Silver Dollar
New Member
Hey gang. I'm going to start this thread for some interesting veteran stories that I've heard over my 30 years in contact with Air Force WWII veterans.
This one was told to me by one of those sort of goofy airmen. You know the type, not the brightest candles in the box. He was a radio repairman on B17'sbut not a flyer. As he tells it, one day he was working on a radio in the cockpit of a grounded B17 that hadn't gone on a raid. There was a general who was going around inspecting the base and wanted to look at the plane he was in. Of course, he got to meet the general, shook his hand and was told to go back to work which he did. About 30 minutes later, he was in the aircraft, the bombers were coming back from their mission and a bunch of them were pretty well shot up. A B17 pulled up on either side of the plane he was working on and the ground staff were furiously dragging wounded out of the aircraft as fast as they could. Well, he figured he'd better get the he** out of there so he wouldn't get in the way. As he turned to get to the hatch, he banged his head on the engineer's turret and was bleeding. As he got out of the aircraft with this cut on his head, two crewmen threw him onto and strapped him into a litter. All the way to the hopspital area, he was screaming he didn't belong there but no one was listening to him. They finally threw him into a bed and told him to quiet down, so he stopped yelling and just lay there. Just then, the general he had met came into the tent ward with a couple of aids holding on to boxes of Purple Hearts. Then for the walking wounded, the room was called to attention and the general started out pinning on the medals. There he stood at attention with this big bandage on his head. The general came up to him and started to pin the medal on him. The general looked him in the face, stopped and asked him " Weren't you the guy who was working on that parked B17? What the hell are you doing in this ward? Get the &*%^ out of here you moron." He then said to the general "but sir, I was trying to tell them I bumped my head on the turret getting out of the airplane but nobody would listen to me." Never the less, he still got thrown out of the hospital and never got his medal.
This one was told to me by one of those sort of goofy airmen. You know the type, not the brightest candles in the box. He was a radio repairman on B17'sbut not a flyer. As he tells it, one day he was working on a radio in the cockpit of a grounded B17 that hadn't gone on a raid. There was a general who was going around inspecting the base and wanted to look at the plane he was in. Of course, he got to meet the general, shook his hand and was told to go back to work which he did. About 30 minutes later, he was in the aircraft, the bombers were coming back from their mission and a bunch of them were pretty well shot up. A B17 pulled up on either side of the plane he was working on and the ground staff were furiously dragging wounded out of the aircraft as fast as they could. Well, he figured he'd better get the he** out of there so he wouldn't get in the way. As he turned to get to the hatch, he banged his head on the engineer's turret and was bleeding. As he got out of the aircraft with this cut on his head, two crewmen threw him onto and strapped him into a litter. All the way to the hopspital area, he was screaming he didn't belong there but no one was listening to him. They finally threw him into a bed and told him to quiet down, so he stopped yelling and just lay there. Just then, the general he had met came into the tent ward with a couple of aids holding on to boxes of Purple Hearts. Then for the walking wounded, the room was called to attention and the general started out pinning on the medals. There he stood at attention with this big bandage on his head. The general came up to him and started to pin the medal on him. The general looked him in the face, stopped and asked him " Weren't you the guy who was working on that parked B17? What the hell are you doing in this ward? Get the &*%^ out of here you moron." He then said to the general "but sir, I was trying to tell them I bumped my head on the turret getting out of the airplane but nobody would listen to me." Never the less, he still got thrown out of the hospital and never got his medal.
