Just a question so please keep smart arsr answers to yourselves: Why would you want to comm. one of the biggest disaters for the USAAC. aproc 64 bombers destroyed or shot down with the loss of over 600 men?
I'm willing to bet that most if not all of the people who are
learning about this event had no idea of the significance
of Thursday, October14th. I can't think of worse insult than
to forget these men and what they did on that day. Yes, I want
to commemorate what these men did. I do not want the world
to forget. They deserve not to be consigned to the dustbins
of history, don't you think? But that's only part of the motivation
behind this.
For those of us who earnestly wish to learn about historic battles
the chance to go deeper than reading a textbook or watching a
documentary has always been attractive. This event presents
amateur historians with a chance to explore a deeper level of
understanding of this historic battle.
Still, the question you asked could easily be directed to the legions
of living history reenactors who recreate historic battles every year.
Events such as D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge, Gettysburg (and hundreds
of other ACW battles), War of Independence (the Battle of Germantown
is a local event) are recreated to remember those who fought
in them and as a tangible means of exploring the experience they
lived.
By portraying them in such a fashion, even though there is no actual
danger, reenactors can begin to get just the smallest sense of
what they saw, heard and felt. That results in a greater level of
intimacy with, and understanding of, the experience that reading a
textbook can never approach.
Participants in such mock battles often come away with a profound
respect, admiration and appreciation for the sacrifices made by these
men. Only by immersing oneself as much as possible in the combat
experience, can a person hope to learn about the event on a level that
transcends the intellect and reaches the experiential dimension,
albeit only in a shallow way.
Furthermore, by getting inside their shoes and experiencing, even if only
to the smallest degree, what they experienced, is to better understand
the conflict and, more importantly, understand the enormous sacrifice
that they made on our behalf.
While reenacting land-based battles is now a well-respected and established
hobby among amateur and professional historians alike, exploring aerial
battles in such a way presents significant obstacles.
Unfortunately, reenacting aerial battles is problematic as there really
is no way that something like that can be carried out. Sure, there's
the "Tora, Tora, Tora" recreations that you see at air shows but for
the average person, the ability to actually participate in an historic
aerial battle doesn't exist. Fortunately, with the advent of technology,
those barriers are being taken down and scores of amateur air war
historians now have a chance to explore those battles in new ways.
Using this game and your PC, we now have the unique privilege of being
able to reenact famous air battles in pixels, allowing us a chance
to delve more deeply into the experience so we can better understand
it and can appreciate the great courage and sacrifice demonstrated
by those who fought in it.
In doing this we honor these men, their courage, dedication, skill
and their memories. That is what this event and all similar historic
battle recreations are all about. Paying respects. Most of these
guys will never ask you for anything. They're too humble for that.
Truly the greatest generation. All they desire is that their
sacrifice not be forgotten; their only wish is to be remembered.
And that's just what we'll be doing on October 12th: Commemorating Courage.
We invite you to join us. Perhaps, you will come away with a new-found
respect and admiration for these brave aviators and aircrew, something
that can only be enhanced by this experience.
Visit this page and learn more.
http://david.tenifer.com/aceshigh/LCA.MoM-Current.php
