Posted on 03/26/2009 5:49:43 AM PDT by DFG
It was film night in Stalag Luft III and the dwindling band of surviving PoWs was marking the 65th anniversary of the daring breakout by watching The Great Escape. Even though this is Hollywood’s celebration of their story and ensured their enduring fame, it wasn’t the Nazis they booed — it was Steve McQueen and his motorbike.
“We were not impressed when that film came out,” said Reginald Cleaver, 86, a flight engineer who had been shot down over the Netherlands and who helped to make disguises for the escape. “The bits about the way the tunnel was dug and how things started was quite accurate, but the later bits were nonsense.
“The Americans played no part in the escape. To have Americans riding motorbikes was ridiculous.”
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
244 American pilots served with 3 RAF Eagle squadrons between Sept 1940 and Dec 7, 1941.
Okay, then it was “hundreds” (Whew!). Thanks.
Apologizing for our Islamist-Marxist Kenyan president's returning the bust of Churchill who galvanized a great nation to defeat a Nazi fiend.
Prefer the performance of Patton to the vacillations of Montgomery; history needs a settling of accounts on that matter.
Here's a great page
Another USAF salute to a brave man.
BTW, the CIB theater (the C stands for China) is where most of the Japanese Army was.
“So if the movie “Patton” or “The Longest Day” had been made by the Soviets...”
Why would I care about any movie made by the Soviets? And to draw an equivalency between your scenario and the one that led to this entire thread strains credibility.
Coming down on the side of the RAF ... especially in light of the outrageous accusations by a few ignorant jerks in this forum that our British allies were somehow weak & cowardly in WWII ... hardly puts me in the bashing American aircrews category. But, hey ... this is FR ... opinions are like assh**** everyone has one.
...Good thing they weren’t posting on this thread, they’d have killed each other istead of the enemy...
...Good thing they weren’t posting on this thread, they’d have killed each other instead of the enemy...
...Sorry, had to add the n...
You can come down on the side of the RAF without seeming to belittle our American dead airmen and their sacrifices.
Wow, some of you folks have flipped out. All the guy said was that there weren’t any Americans involved in the escape, and there was no motorcycle riding. He’s an eye witness. Let’s just take it at face value.
By introducing American movie stars such as McQueen and James Garner, they pulled in an American audience. It was Hollywood making a buck.
Nothing bad is implied about the American military personnel who fought in the war. It doesn’t seem appropriate to bash Great Britain, who have been one of our closest allies through the years.
I dated a girl whose father, an American pilot, was in that POW camp. He told me that he did not know — and he doubted any other Americans in the camp knew — about the escape until after it had gone down. He said that there were always rumors and whisperings of plots for escape, but that was normal. As for the escape that was the subject of the movie, he said that was a British gig.
“Unlike the other Europeans, they FIGHT.”
The Brits are superb warriors, and if they are allowed to fight, they are capable of incredible achievements. I would always be proud and grateful to have the Brits on my side in any war. Don’t equate the British soldier with his government. British troops are top knotch.
What ever ... by the way, do you have your drivers license yet?
Maybe you can't, you seem a little childish.
One of my favourite songs
Had a couple other Nortons that came & went unmolested, and a T120C that saw alot of miles, not all on the road.
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