Last of a dying breed...

[33Vortex]

Its very sad that so many young men had to die because of a few megalomaniacs.

yes

[Slade]

who won the war?

I thought Japan did?   

All my hardware is Japanese.  I fly their planes a lot.  Huh?  What happen?!!!


Someone set us up the bomb I think!

[Krusty]

Like that scene in "1941" where they are trying to get the radio into the sub hatch and the one fella says "Why did we make these so big?".....

[Guppy35]

Its very sad that so many young men had to die because of a few megalomaniacs.

Isn't that the truth.  We want to make those young men bigger then life.  They've been my hero's since I was 6 years old.  They were always in my mind, 7 feet tall and made of steel.  I remember back in 85 when I got to go to England for the 41 squadron reunion.  I couldn't believe I was going to get to meet those Spit XII drivers.  I remember getting to RAF Coltishall and walking into the OC where the vets were sharing a pint and talking.  I'm 5' 10" tall.  I figured I'd be looking up at these guys.  7' tall and all that.  Turned out I was physically taller then all of them.  They'd grown older.  They were teachers, engineers, a minister, businessmen etc.  They were not supermen, but real people who did things they had to do hoping to get back to their lives.

Sadly many of their buddies hadn't gotten the chance to live out their days to old age.

To me that doesn't make them less of a hero to me, but more.  As they were ordinary men doing extraordinary things.  And I think it's too easy for folks to forget that and to try and make this pilot or that pilot somehow more then human.  In the end that diminishes them.

[33Vortex]

Extraordinary circumstances usually force people to do extraordinary things, the result is extraordinary people. Ordinary habits won't get you extraordinary results, in case you were looking for any. Just sayin' ...

If you want to get anywhere in life, being normal is not what will get you there. For many of 'that' generation, all they wanted was to get back to 'normal' but they were not asked. It was required of them to become extraordinary, to never know the ordinary life. For many, that meant their life, and to them, that was normal.

[Guppy35]

Extraordinary circumstances usually force people to do extraordinary things, the result is extraordinary people. Ordinary habits won't get you extraordinary results, in case you were looking for any. Just sayin' ...

If you want to get anywhere in life, being normal is not what will get you there. For many of 'that' generation, all they wanted was to get back to 'normal' but they were not asked. It was required of them to become extraordinary, to never know the ordinary life. For many, that meant their life, and to them, that was normal.

And the applicability exists in all people.  We want to call the WW2 folks the "Greatest Generation", yet we ignore our own kids,  many who have done multiple tours in combat, far more then the WW2 guys.  My nephew's been home now for a few months.  He saw all kinds of combat.  He's still my nephew and still a kid.

Think of all the extraordinary  things those kids who lost their lives might have done had they not had to fight that war. 

Again, understand the WW2 guys have been my heroes for most of my 51 years.  I've known and spent time with many of them.  They dealt with the world they had at the time, as the kids we have now are doing it again.  I'm not minimizing what they accomplished.  When I see folks trying to make them out to be more then they were, I'm going to point it out, as they did to me, over and over again in getting to know them.  They weren't 7 feet tall, made of steel.

[33Vortex]

And the applicability exists in all people.  We want to call the WW2 folks the "Greatest Generation", yet we ignore our own kids,  many who have done multiple tours in combat, far more then the WW2 guys.  My nephew's been home now for a few months.  He saw all kinds of combat.  He's still my nephew and still a kid.

Think of all the extraordinary  things those kids who lost their lives might have done had they not had to fight that war.  

Again, understand the WW2 guys have been my heroes for most of my 51 years.  I've known and spent time with many of them.  They dealt with the world they had at the time, as the kids we have now are doing it again.  I'm not minimizing what they accomplished.  When I see folks trying to make them out to be more then they were, I'm going to point it out, as they did to me, over and over again in getting to know them.  They weren't 7 feet tall, made of steel.

We are all human, but I would suggest that being human is so much more than what the modern man is taught to understand. We are all unique, therein lie our strength. Numbers are good, but only if diversity is allowed within. Look at the soviet socialist model and the mass carnage within their ranks in all battles they participated. Ignorance is not bliss, it is damnation. In so many ways. Fighter pilots are a bit of a unique breed in the military, because they are allowed much individualism. This is also partly why they are such extraordinary men in the minds of most people, I would argue.

