The Flying Circus: Pacific War--1943--As Seen Through a Bombsight

A surprising numbre of fighters in what has become known as the Greatest Generation went on to careers in politics. Bob Dole, obvious of course because of the injury to his hand, Jack Kennedy, Nixon, and Eisenhower, and probably many more. I had not known that Jim Wright, long time representative from Texas and eventually Speaker of the House had served combat tour with the Army Air Force. This story wasn't written until some fifty eight years after the fact. And it's written as an answer to his grandchrildren's 'What Did You Do in the War, Grandpa,' even if they hadn't asked the question. His is a fairly standard tale of fairly standard people engaged in something so big that from the lower levels of the Army they could only glimpse a tiny bit. As he says, they weren't the Greatest Generation, not extraordinary people, just fairly malleable yound folks, products of our times and of our parents guidance. Hitler thought these young men decadent, indolent and soft. They weren't that either. There are few surprises to the story. Young man, Pearl Harbor, hasty marriage, and a long B-24 flight to the war in the South Pacific. But then there is: Lt. Hal Grace, bombardier, shot down, beheaded by the Japanese. Lt. David Lippencott, pilot, show down, beheaded by the Japanese. Lt. Edward Skuzinski, navigator, disabled in crash, left by the Japanese to perish inside plane as the tide came in. Lt. Harold S. Mulhollen, pilot, killed in action. I'm writing this on the anniversary of Hiroshima, tell me again we shouldn't have dropped that bomb.