We won two beautiful world wars

[JoeWeber 2,851]

Beautiful world wars. I think my dad would disagree. He was the tail gunner in this B-24. 

[tonyhays 86]

So would my grandfather.  He was the pilot of the B-17 Hell's Angels.

http://www.303rdbg.com/c-358-baldwin.html

[JoeWeber 2,851]

6 minutes ago, tonyhays said:

So would my grandfather.  He was the pilot of the B-17 Hell's Angels.

http://www.303rdbg.com/c-358-baldwin.html

Wow. What an amazing story. Thanks.

[billvon 3,085]

1 hour ago, JoeWeber said:

Beautiful world wars. I think my dad would disagree. He was the tail gunner in this B-24. 

"Two beautiful world wars"

Perfect words for a child ardent for some desperate glory.

[RonD1120 62]

As an internationally known skydiver and DZO used to say,

"WWII was the last of the really good wars. Vietnam is not a good war but it is the only one we have." (c.1968)

[JoeWeber 2,851]

42 minutes ago, RonD1120 said:

As an internationally known skydiver and DZO used to say,

"WWII was the last of the really good wars. Vietnam is not a good war but it is the only one we have." (c.1968)

A true sage. If Trump loses will you accept the results?

[billvon 3,085]

4 hours ago, RonD1120 said:

As an internationally known skydiver and DZO used to say,

"WWII was the last of the really good wars. Vietnam is not a good war but it is the only one we have." (c.1968)

Wistful for a really good war again?  Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.

[kallend 2,113]

4 hours ago, RonD1120 said:

As an internationally known skydiver and DZO used to say,

"WWII was the last of the really good wars. Vietnam is not a good war but it is the only one we have." (c.1968)

I doubt many Brits who slept for months in air-raid shelters or on the platforms of London Underground stations thought that WW2 was"really good", despite coming out on the winning side. 

[wolfriverjoe 1,523]

5 hours ago, kallend said:

I doubt many Brits who slept for months in air-raid shelters or on the platforms of London Underground stations thought that WW2 was"really good", despite coming out on the winning side. 

Yeah. 20 million dead in the Soviet Union, 6 million Jews exterminated (along with a lot more other minorities, and 'enemies of the state'), not to mention the hundreds of thousands of US military.

Sounds 'really good' to me.

[JerryBaumchen 1,450]

20 hours ago, JoeWeber said:

Beautiful world wars. I think my dad would disagree.

Hi Joe,

I'm with your dad; I would also disagree.

When war vets come home & do not want to talk about what they went thru; well, that is a good sign that things were not 'beautiful.'

Somebody once said, 'War is hell,'  I think that they are correct; never BTDT.

Jerry Baumchen

PS)  My dad served in the US Navy in the Pacific.  He really never talked about any of what he did or went thru.

 

[headoverheels 333]

6 hours ago, JerryBaumchen said:

PS)  My dad served in the US Navy in the Pacific.  He really never talked about any of what he did or went thru.

 

Same for my father.  All I really know was that his job was quartermaster on some army ship in the Pacific.

 

[kallend 2,113]

3 hours ago, headoverheels said:

Same for my father.  All I really know was that his job was quartermaster on some army ship in the Pacific.

 

My wife has her father's Bronze Star which he received in Burma (the forgotten theater).  He never told anyone what it was awarded for and apparently the Army records were lost in a fire in the '50s.

[wmw999 2,555]

My father always said he was lucky; he was the exec on a floating dry dock way on the back lines; the only enemy he ever saw was a single enemy soldier on some island. 
His brother, a veteran of the tank corps in Europe, never talked. 
Wendy P. 

[Baksteen 84]

There are no victors in war.

 

 

Except perhaps some politicians.

[BIGUN 1,434]

4 hours ago, kallend said:

My wife has her father's Bronze Star which he received in Burma (the forgotten theater).  He never told anyone what it was awarded for and apparently the Army records were lost in a fire in the '50s.

That fire was in 1973. The VA has done a good job of restoring about 70% of those records since then and there may be more information now if she's interested. Bronze Star + Burma would lead one to think he was one of Merrill's Marauders - which led to the 75th Ranger Battalion.  

[Coreece 190]

On 7/20/2020 at 10:10 PM, JoeWeber said:

Beautiful world wars.

So beautiful that some men even sleep with their eyes open.

Edited July 22, 2020 by Coreece

[billvon 3,085]

2 hours ago, Baksteen said:

There are no victors in war.  Except perhaps some politicians.

Indeed.  The only politicians who think war is beautiful have never seen it.

[turtlespeed 226]

53 minutes ago, billvon said:

Indeed.  The only politicians who think war is beautiful have never seen it.

There is a lot of truth to that.

Also, those that vote for it, should have to join the front lines.

[BIGUN 1,434]

7 hours ago, turtlespeed said:

Also, those that vote for it, should have to join the front lines.

The children of those who vote for it should have to fight in it. Then we'd know they were committed to the reason.

[kallend 2,113]

9 hours ago, BIGUN said:

The children of those who vote for it should have to fight in it. Then we'd know they were committed to the reason.

Long gone are the days when a king would lead his troops into battle.

[Phil1111 1,149]

10 hours ago, BIGUN said:

The children of those who vote for it should have to fight in it. Then we'd know they were committed to the reason.

Furthermore those who vote for war should meet the returning wounded, the returning KIA and their families. On weekends they should clean the bedpans and wounds in the military hospitals.

There is one country that understands the cost of war. The cost of defending "national interests". The Swiss.

[jakee 1,566]

32 minutes ago, Phil1111 said:

There is one country that understands the cost of war. The cost of defending "national interests". The Swiss.

I’m not sure Swiss neutrality is all it’s cracked up to be. I doubt they’d have been left alone for long during WW2 if the banks hadn’t been such willing Nazi collaborators.

[Phil1111 1,149]

Just now, jakee said:

I’m not sure Swiss neutrality is all it’s cracked up to be. I doubt they’d have been left alone for long during WW2 if the banks hadn’t been such willing Nazi collaborators.

Point made. I'd suggest that important "national interests" and a powerful military have made American politicians too willing to engage in military adventurism. Perhaps drones and robotics will allow risk free action in the future. But as every service person knows the first casualty of battle is the plan.

[BIGUN 1,434]

34 minutes ago, Phil1111 said:

the first casualty of battle is the plan.

Truth is the first casualty.

[Phil1111 1,149]

20 minutes ago, BIGUN said:

Truth is the first casualty.

I think the proper saying is truth is the first casualty of war and the first casualty of battle is the plan. But I'll defer to your experience.