I am only telling you this story because
he passed away two years ago. I won't reveal his identity. Let's call
him Captain Johnson.
Captain Johnson's plane was badly hit over the target. He and his crew
bailed out. But Johnson never liked to keep his chute harness buckled
tight. It gave him cramps. So he wore it loose. On this occasion, as he
bailed out he slipped out of the harness and it tangled around his foot.
That meant that he dangled head down in his chute as he came to earth.
He was badly shook up on landing and hospitalized with severe cuts and
bruises and a good deal of shock.
After he recovered he was returned to
duty. At that time we needed 65 missions to go home. He had 62, only
three more to go. But he refused to ever fly again. This was serious
business with a war on. He was sent to London and a staff of
psychiatrists worked on him, but he wouldn't fly. Then they said if he
flew as an observer on the lead aircraft he could get 1½ missions credit
for each mission, He could fly two and get credit for three, and go
home. He still refused to fly.
What was to be done? You can't really
court martial a man with 62 missions for cowardice in face of the enemy.
But he still wouldn't fly. But everyone else in the 344th damn well had
to fly. Feelings were running high. The talk around the group was, "If I
have to fly, then he has to fly. No free lunch. He had a bad bailout?
Too frigging bad. We all have our troubles." My pilot Paul Shorts said,
"He was weak". When his name was brought up, the universal response was
disgust.
Then one day he was gone.
Fast forward 15 years to a reunion of
the 344th Bomb Group. Who should walk in but our old friend Captain
Johnson. No one spoke to him. Many just turned their backs on him. I
felt sorry for him. But while we were risking our necks over Germany and
losing good men, he was curled up and whining under a blanket. He flew
with us, but not a single man in the 344th considered him to be one of
us.
Copyright © 2004 Art Kramer and Coastal Computers, Inc.