I have been lax in continuing my blog in retirement – sorry! We’ll see if I do better in the future. It is retirement, after all.
The following excerpt (italics) is from Air Combat at 20 Feet … Selected missions from a strafer pilot’s diary … by Garrett Middlebrook (“Middie”). This amazing book, borrowed from my friend Mark Dickerson, details missions from Middie’s diary of air and ground combat during World War II. He was the pilot and commander of a North American B-25 Mitchell. Shortly after arriving in the South Pacific his medium bomber aircraft was modified by adding strafing gun packs. This excerpt is near the beginning of the book. So often we learn too little from these gentlemen of our greatest generation, simply because it is too difficult for them to speak much about their experiences. No one blames them for this, but this man, Garrett Middlebrook, was up to the task of transcribing portions of his missions diary into an excellent book, and for that we should all be grateful.
That afternoon I met in private with my crew. From the very first mission we did something the other crews, except for Bill Gay, thought unnecessary. We critiqued each mission with a clear understanding that each crew member had the right to make any suggestion or criticism he desired. If I found that some suggestion was not practical, I never ignored the crewman. Instead, I explained to him detail why his idea was not practical or effective.
On that particular day, however, I accepted all the blame and responsibility for having centered my attention on Parker’s plane [after the airplane was hit by the enemy and was going down], and for having allowed myself to become emotionally distraught with sympathy. Three other crew members confessed to sympathetic indulgence also.
I promised I would never again lose my trend of concentration [on the mission] by being sympathetic to a doomed crew, no matter who they were. I then advised my fellow crewmen that I expected them to refrain from sympathy and to maintain vigilance at all times. I suggested that we would have plenty of time for sympathy and sadness once we were back at base.
I kept my promise. I saw several planes go down after that date. When a plane fell from the formation, I always pressed the intercom button and reminded the crew to look up and not down. I asked them to fight for themselves and for each other so that the Japs would not bring us down. I received magnificent response on each occasion. They did not need morale lectures thereafter because we shared a common transition that day. We all became veterans. Although we endured and suffered through many [Japanese] Zero attacks thereafter, none ever surprised us.
I have two quick remarks on this sobering text. First, retrospectives are useful even in, perhaps especially in, the most dire of circumstances. Second, to accomplish the mission, sometimes one’s sole focus must remain on that mission. These lessons were learned the hard way, in battle. May those who fell rest in peace.