War stories...

[wacojoe]

Rescue Of POW’s In Japanese POW Camp After Surrender

https://quillette.com/2020/08/15/on-...saved-my-life/

[Scooter]

That was an interesting read.

[Truckman]

RAF pilot Douglas Bader lost both his legs while showing off performing stunts in his Bristol Bulldog in 1931...His entry in his own logbook to describe the incident merely referred to it as a "bad show"...After being fitted with metal legs, and not only learning to walk again, but becoming a four handicap golfer, he went on to serve in the RAF again when war broke out in 1939...During combat he was credited with downing 22 enemy aircraft before being shot down himself, and becoming a prisoner of war for the duration...Making life hell for his captors with his escapes, he was eventually confined to Colditz castle, the German version of a maximum security POW prison...He even earned the friendship and respect of Luftwaffe Gen. Adolph Galland, himself a fighter ace, who arranged to have the RAF drop new legs to replace the prisoner's damaged limbs...

"I was lucky in the war, and got much publicity not because I was any better than the others but because I was the chap with the tin legs."

Following the war he returned to his business life, and was later featured in an episode of "This Is Your Life"...Today his name lives on, not only in history books, but also in the charity he established which teaches the disabled how to contend with the lemons life has handed them......Ben

[UTAH]

Seriously, these are some of the best tales I've heard EVER on the web.

Excellent work, my friends.

Hunter

[Mike]

You may have already seen this, but here's an article with excerpts from the diary of a sailor aboard the USS Yorktown during WWII. https://flip.it/-OzYMl

[Truckman]

You may have already seen this, but here's an article with excerpts from the diary of a sailor aboard the USS Yorktown during WWII. https://flip.it/-OzYMl

Thanks Mike, the National Interest is one of my go-to sources although I sometimes disagree with their findings...This sailor's service was aboard the USS Yorktown (CV-10), renamed from its original Bonhomme Richard moniker to commemorate the loss of USS Yorktown (CV-5) which was made battle ready in 48 hours following its near sinking at the Battle of Coral Sea, only to be lost permanently at the Battle of Midway...The new Yorktown avenged that loss many times over before the Japanese surrender thanks to the efforts of sailors such as Ed Reynolds......Ben

[Truckman]

I've talked of war correspondents in the past, but today I learned about Walter Cronkite's experiences in WWII...As talked about by The History Guy below, he was present aboard the USS Texas (BB-35) during it's fire support mission in Operation Torch...He also managed to wrangle a ride on one of the battleship's scout aircraft as the Texas neared Norfolk Virginia, giving United Press a scoop with the first uncensored reports from North Africa before the other correspondents arrived...He later flew aboard B-17's over Germany on bombing missions, and even manned a machine gun firing at Luftwaffe fighters...

"And that's the way it was"......Ben