and chatting about his remembrances from WWII...this time I asked him what he recollected from his 'Leaves' in between missions, and about what his typical mission experiences as a Radio Operator were like...boy, was I treated to some special memories...hope you feel the same...
>Regarding leaves, 'Joe' said he and some friends...mostly the Top Turret Gunner...would head into London where Joe would seek to indulge his passion for classical music. On one of those leaves he got tickets to the Royal Albert Hall for a performance by Britain's pre-eminent composer, Sir Thomas Beecham. Joe and his friends decided to stay at the Regent Palace Hotel which was close to both Buckingham Palace (where they hoped to get a glimpse of the 'Royals') and the RAH...well, all went according to plan until the day before the concert when 'lo and behold' a German V1 "Buzz Bomb" landed on the top floor of their hotel, knocking all of them out of bed, breaking every window in every building nearby! Although they wanted to get out of there asap, they were kept inside until escape paths could be created through all the glass and rubble (several hours later). He chuckled when I commented on the irony of him surviving so many missions without a scratch, yet having his 'closest call' when taking a leave to get away from the war ;-). He corrected me somewhat with a remembrance of a 'white hot' piece of shrapnel from a flak burst that embedded in his parachute pack.
Joe did make it to the concert at the RAH and at intermission he decided to go down to the stage, walk around it and find Sir Beecham to express his appreciation...apparently, the composer was equally impressed with Joe's forwardness and admiration...enough so that their conversation had to be broken up by organizers so that the concert would continue apace ;-).
Fast forward to 1950 and Sir Thomas was touring many cities throughout the U.S....including Joe's hometown...as expected, Joe attended that concert and again sought out the composer...this time after the performance...and Sir Thomas remembered their previous encounter!...again they chatted for quite awhile, until he (Sir Thomas) was pulled away.
>Regarding Joe's role as "Radio Operator" on my Dad's B-17...there wasn't really that much to do, but he was tasked with sending coded info back to his base during the final bombing run...before and after that he would man the machine gun above him when needed (being careful not to damage the plane's tail), but mostly there was little to do...which is why the first thing he would do when preparing for each mission, was to tune one of his radios to a German radio station that played classical music ;-)...Joe would listen to that station for most of the flight to and from the target ;-)...imagine that.
It's becoming more and more of a pleasure to a) give Joe some attention at this stage of his life, and b) vicariously gather more memories of my Dad's life during those days...we've got his (my Dad's) annotations to his diary in a book my wife put together, but it's never enough.
Again, hope you enjoyed this little vignette...with any luck, there will be a couple more.
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He called a Stacey Abrams a “Congolese Hippopotamus” here and is still allowed to post.
Fat, liberal, whiny tub of goo that she is
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Typical pussy.
joined an 'Open Forum' and will engage.
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I’m trying to set it in the historical context of the War in England. Thank you.
"Doubting Thomas"...nonetheless, I anticipated the possibility of your "inquiry" and did my own search of the incident (see link)...fortunately, most normal people don't have nearly as much difficulty in discerning truth as you do...try a little introspection...you'll be so much the better for it.
Link: http://www.westendatwar.org.uk/page_id__239.aspx?path=0p28p
Why the condescending crap?
Something just doesn’t quite add up.
share some additional advice with you...find some other outlets that make you truly happy and spend more time there...you're always welcome here, though.
BTW, let me add my sincere best wishes for your friend and his family after such a savage attack.
Don’t blame me if your stories don’t add up.
I did more vetting of your stories than you did. And it only took a couple of minutes to do so.
I suggest you spend less time condescending.
hurtful to you and non-productive.
Let's find an issue of importance and debate it.
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