On September 9, 2009, First Sergeant Casey T. Bazewick, USMC (retired), 91, was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds he received as a prisoner of war in World War II.
He enlisted before WWII in 1938, after two years in the Marine Corps Reserve.
He served with the 4th Marines in Shanghai and on Corregidor in its defense until it fell on May 6, 1942.
He became a prisoner of Japan for 39 months: 92 Garage (Corregidor), Bilibid Prison (Manila), Cabanatuan (Luzon, where 42% died in the first year), Hell Ship Tottori Maru (on deck he watched it nearly sunk by two American torpedoes), and Mukden, Manchuria at a large Mitsubishi factory (three winters, 40–50 below zero).
Read the story at Sgt Grit's Scuttlebutt
But I wanted to comment on one particular part of the speech — the part of the speech where President Obama was describing the horrors of Nazi ideology:
"Nazi ideology sought to subjugate, and humiliate, and exterminate, and perpetrated murder on a massive scale. Fueled by a hatred of those who were deemed different and therefore inferior. It was evil."
Every word of it true. Except of course you could give the exact same speech, and simply replace the word “Nazi” with “Islam” and it would be no less true.
Now, if Obama had given that speech in Cairo instead of the one he did, I would praise him for his courage.
In December 1943, on his first mission as pilot in command, 21-year-old Lt. Charlie Brown's B-17 Flying Fortress (379th Bomber Group, England) was badly damaged by German fighters and flack; he and six of his crew were wounded.
Trying to get back to their base in England, they flew right over a Luftwaffe base in Germany and were intercepted by yet another enemy fighter, a Messerschmitt 109.
The German pilot did not shoot them down but signaled Charlie to land, surrender and be taken prisoner.
Lt. Brown refused two such demands.
The German pilot, recognizing the courage of his fellow airman, did not finish off the crippled bomber, but provided an escort to the coast, pointed a compass heading to England and saluted his adversary.
After the war, Charlie tried to learn the identity of the enemy pilot who had spared him and his crew. He wrote letters of inquiry with no success, until he posted a notice in a newsletter for former Luftwaffe officers.
There was a
response from Franz Stigler, a German fighter ace.
It had taken 45 years.
In the first letter Stigler wrote to Brown, he asked, "All these years, I wondered what happened to the B-17. Did she make it or not?"
Yes, she made it. Just barely.
When asked why he didn't shoot them down, Stigler said, “I didn't have the heart to finish those brave men. I flew beside them for a long time. They were trying desperately to get home and I was going to let them do that. I could not have shot at them. It would have been the same as shooting at a man in a parachute.”
Both men died in 2008.
Franz Stigler died 22 March 2008.
Charlie Brown died 24 November 2008.
To PBS:
I won't be watching the travesty of historical revisionism you plan to air tonight - "The War of the World: A New History of the 20th Century," based on Niall Ferguson's book "The War of the World: Twentieth Century Conflict and the Descent of the West".
You see, revulsion to revisionist history runs in the family.
My (late) father served in WW II as a pilot with the 84th Bombardment Squadron, 47th Group in Europe and Northern Africa.
For his efforts he received the American Theater Ribbon, 5 Overseas Service Bars, European-African-Middle Eastern Ribbon with 3 Bronze Battle Stars, Distinguished Air Medal and the American Service Medal.
He had returned from Europe and was on the verge of being sent to the Pacific Theater when Japan surrendered.
Dad would not watch the movie "Patton".
Not after the 1st time, when 10 or fifteen minutes into the film, Generals Patton and Bradley were discussing the Battle at Kasserine Pass. Patton asked where the air support was ... and Bradley replied, "There was none."
Well, according to my dad there was.
He should know, he was there.
And had 3 planes shot out from under him.
I don't think my dad would be watching your so-called documentary either.
In 1945, US Marines raised the Flag on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima.
By planning the attack on a Sunday, the Japanese commander Admiral Nagumo, hoped to catch the entire fleet at Pearl Harbor, but as luck would have it, the aircraft carriers and one of the battleships were not in port.
the USS Shaw, Destroyer, exploding
1,177 service members perished on the USS Arizona, making it the greatest loss of life on any U.S. warship in American history.
There were 1.4 million gallons of fuel on the USS Arizona when she sank.
