Ordinary guys doing extraordinary things

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JimT
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Ordinary guys doing extraordinary things

Post by JimT »

This is a piece of film that has been made into a video,

NOT photo shopped, it's the real scene!
Notice in the opening shot you'll see the gunner's position is all shot to hell while the pilot's cockpit ahead of it is undamaged.

Later on notice the corpsman taking a fingerprint of the deceased gunner, before the film continues, then showing the chaplain saying the final prayers, followed by taps, then the sailors push the aircraft and our airman over the side and watch it sink into the distance sea.

Here's one for a serious conversation with your kids. THIS WAS REAL This is what 18 year old "kids" were doing in 1944.

No safe spaces, no hurtful unthinkable remarks that they couldn't cope with, just fighting and dying for their country so the ungrateful, uninformed snowflakes of today could act like fools decades later..............

This 2 minute video is pretty moving. Worth your while.

"What actually made this country great is ordinary guys doing extraordinary things."

https://www.youtube.com/embed/jpt6Bvr2L ... =0&showinf
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claybob86
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Re: Ordinary guys doing extraordinary things

Post by claybob86 »

Thanks, Jim.
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gamekeeper
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Re: Ordinary guys doing extraordinary things

Post by gamekeeper »

Extremely moving. Lest we forget.
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Re: Ordinary guys doing extraordinary things

Post by piller »

That was a generation which knew how to do a necessary job without backing down. I had 2 Uncles who fought in WWII and lived to come home. Some who went did not come home. We must never forget the sacrifices they made so that we could have freedom.
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AJMD429
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Re: Ordinary guys doing extraordinary things

Post by AJMD429 »

Good point on age.

Those were what we would now call "boys" doing the fighting. But they were actually acting as MEN.

Today, too many 18-22 year olds are whiny little entitled socialist snowflakes, many of who would have been on Hitler's side, although they wouldn't have actually fought, so would have been shot when they tried to desert.

Rural kids, kids who play sports, kids who have jobs - Those kids seem to be ok. The others, meh....
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jeepnik
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Re: Ordinary guys doing extraordinary things

Post by jeepnik »

And 25 years later 18 yo's were doing this.

Image

My boys saw photos like this and some much worse from their early teens. Yet they still had no concept of combat. In 2003 they knew it all too well.
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Catshooter
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Re: Ordinary guys doing extraordinary things

Post by Catshooter »

Very true Jim, very true.

My father went to war (WW II) at sixteen. He was in Dutch Harbor when the Japanese attacked, he shot down a Zero with a Quad .50.

He then joined the Merchant Marines at 17 (he forged his birth certificate) and fought the whole rest of the war in both theaters. Shot down a German fighter with an Oerlikon 20 MM cannon, had two ships shot out from under him and had his 18th birthday in a life boat that he was on for more than seven weeks in the Pacific.

I can't imagine.


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mickbr
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Re: Ordinary guys doing extraordinary things

Post by mickbr »

And they came back and built society without complaining either. This perception everyone coming back is an alcoholic, wife beating PTSD wreck is a new thing as well. The majority of these men, regardless of any personal demons, worked hard, raised their families, loved their wives and were holding hands with that same woman 60 yrs later when either passed away. We will never see that like again.
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Blaine
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Re: Ordinary guys doing extraordinary things

Post by Blaine »

AJMD429 wrote: Sat Sep 14, 2019 11:50 am Good point on age.

Those were what we would now call "boys" doing the fighting. But they were actually acting as MEN.

Today, too many 18-22 year olds are whiny little entitled socialist snowflakes, many of who would have been on Hitler's side, although they wouldn't have actually fought, so would have been shot when they tried to desert.

Rural kids, kids who play sports, kids who have jobs - Those kids seem to be ok. The others, meh....
Don't paint with too broad of a brush...every single member of the entire military, all branches, are volunteers. :wink: I enlisted at the end of the draft...LOTS of draftees reenlisted.
It is a sad comment that a very large percent of the young people that show up at the Recruiter's can't qualify for one reason or the other; physical condition, drug tests, criminal record.
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wm
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Re: Ordinary guys doing extraordinary things

Post by wm »

The fact is it is harder to get into the military then it is to get into college. And it is no easy task to stay in when your enlistment is up. It is a meritocracy and if you are not getting better at your job then you are 'out'.

I work with a lot of 18-28 year olds at the university. They are no better & no worse then any generation that came before them …… stories you hear about them being this or that are exaggerations. The same exaggerations told about the generations that graduated high school in the 60s, 70s, 80s, etc. They (we) were all soft, lazy, foolish, etc. until it was time to question the make up of the generation that came next.

Wm
TraderVic
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Re: Ordinary guys doing extraordinary things

Post by TraderVic »

Very moving as the Essex crew honors one of their own. So many (all ages) in this country take so much for granted, especially the freedoms they enjoy.
I remember being home on leave, going out with my friends for beers and listening to their small talk about current events, etc., and how I felt so isolated. They were carefree, quite immature so to speak, and I was heading back to SE Asia for my second tour when I returned off leave.
My friends asked me about my experiences and as I told them just a few things. I could see they could not relate at all, some made jokes and comments against the military, as was common stateside back then.

Hmmm, I guess I drifted off a bit. Sorry, didn't mean to ramble. I have the greatest respect for all veterans.
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