SIGforum.com Main Page The Lounge WW2 Airman disobeys a direct order twice - and gets a Medal of Honor
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Just read a fantastic book - "Lucky 666 The Impossible Mission." Tells the story of Jay Zeamer, an Army Air Corps pilot who served in the Pacific during WW2. Great read. One of the most fascinating parts tells the story of when he was ordered to bomb a hotel that intelligence indicated was full of comfort women, local women who were forced into prostitution to serve Japanese officers from the occupying army. The hope was to kill a few Japanese Officers who might be at the hotel. This was early in the war. Jay was serving in a target rich environment with fuel dumps, troops etc, so there was no lack of targets. Jay had little use for his commanding officer, and objected to bombing a hotel full of innocent women just to kill a few Japanese Officers. So the first time he got the order, he ignored it and bombed an alternate target. When he returned from the mission, he was told that if he ignored the order the next time, he would be court martialed. The next mission he received the order to bomb the hotel. Once again he ignored the order and wound up bombing a fuel dump. That mission was a spectacular success, with multiple secondary explosions and fires. As luck would have it, there happened to be a reporter at the base when they returned. Jay's crew filled the reporter in on the very successful mission, and it received positive press at home. This made it next to impossible for Jay's commanding officer to proceed with the court martial. The mission to bomb the hotel never came up again. The mission that won him the MOH comes later in the book. | ||
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| Not as lean, not as mean, Still a Marine  |
We had a local Medal of Honor recipient that would host a salmon smoke and dinner on base a few times a year. After hearing his story "disobeying orders for my safety to do what was right for my team", we all had a discussion on the medal itself, and what it really stood for. To quote what was said by the recipient "that medal is around because you can't Court-Martial a hero. If what we did didn't work, we'd all be facing charges instead". I shall respect you until you open your mouth, from that point on, you must earn it yourself. | |||
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Doolittle was afraid he would be court martialed because of the heavy losses he sustained in the Tokyo Raid, but instead, he too was awarded the MOH. I guess there's something to it. -------------------------- Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats. -- H L Mencken I always prefer reality when I can figure out what it is. -- JALLEN 10/18/18 | |||
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I read the book also, Sometimes what he does with a bomber is almost unbelievable but the book does also give a good history of the Port Moresby and surrounding area battle... | |||
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This was the Mission that earned the MOH's | |||
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| half-genius, half-wit |
Heavy casualties on the Doolittle Raid? 3 dead 8 POWs (4 lived to be rescued and 4 died in captivity: 3 executed, 1 by disease) 15 B-25s 1 interned in the Soviet Union Most of the casualties were airplanes. Comparing the casualty list on the Doolittle Raid with the later Ploesti and Schweinfurt raids is fatuous. In no way diminishing the heroism of the ENTIRE venture,, the Doolittle Raid seems to have gotten off VERY lightly, and the fact that the Japanese reprisals in China cost over 150,000 lives seems to have somehow been overlooked. | |||
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Ammoholic |
Holy shit,.17 fighters vs a bomber AND they got the mission done. Wow. Jesse Sic Semper Tyrannis | |||
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That was my point, although I could have been clearer about it. -------------------------- Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats. -- H L Mencken I always prefer reality when I can figure out what it is. -- JALLEN 10/18/18 | |||
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SIGforum.com Main Page The Lounge WW2 Airman disobeys a direct order twice - and gets a Medal of Honor
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