Posted on 07/31/2009 8:44:48 AM PDT by Bokababe
OSHKOSH, Wis. -- Art Jibilian hoped his presence here at the largest private air show in the world would, in a small way, help right a terrible wrong that had been done so long ago.
Mr. Jibilian, of Fremont Ohio, and surviving members of the Tuskegee Airmen, the pioneering squadron of black fighter pilots, were honored here yesterday at AirVenture 2009 for their roles in Operation Halyard, the greatest rescue of downed American airmen in World War II.
(Excerpt) Read more at postgazette.com ...
Wow. An amazing story. Equally amazing is the fact that the State Department lefties managed to spike the story for 65 years.
I don’t know quite how to put this. I appreciate the service they provided with us as Americans, 30 men strafing and bombing runways and providing cover.
The Tuskegee Airmen have received belated and well deserved recognition for a variety of activities and missions, but there were a lot more people involved in this battle and in this theater.
It just reminds me of the people who complained because there were no black people in the movie “Saving Private Ryan”.
I am not surprised at all that they spiked it. There were lots of incidents where our government sold out Eastern Europe, even to the point we released people under OUR jurisdiction to the Soviets, basically a death sentence for many of them.
Most Americans don’t know about that. I give a lot of ‘credit’ on that to people like George Marshall, Alger Hiss and utimately, Harry Truman and the Democrat party.
Oh, absolutely. I simply didn't know that they were involved in the Halyard Mission. Most articles on the subject don't mention it.
But burying the story of one of the largest rescues of American flyers from behind enemy lines in all of WWII, should send up flares that the State Department has been covering up their political blunders for a very long time at our expense.
Great film.
I saw it years ago, and I agree. It was a great film.
And just to be clear, I respect the service of these men as much as I do any man who flew with the 363rd Fighter Squadron, if I saw one of them, I would make the effort to shake their hand and thank them for their service the same as any American veteran I see, which is what I do.
Race makes no difference, and I would think that the color-blind nature of the gratitude I have for their service has to mean more than a “thank you for serving as a black man” sentiment.
I re-read the article, and it does less focused on the participation by the Red Tails and more focused on the obscure nature of this operation, which is clearly on the same level as the famous Son Tay Raid in Vietnam, though more successful.
Agreed. But this is not a hidden thing, it is there for anyone who wishes to take the time to notice. We pretty much ceded that area to the Soviets on the advice of Marshall, and Churchill was enraged, as I recall. He thought we should have been in the Balkans in force, and thought strategically it was the best way to go.
Our own government pooh-poohed that, and to this day, I think that Marshall (and Roosevelt’s top State Department adviser at Yalta, Alger Hiss) were in collusion with the Soviets to give them free reign in the Balkans.
Actually, in this case, "race" did make a difference in that the Tuskegee Airmen had to fight the open bigotry and belligerence of their own military before they ever got to fight the Germans. These men went through a lot before they ever got the chance to prove themselves in the air. For that, I give them even greater points for bravery.
Ironically, my white father who served in the US Army during WWII, told me about the Tuskegee Airmen before I ever read about them or saw the film. He admired them.
On the other hand, race isn't everything in every WWII story. For goodness sake, America just elected a Black President of the United States -- aren't we ever going to get beyond this "race" issue in realtime?
As to this Halyard Mission Story, Aleksandra Rebic did a real nice 2 part article on the "Lest We Forget" commemoration honoring it last June:
The Forgotten 500 Reunite as 'Operation Halyard' is honored, Pt 1
The Forgotten 500 Reunite as 'Operation Halyard' is honored, Pt 2
And they continue to do so. Many careers in DoS were made by spreading total fabrications about Serbia as a country and racist lies about the Serbs as a people. Can you imagine how they are afraid for their confortable retirement if the thruth comes out?
The problem is that this is not a bunch of crooked individuals running a scam on their own. They execute the official foreign policy of The United States. If one reads articles written by CFR members or various shills working for DoS contractor Soros, the very same thing can be found. Same can can be found in academic circles. This is collusion of signifficant proportions. FR is one of the few places where such lies can not get through or remain unexposed.
Even in this article, word "Serbia" is carefully edited out, because search engines could find it and some curious soul could start asking questions, such as why U.S. supported Communist takeover of Serbia and suported Serbia's neonazi enemies in the recent past? Someone could dig deeper and actually find the answer. One that explains Poppy's claim that two-bit Serbia is a threat to national security of The United States.
