You seem to have entirely missed the point of the posting. Once again, you place everything into a box of black and white: everyone on "your" side is HEROIC (without exception); everyone on "their" side is a blackheart, and a scoundrel (without exception).
You fail to understand that there is a humanity which transcends "sides", and that "good" and "evil" are not constrained by color, language, or flag.
I will tell you a little story from another war: In the Great War, Canada had a staggering total of 185 aces who shot down 5 or more enemy aircraft, and a full two dozen of them shot down twenty or more planes. France had 183 aces. The Americans had a respectable 121.
The top Canadian "Ace" was Billy Bishop with 72 victories. He was second to the scourge of the allies...the infamous Red Baron (Manfred von Richthofen), who had downed 80 planes.
On April 21, Canadian Captain Roy Brown entered his combat report:
"At 10:35 a.m. I observed two Albatrosses burst into flames and crash. Dived on a large formation of fifteen to twenty Albatross scouts, D.5's, and Fokker triplanes, two of which got on my tail, and I came out. Went back again and dived on pure red triplane which was firing on Lieutenant [Wilfrid] May. I got a long burst into him, and he went down vertically and was observed to crash by Lieutenant [Francis] Mellersh and Lieutenant May. I fired on two more but did not get them."
Thus ended the bloody terror of the "Red Baron". From your postings, I have no reason to believe that you would not have spat on this German killer, this terror who went after allied lives with such gusto: this evil enemy of humanity; this demon spawn.
But Captain Roy Brown looked at the body and uttered these famous words which have gone down in history--to remind us for all time of something larger than US and THEM:
"If he had been my dearest friend, I could not have felt greater sorrow," said Roy Brown, on viewing the body of Manfred von Richthofen.
I guess this is something you will never understand, Mr. Dithers. The wars will go on until you do.
Wars do not need to be fought with an absolute disregard for humanity. That is why, even war conduct, is judged on all sides; and it is the reason that we have war crimes trials...for our own children as well as for their children. |
