Barrymore have about faith, God, and humanity slow this movie down. This argument would be valid if this was Transformers. It's not, it is a movie about average people caught in difficult circumstances.
It is in the convent that the focus of the story emerges in the form of Maria Buhlen played by Janet Leigh. It seems Maria has been given sanctuary when these British soldiers move in. Twingo, as Lawford's character is nicknamed, becomes smitten by her. And she also falls for the dashing British officer.
Of course things have to get bad. The Soviets demand that all Soviet refugees be returned to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Colonel promises Nicobar that Maria, aka Olga, will be treated with great fanfare upon her return since she is a ballerina. Nicobar has orders to cooperate with the Soviets so Maria is turned over to them. Twingo becomes a British officer going through the motions. As Nicobar goes to notify another Soviet refugee he has to return, the reality of what he is doing is brought home. The refugee proceeds to shoot himself. To rub his nose further into how dirty the business is, Nicobar is informed by the Soviet Colonel the USSR considers anyone who does not want to return a subversive. Historical note - being labeled a subversive at this time, 1945, by the USSR would mean either a bullet or a trip to a gulag.
So Nicobar finds himself doubting his whole mission while also opening up to the Mother Superior about his faith issues. Especially since his last letter from his son before the young man was shot down included a note that he was joining the Church of England.
Nicobar is so enraged over the whole sordid mess of sending unwilling people back to the USSR he fires off a memo decrying the whole situation in the strongest terms. To reinforce his new found opinion of the Soviets, the Soviets dump into the British sector a train full of refugees that are all old or disabled thus saddling the British with taking care of them. Did I mention this whole movie is happening during the winter of 1945?
Some observations on this movie. When Nicobar and the Soviet Colonel are sparring over whether democracy or communism is better, one turn of phrase made my ears prick up. The Soviet officer says something like 'when you want to take oil, you dress it up. When we want oil, we just say so.' Can we blame this movie for the whole 'no blood for oil' mantra? Miklos Rozsa, better know for his musical masterpiece Ben-Hur, did the score for this movie. The general that Nicobar fires off his memo to is played by Alan Napier, who is better known in the States for his role as Alfred in the 1960's TV series Batman. And until one airport scene, the viewer is pretty certain they are in Vienna. The jarring nudge saying filmed in California is when Nicobar flies back to Rome for a conference and a derelict three-color camouflage US Navy TBF Avenger is in the scene. Later when Nicobar and his team are being sent back to England in a Dakota in the background is seen what appears to be the wingless fuselage of a Blenheim bomber.
Suffice to say I did like this movie a lot. TCM, at this time, does not have this movie listed for sale. They really should.
