Random Reflections
 

As I am of advancing years I have been quite touched by the John Cruickshank VC and IAT 1993 threads. Living temporarily on the other side of the Atlantic I attended the delayed Flying Proms at the Military Aircraft Museum last night at Pungo VA. Not 5 days after the departure of dear John it appears the last US WW2 ace also passed to the firmament above, Don McPherson at the age of 103 Last US WW2 Ace. I had the honour of interviewing Bill Reid VC about a year before he passed as well as Gunther Rall who was the third highest scoring ace at 275 and rose to be the first 4* of the modern Luftwaffe. If we do not learn the lessons of the past we are destined to do make the same mistakes again - lest we forget.

GreenXCode, Well said. Despite the fact that we were fighting an evil Nazi regime, many honourable, patriotic people fought on both sides. And they would all be the very first to agree with your last sentence.

I misread this to mean on both sides. As in fighting for allies and also for Axis? Double agents?

LB, I'm somewhat confoosed. I'm reading this as 'regardless of their flag or country, there were honourable people on all sides'. Have I misread something??

isaneng, That is exactly what I meant. I have lived and worked in Europe for a long time. People are usually patriotic and support their homelands despite iniquities. That does not mean they are bad. The main thing is to try to learn from the past and not repeat past mistakes.

I’ll be in Newport News later this week. It’s notable that while modern citizens of the axis powers understand/regret their role, there are next to no celebrations like we see for VE/VJ day. Maybe that is the legacy the OP is alluding to.