Amazing story about George H.W. Bush

The Imus in the Morning Show ^ | James Bradley

[The G Man]

Anyone hear Imus' interview this morning with James Bradley, author of "Flyboys"? Here is a summary of the book I found online:

Flyboys: A True Story of Courage
by James Bradley

Also Available as a Time Warner AudioBook, eBook and Large Print Edition

James Bradley's #1 bestseller Flags of Our Fathers made real the humanity and legacy of war as few books had before. Now, in Flyboys, Bradley returns to World War II and an extraordinary-and totally unknown-true story of courage.

Over the remote Pacific island of Chichi Jima, nine American flyers-Navy and Marine pilots sent to bomb Japanese communications towers there-were shot down. One of those nine was miraculously rescued by a U.S. Navy submarine. The others were captured by Japanese soldiers on Chichi Jima and held prisoner.

Then they disappeared.

When the war was over, the American government, along with the Japanese, covered up everything that had happened on Chichi Jima. The records of a top-secret military tribunal were sealed, the lives of the eight Flyboys were erased, and the parents, brothers, sisters, and sweethearts they left behind were left to wonder.

Flyboys reveals for the first time ever the extraordinary story of those men. Bradley's quest for the truth took him from dusty attics in American small towns, to untapped government archives containing classified documents, to the heart of Japan, and finally to Chichi Jima itself. What he discovered was a mystery that dated back far before World War II-back 150 years, to America's westward expansion and Japan's first confrontation with the western world.

Bradley brings into vivid focus these brave young men who went to war for their country, and through their lives he also tells the larger story of two nations in a hellish war. With no easy moralizing, Bradley presents history in all its savage complexity, including the Japanese warrior mentality that fostered inhuman brutality and the U.S. military strategy that justified attacks on millions of civilians. And, after almost sixty years of mystery, Bradley finally reveals the fate of the eight American Flyboys, all of whom would ultimately face a moment and a decision that few of us can even imagine.

Flyboys is a story of war and horror but also of friendship and honor. It is about how we die, and how we live-including the tale of the Flyboy who escaped capture, a young Navy pilot named George H. W. Bush who would one day become president of the United States. A masterpiece of historical narrative, Flyboys will change forever our understanding of the Pacific war and the very things we fight for.

[Quilla]

Kerry served in the military? Where in the world did you hear that?

/sarcasm

[Johnny Gage]

Bumpity Bumpity Bumpity

[soozla]

I think George Bush the sr. was the youngest aviator in WWII. I'm quite sure he was ONLY 17 OR 18 YEARS OLD AT THE TIME.......!!!!

Quite a tribute to our military......stories like these and the heroic acts (most of which go unheralded in today's leftist, elite media reporting) of our soldiers occurring right now as we speak, all around the world, shows how, like my dad always said, "the service will make a man out of ya"!

[deport]

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq10-3.htm

He was rescued by the sub Finback.....

[Taipei Personality]

Predicted liberal spin: "Elitist, privileged Bush weasels out of death, leaving his friends to die in his plance."

"Women and children affected the worst . . ."

[bushfamfan]

I knew I read something to the effect that some Demonrat scums actually acused HWBush of murder/manslaughter in the deaths of his co-pilots and saying he didn't do enough to save them. There is no low they can't go lower.

[ArneFufkin]

On an unrelated note, Poobah, I highly recommend you check out this book if you haven't yet done so. I read it cover to cover Sunday.

Every DU/ANSWER/moveon.org puke should be bound, gagged and forced to listen to a reading of this account of sacrifice, honor, skill and courage from our young soldiers in Iraq.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks for the Ping Johnny. I'll add this one to my "to read list"

[Poohbah]

A friend of mine bought it, devoured it, and passed it to me. I cannot give it enough praise.

[TXnMA]

The brutality of the Japanese cannot be exagerrated.

To be precise, it was the Japaness KempeiTai -- analagous to Hither's WaffenSS. They viewed themselves as inheritors of the Samurai code... In reality, they had litttle of the honor -- and an indiscriminate excess of the brutality -- of the Samurai.

[ArneFufkin]

When you read about the disciplined way they maintained their weaponry, equipment and vehicles, and precise movements during that sandstorm plagued advance ... it is easy to see how lesser trained and disciplined units suffered lethal consequences when their weapons jammed, vehicles stalled and convoys became separated.

I bought the book as a gift for my cousin who was a Master Gunnery Sgt in Maj. General Ray Smith's Force Recon unit back in the 80s, but I reordered HIS copy because I'm keeping this one.

[Poohbah]

I was proud to see my beloved Corps still keeping up the high standards we maintained in the era of Ronaldus Magnus.

[Question_Assumptions]

From what a friend's father who served in the Pacific tells me (he was a PBY radio operator), Chichi Jima was by passed by the Americans and cut off from supplies and there was some cannibalism of prisoners involved, as well. Not sure if that's true but that's what he told me.

[nutmeg]

ping!

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