Take A Moment For Reflection, Please
Aero-VIEWS Opinion by Kevin R.C. "Hognose" O'Brien
Today, April 9, is POW
Day. President Bush signed a proclamation on April 6 that says
so.
"While held as prisoners of war, American POWs have reflected
the best of our country, acting with resourcefulness, bravery, and
strength," Bush said, citing some particularly courageous
examples.
The lion's share of the POWs throughout America's wars have been
airmen. Aviators, of course, go behind enemy lines, and are
therefore considered "high risk of capture" service members.
A downed airman is ripped from his safe cocoon in the sky and
plunges earthward, usually by parachute. The experience is
physically shocking and psychologically debilitating. Then his
situation takes a turn for the worse when he is captured,
usually.
Perhaps because of the US tendency to go to war with barbarous
and lawless states, the captured airman has little hope of good
treatment. Joe Nason, a World War II airman, fell into Japanese
clutches in the Phillipines. He was beaten and tortured. At one
time, he was in a cave prison camp -- of the over 200 POWs there,
only six, counting Nason survived.
Nason did not make a big deal about his experiences. He went on
with life, attending law school and serving for many, many years as
a corporate attorney; only late in life did he put pen to paper and
tell his story.
Thousands of American servicemen were imprisoned during World
War II. Their treatment ranged from poor, but scrupulously correct,
to outright murder, which happened to Joe Nason's buddies.
It was only after Vietnam that the US recognized Prisoners of
War as worthy of recognition -- before, the military brass may have
thought surrender just a mite shameful. But the return of the POWs
of Vietnam brought out the stories of Bud Day and James B.
Stockdale (above), who were all awarded the Medal of Honor for
their conduct as prisoners.
They were all aviators. In case you're keeping track.
Given the nature of our
enemies in the current unpleasantness, the life of any airman
captured by them is likely to resemble Hobbes's State of Nature:
"solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
So President Bush thinks these guys (so far they've all been
guys; in current and future wars they might be gals, too) rate a
Presidential Proclamation. So did several Presidents before him
(POW/MIA Day is becoming an annual tradition).
Those of us that aren't President don't get to make
Proclamations (well, not that anyone but our friends and family
hear, perhaps). But perhaps we could each take a moment this day to
reflect on the sufferings and privations that those in captivity,
or who died alone and unknown, bore; and that whatever we now think
of their cause, they did it for us and for liberty. And to reflect
on those who might be in such a predicament in the days and years
and centuries to come, and to say a prayer, each of us in his or
her own faith.
I'd say that's the least we could do.
ANN's Daily Aero-Term (05.09.24): Hold Procedure
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