Its just a haunting image plain and simple. By the way Zacherof many of the combatants of WWII were draftees or conscripts. Not everybody had the luxury of knowing what they were getting into.
That's important to note. The war wasn't sold to guys buy showing them what might happen.
I've been reading the recently published history of JG/2 by Eric Mombeek. Just watching the unit be formed it's classic in selling the 'glory' of it. Photos of ceremonies near Richtofen's grave with a Triplane brought in along with a 109 to show the connection. The whole 'Knights of the Air' bit showing itself.
One of the long time serving JG2 pilots talks about it. They really never had a chance to question it as they got it from the start. Your enemy is over there. He's responsible for your lot in life. The airwar in particular played well to guys wanting to go fast and be cool with all that horsepower, the sleek lines, the big guns and fancy paint.
Look at any photo of a newly graduated pilot from any country during WW2 and then look at a photo after they've been in combat for a while. They had no idea what they were getting into. By the time it sank in they were faced with a choice of letting their buddies down or continuing to take the risks, then knowing what might happen.
One of the survivors of a B-24 crew I researched for many years said in the end the best thing that happened to him was being shot down, as he knew he'd have lost his mind otherwise from the constant fear and strain. He went down on his 13th, survived being a POW. Of his 10 man crew from their graduation picture, six died and four survived. He didn't make that statement lightly.
One of the other survivors was in a POW camp with an infantry officer who'd been captured during the Battle of the Bulge. He made the comment that this guy saved his life in the POW camp and never got a chance to thank him. But a stroke of luck I found the guy and got them back in touch. This infantry guy had fought the demons ever since, in and out of the VA and never really being able to get a grip on what he'd seen. Yet in the midst of it he'd saved this B24 bombardiers life.
I was corresponding with him and asked if he could tell me any more about his experience. He tried to and as he wrote you could literally see the shaking in his hand start and what had been very nice handwriting start to become illegible to the point he apologized and said he just couldn't do it.
Absolutely broke my heart to see that and for him to feel the need to apologize for not being able to write.
