Virgo,,
Comparing the casualty rates of other wars and campaigns, the treatment of "LMF" cases, and current events is an unfair comparison.
Bomber Command and the US bomber crews were suffering huge losses. How may times do you roll the dice before you start considering the odds?
With the advent of modern psychological studies of "Shell Shock", "Battle Fatique" or nowadays....."PTSD", much knowledge has been gained on the correct methods of treatment for that.
Pinning a White Feather on the person, demoting them in rank, assigning them to menial tasks as a punishment is the exact wrong way of handling the problem.
A few days rest, good hot meals, a hot shower....clean clothes...basically a decent respite from combat duty works miracles.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is real. PTSD can be a very debilitating problem over time if not treated correctly. We are all, each and every one of us, susceptible to PTSD given the right kind of exposure to horrific events stemming from combat or tragedy/catastrophe.
One does not develop PTSD prior to exposure however.....a sudden onset of a great allergic reaction to having one's butt filled with fast moving junks of metal or bullets is not PTSD but plain old FEAR. Courage is not the absence of fear but rather being able to cope with fear and still carry out one's duties.
It takes a complete fool to suggest a soldier who has campaigned for months and/or years is a coward because he just cannot summon up the courage to continue. In time, we all have our breaking points.
Proper leadership will recognize the onset of this failure of spirit and take effective measures to mitigate or resolve the problem. Done the right way, the soldier will be able to return to combat duty and carry on as before.
Do a bit of Google rambling on PTSD and you will find a wealth of information here in the States. Our Veteran's Administration (VA) finally admitted to themselves this PTSD thing is real and has begun to effectively address those problems suffered by our Veterans.
The British Military can learn something from us on this....as taking care of your Veterans seems to be a rather sad situation of late.
After you read up on PTSD....compare what is known and discussed today and compare it to those dark days during WWII. It will be an eye opener I think.
Cowardice still deserves a Feather....but not those that had borne their share of the fighting.
Pilots flying transports did not have the "LMF" rate hard hit Bomber Command Squadrons did I will bet you. So how does one define a "Fair Share"?