I just found out on the motorcycle forum I post at that one guy on there’s dad was a P-38 pilot in WWII.
I asked him about the picture of a guy in a cockpit in his avatar and he answered with this:
That photo is of 2nd Lt. Marvin H. Brown, 364th fighter group, 384th fighter squadron, of Gen. Jimmie Doolittle’s 8th Air Force, U.S. Army Air Corp, sitting in the cockpit of his P-38J fighter. That is my late father.
During his entire life, he never spoke much of his war experiences. After he passed in 1987, my brother Mike and I began researching his background and we were amazed at what we discovered.
http://www.web-birds.com/8th/364/364.html
He flew the P-38, and later his fighter group changed over to P-51 Mustangs, but he never got to fly one.
We knew he was shot dwn on May 22nd, 1944, while strafing a rougue German airfield after a bomber escort to Berlin. He crash landed his plane off the north coast, and was captured by the Germans. He was sent to Stalag Luft III in Sagan, where he was interrogated regularly and was among hundreds of captured British and American airmen. We still have his German -issued POW dog tags with SAGAN stamped on them.
http://www.b24.net/pow/stalag3.htm
In January of 1945, with the Russian armies closing in on Sagan, all POW’s were sent south on a grueling march, starving, thirsty, packed into railroad cars, being shot at by unknowing allied planes, eventually getting to Mooseburg where they spent the last months of the war. They were liberated by Patton’s 3rd Army on April 29th, 1945. After being liberated, he weighed in at a whopping 78 lbs.
After talking about it for a few weeks, Mike and I decided to write the Pentagon and request a Purple Heart for our Dad. He was injured badly when he crash landed his plane, and was forced to walk on a broken leg and multiple cracked ribs. To our amazement, the Purple Heart came by mail about a month later, along with a POW medal, and a letter to my family thanking my father for his service to our country. To put it mildly, we were blown away.
Why my Dad never talked much about his wartime experiences we don’t know, but I understand that it’s not unusal. I’ve heard this same thing from others who had parents who fought on WW II.
I still have my Dad’s Wings. I wear them on my vest when I ride, because he’s riding with me.
Thank you for inquiring. Terry
That is very cool! [8D]
A toast to all of the men of this man and my dad’s generation, as they were indeed “The Greatest Generation” [#toast]