And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
I have always wondered what must have gone through the minds of Japanese pilots seeing American planes for the first time with nose art. Monsters and naked women. No other military that I know of during WW ll allowed soldiers to paint painted and naked women on their aircraft. I also think that forbidding soldiers to do it after WW ll was a terrible mistake.
That photo sent me on a very educational journey about the Burma Banshees and the war in that theater in general. Strongly recommend the website (https://www.burmabanshees.com/home) and the books referenced. The less managed a military group, the more effective. Col David Hackworth's book About Face is one telling of that tale, and there are plenty of others. Thanks for posting that fascinating photo.
My uncle was a radio operator their about the same time and then went to Tinian until the end of the war. He saw the Enola Gay take off to bomb Japan but everyone was told it was a flyover with a special camera. Being the radio operator he was the first to hear what happened but didn't understand at first that it was a nuke.
I had another uncle who fought in the South Pacific the entire war and at the exact moment that Japan was bombed he was aboard a ship on route to invade. He said that after the second bomb and Japan surrendered that the captain announced it and even the captain seemed to have been unaware of the nukes..
I have always wondered what must have gone through the minds of Japanese pilots seeing American planes for the first time with nose art. Monsters and naked women. No other military that I know of during WW ll allowed soldiers to paint painted and naked women on their aircraft. I also think that forbidding soldiers to do it after WW ll was a terrible mistake.
ReplyDeletevisited the Curtis museum in Seneca. saw a documentary on that Burma squadron. very independent and deadly.
ReplyDeleteThat photo sent me on a very educational journey about the Burma Banshees and the war in that theater in general.
ReplyDeleteStrongly recommend the website (https://www.burmabanshees.com/home) and the books referenced.
The less managed a military group, the more effective. Col David Hackworth's book About Face is one telling of that tale, and there are plenty of others.
Thanks for posting that fascinating photo.
pics of the original AVG in china show the guys with long hair, to the jaw sideburns, mixed mash-up clothing, etc.
Deleteincredible airplanes. Gorgeous design.
ReplyDeletemost number built, IIRC
DeleteMy uncle was a radio operator their about the same time and then went to Tinian until the end of the war. He saw the Enola Gay take off to bomb Japan but everyone was told it was a flyover with a special camera. Being the radio operator he was the first to hear what happened but didn't understand at first that it was a nuke.
ReplyDeleteI had another uncle who fought in the South Pacific the entire war and at the exact moment that Japan was bombed he was aboard a ship on route to invade. He said that after the second bomb and Japan surrendered that the captain announced it and even the captain seemed to have been unaware of the nukes..
ReplyDelete