[Guppy35]

We are all human, but I would suggest that being human is so much more than what the modern man is taught to understand. We are all unique, therein lie our strength. Numbers are good, but only if diversity is allowed within. Look at the soviet socialist model and the mass carnage within their ranks in all battles they participated. Ignorance is not bliss, it is damnation. In so many ways. Fighter pilots are a bit of a unique breed in the military, because they are allowed much individualism. This is also partly why they are such extraordinary men in the minds of most people, I would argue.

I think we're agreeing somehow but not saying it the same way.  In Airwarrior we had our old buddy Earl Miller who flew with us.  Earl was a real life WW2 fighter pilot with a Silver Star & DFC having flown combat in 39s, and 47s in the MTO from 42-45.  He later flew combat in A-1s in Vietnam.  But Earl was one of us, BSing on the boards, talking about this and that.  He was one of the gang.  Those of us who got to meet him found out even more how he was one of us.  What was extraordinary about Earl was that he was one of us, yet he'd done all that stuff we pretended to.  He wasn't bigger then life which I think folks who knew him would agree, made him that much more special to us.

Does that make sense?  Earl was superman to us because we knew he wasn't superman.

[TwinBoom]

[GNucks]

Real heroes are humble.

[33Vortex]

I think we're agreeing somehow but not saying it the same way.  In Airwarrior we had our old buddy Earl Miller who flew with us.  Earl was a real life WW2 fighter pilot with a Silver Star & DFC having flown combat in 39s, and 47s in the MTO from 42-45.  He later flew combat in A-1s in Vietnam.  But Earl was one of us, BSing on the boards, talking about this and that.  He was one of the gang.  Those of us who got to meet him found out even more how he was one of us.  What was extraordinary about Earl was that he was one of us, yet he'd done all that stuff we pretended to.  He wasn't bigger then life which I think folks who knew him would agree, made him that much more special to us.

Does that make sense?  Earl was superman to us because we knew he wasn't superman.

Oh I'm not disagreeing with you at all. Like you say we just word it differently. Somehow we are all extraordinary in the sense you depict Earl. Not all find that extraordinary side though but get stuck on external attributes (like being larger than life). That may be fun, but only for so long (like until that moment you realize you're not larger than life). Maybe Earl was that 'larger than life' guy at some other time in his life, before you got to know him. People are never static, but dynamic and evolve over time. Or at least we like to think so. Those who are static, well there's something wrong with them usually and quite frankly.

Very much like this:

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts..."

By Shakespeare

ok so it's in the AM here so not going to dwell into this much further  

[Ardy123]

People are never static, but dynamic and evolve over time. Or at least we like to think so.

I'm pretty static while I play AH....

[waystin2]

I'm pretty static while I play AH....

I'm so static its ludicrous!

[Guppy35]

Oh I'm not disagreeing with you at all. Like you say we just word it differently. Somehow we are all extraordinary in the sense you depict Earl. Not all find that extraordinary side though but get stuck on external attributes (like being larger than life). That may be fun, but only for so long (like until that moment you realize you're not larger than life). Maybe Earl was that 'larger than life' guy at some other time in his life, before you got to know him. People are never static, but dynamic and evolve over time. Or at least we like to think so. Those who are static, well there's something wrong with them usually and quite frankly.

Very much like this:

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts..."

By Shakespeare

ok so it's in the AM here so not going to dwell into this much further  

One of Earl's favorite stories was after they got P47s.  Earl is about 5'2" and the cockpit was large in the Jug.  He had fun pulling up alongside C-47s and ducking below the canopy rail so it looked like it was an empty Jug

I guess keeping your sense of humor in wartime is somewhat extraordinary

[Tank-Ace]

And the applicability exists in all people.  We want to call the WW2 folks the "Greatest Generation", yet we ignore our own kids,  many who have done multiple tours in combat, far more then the WW2 guys.  My nephew's been home now for a few months.  He saw all kinds of combat.  He's still my nephew and still a kid.

Think of all the extraordinary  things those kids who lost their lives might have done had they not had to fight that war. 

Again, understand the WW2 guys have been my heroes for most of my 51 years.  I've known and spent time with many of them.  They dealt with the world they had at the time, as the kids we have now are doing it again.  I'm not minimizing what they accomplished.  When I see folks trying to make them out to be more then they were, I'm going to point it out, as they did to me, over and over again in getting to know them.  They weren't 7 feet tall, made of steel.

I think the reason that WWII holds such a power over people's hearts and minds is because it really was the last great war. No other conflicts before or after have shaken not just nations or contients but the whole world. And few of the wars since have been fought not for something, but against something so vile that it unites entire countries to fight behind a cause.

Untill another conflict on such a scale occures, WWII will always be the war people remember.