My dad served in WWII…
…but never posted overseas because the Army Air Force decided he was a jinx.
Dad, third from the right, was the flight engineer for this crew. 20 years old, never finished high school, but smart as a whip on the Army aptitude tests. The Army taught him, trained him, and put him in a plane. On one of its training flights, as sadly happened too often in those years, it crashed— and Dad was one of only two survivors.
So the Army dusted him off, assigned him to a new crew, and resumed training.
That plane crashed too.
Dust, assign, repeat— crash number three.
Dad was grounded.
Did the Air Force really believe, as an institution, that my dad was a jinx? Probably not, but the officers in charge knew who would think he was a jinx: any crew that had to fly with him.
Dad served the rest of the war stateside. I know it frustrated him that he hadn’t been actively engaged in combat, but given the high fatality rate of bomber crew like those he would have been part of, I might not be here if he hadn’t.
Happy Veterans Day— to all the vets who’ve carried arms into the fight, and all who helped those few get there.
Sobering info on training deaths in WWII’s Army Air Force
My dad and my uncle George, home to Brooklyn on leave during WWII.
Thanks for sharing that story.
Great to see this newsletter/blog is happening.
PS: if you (or anyone reading this) happen to need a Mastodon invite:
https://masto.ai/invite/xTVd7CpP
Thanks to all the vets for their service,and thanks to you,Ger,for a great article!