My father was a B-17 bomber pilot within the European theater of WW2, who, by 1944, had flown along with his 10-man crew, 29 profitable missions destroying Nazi crude oil refineries. They had been shot down on November 25 of that 12 months, on the return journey from what would have been their thirtieth. Nonetheless over Germany, about 10 miles wanting the French border and having misplaced three of their 4 engines, they’d run out of luck.
Dad and his males had no choice however to bail out, parachute to the bottom, and hope for the very best. They did, nonetheless, have a choice to make, and an necessary one at that. That they had the selection to stay in uniform, making them straightforward to determine (and seize) as allied troops. Alternatively, they might turn into civilian garments, making it far simpler for them to make their method on foot into neighboring France.
There was a substantial danger, nonetheless. Selecting to stay in uniform prohibited the Germans, underneath worldwide legislation, from gunning them down on sight; if captured, they might be made POWs and launched on the finish of the struggle. Alternatively, altering garments enabled the Germans, legally, to deal with them as spies and execute them by firing squad.
This story is barely partially a tribute to my father. It’s much more a narrative whose level is just this: For widespread People like my father who did their obligation defending our nation from fascism, the choice to danger being caught as a spy had probably deadly penalties. However should you’re not fortunate sufficient to be Donald Trump, spying may end up in 12 bullets by means of your head.
However, for the previous president, it’s simply one other joke on the American “folks,” or at the very least our “folks” as we previously knew them to be: honorable and courageous.
