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To: chuckles
Just as an aside, my father got the DFC for dropping bombs in Germany on schools, hospitals and private homes because they were Germans, not soldiers.

Highly unlikely, simply because it would have been a huge waste of munitions. Now large numbers of those things were certainly hit and there was justifiably little concern given to such collateral damage. But there was no shortage of targets of tactical and strategic value that far exceeded the value of terror attacks.

35 posted on 04/21/2011 4:23:43 PM PDT by hopespringseternal
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To: hopespringseternal
My father and I talked about this many times and I can assure you he made no bones about it being true. The hospitals and schools weren't the targets, but they weren't chastised if they hit one. He was one of thousands of B-24's and B-17's that flew over German towns to drop their bombs. The Norden Bomb site was not the technology we have today. 20 planes may have the same target and 5% of the bombs would even get close to the intended targets. As he flew to the target, if he had the ammo, he would strafe the streets of the town with twin .50's. It was all about breaking the back of the enemy. If a woman and baby got in the way of his rounds, that was just one more Nazi that wouldn't grow up to kill Americans as far as he was concerned.

As we all know, The Germans did the same if not worse. The Japanese are famous for the Rape of Nanking and the Russians were worse than all. Lobbing a V2 rocket to London was not even aiming at a strategic target of any kind.

Just watch any film of allied bombing runs in Germany and you will see we bombed much of the German countryside with no target even close by. They didn't consider it a waste of munitions, just the cost of doing war. One mission he was on, over 100 B-24's left England and only 22 came back home. It was the cost of doing war.

Today, if we lose one plane, it is a week long news story and God forbid a Muslim wedding is bombed by accident. We have been spoiled into thinking the "fog" of war is over. War is hell and that is as it should be. It should be something we shun and try to stay away from. But if it becomes necessary, EVERYONE is subject to die. I can't imagine an enemy coming to American streets and Americans becoming angry that we get shot and killed. IT"S WAR!!! They should expect to be shot as they sleep by persons that may or may not have a cache of rifles and ammo that Obama says we cling to with our religion. That is the very reason we cling to them.

42 posted on 04/21/2011 8:35:19 PM PDT by chuckles
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