Warbird Information Exchange

I have been watching several WW II memoirs on Tv, and it was intense.
One was B-17 pilot Bert Styles tell of his missions in combat. Once they went to Berlin, he mused over the fact that his bombs were killing real people down there, not just machines or even soldiers. I don't have the exact numbers but of about 400 planes perhaps only 150 got back intact. About 200 were shot up, with wounded on many and a lot were shot down. When we see a restored B-17 at a show, we see the grace, but we don't really see the war as he did, with as much danger and the loss of so many friends.

There was another part that hit me. US ground forces, I think in Italy, captured a German patrol who were happy to surrender, mostly young guys, dazed and tired. One U S soldier was assigned to take them to the rear to the POW station. When in came back in an hour it was obvious that he had shot the unarmed prisoners. The man telling the story (don't have his name) was horrified and was going to turn the guy in to superior officers. Isn't that the right thing to do? Then the other man who was Jewish, told him that the Nazis had murdered his parents back in their country. That put a very human face on what seemed a black and white absolute situation, but it still bothered this soldier today.

We don't have to walk in their shoes, for the most part.

_________________
Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

So you were watching the "W.W.II in HD" mini-series put on by the History Channel. That was fantastic and very compelling. It was interesting to hear Veterans talk about things you normally don't see on the standard war documentaries, as you mentioned.

BTW, there is already a thread started about this:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=32497