What plans U.S. has with South East Europe in general and Balkan in particular when Serbia is a threat?
What the answer could be? I do not know but suspect - revamping The Ottoman Empire/Caliphate under U.S. control in order to strangle Europe and Russia. Destruction of Serbia as a country and annihilation of Serbs as a people is a pre-requisite for this design to succeed. Only in this light can be understood why no truth can be allowed to come out and only negative racist stereotypes about the Serbs are allowed.
If my guess is close enough, the worst is yet to come for the Serbs and Serbia. And if going in that direction, U.S.A. will fare no better.
It WAS a hidden thing for many years. The US State Department marked the Mihailovic Legion of Merit as "classified" and it remained so until the Freedom of Information Act finally allowed its release in the late 1960's, 20 years after the fact.
Meanwhile hundreds of books were written about WWII that repeated the communist propaganda about Mihailovic being "a German collaborator" and painted Tito as "the good guy". The story of the Halyard Mission was deliberately buried.
The late Major Richard Felman, leader of the rescued airmen, spent his life trying to get recognition of the Halyard Mission -- he even had the support of Ronald Reagan and John Wayne, but each time the State Department shot him down citing not wanting to mess with the US' relationship with Tito. All mention of the Halyard Mission was edited out of Air Force commemorations.
George Bush finally gave the Legion of Merit Award to Mihailovic's daughter in a ceremony so low key that the Western Press never even picked up on it.
They've buried this Halyard story for the last 60 years. Only recently, after most of the rescued airmen were dead, did they allow the story to get any attention.
Churchill had been duped by Soviet spies in British Intelligence -- the Brits had quite a lot of communists in their government pre and post WWII, but didn't even know it until the Cambridge 5 story broke in 1963. Meanwhile, the switch from Mihailovic to Tito was so abrupt and bizarre that George Orwell actually used it in his original foreword to the 1945 book "Animal Farm".
Churchill later said that his switch from supporting Mihailovic to supporting Tito was his biggest blunder in the War.
I understand your point and I think it is valid, but I disagree.
I respect them in a different aspect and a different way for fighting their ongoing racial battle, but in my eyes it is a completely separate thing, and as military men, I hold them in as high esteem as anyone of any other race, color or creed who fought on behalf of their country. I can think of no higher tribute to a man than to recognize him for his service as a man, and not as a black man or a white man.
I was actually referring to strategy, and not the individual horse that we might back.
I didn’t know about the Mihailovic to Tito switch, my understanding of the politics and undercurrents in that region during that time are less robust than they should be. Thanks for the information. Yet another angle to read up on...:)
I think it is a matter of perspectives.
I'm not not have I ever been military, so I don't see the Tuskegee Airmen in a soldier-to-soldier way in the manner that I am guessing you do. I only see it as a civilian. And this civilian perspective often gets me in trouble with my ex-AF husband and retired Army Colonel brother-in-law, who sometimes look at me as though I landed from Mars when we're discussing military issues.
In short, you are probably more correct than I am on this "military and race" issue.
As for WWII & the Balkans, few people know much about it -- in part because there was so much going on in so many places during the war, and also because there was a lot of propaganda. Some of that propaganda came from the communists and their sympathizers. And some came from the ex-fascist locals in ways to try and make themselves look better by making Mihailovic look worse -- they didn't have much luck when there were still many WWII vets alive but now that most of them are ancient or dead, they've given it another shot. And given Clinton & NATO's actions in the Balkans in the 1990's, the Clinton propagandists gave the old WWII fascist disinformation retreads.
In short, there is a lot of BS out there on "WWII Yugoslavia". But some of the best and most accurate work was written between 1980-1990, post-Tito and before the break up of Yugoslavia. Before that time, the State Department was kissing Tito's communist behind so that he didn't join with the Soviets, and after 1990, the Yugoslav wars started and everyone was too eager to rewrite WWII Yugoslav history to justify themselves and their actions.
If you are interested, "The Web of Disinformation: Churchill's Yugoslav Blunder" by David Martin is an excellent book on the subject.
Thank you. I will check it out. I haven’t been able to read books for about the last four years, and just got some special glasses, so I am currently working my way through “Rules for Radicals”, “Out of America” and “Big Story”.
Yours I will add to my list...:)
This is great!
How ironic—there is no longer a need for Communist moles at then State Department.
It is now headed by one.
Operation Halyard is a testimony that Americans do the impossible routinely, exhibiting the strength, courage, and resilience of free men.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.