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Ball turret gunner Vet


Dantankerous

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"Sometimes you lose your urine and of course you can do even worse than that, cause when people shoot at you, it's not good," Gibbs said.”

 

Bomber crews took a special kind of hutzpah, flying dead on course while hell broke out around you. 

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I heard a story once, an infantryman and an AAF bomber crewman were drinking in a pub in England comparing war stories. The infantryman complained that he had to do all the dangerous stuff like sleep in muddy foxholes and deal with tanks and artillery, while the bomber crewman got the easy job. The crewman challenged him and offered to switch jobs if he liked. When the infantryman asked him what he did he said "I'm a ball turret gunner". The infantryman promptly told him to go to hell, he could keep his job!

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:FlagAm:  Salute! God bless him and those like him in the Mighty 8th Air Force (and other Air Forces of WWII)!  Especially before the P-51's were available to escort the bombers, the Army Air Forces in Europe lost more KIA than the U.S. Marines did in WWII (with ALL due respect to the Marines)!  The ball turret gunner was really vulnerable.  If the turret jammed so he couldn't get the hatch into the fuselage open, and the plane had to make a belly landing due to jammed landing gear...well, it could be bad news!

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After watching war movies as a kid, I actually wanted to be a ball gunner! :wacko:

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11 hours ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

After watching war movies as a kid, I actually wanted to be a ball gunner! :wacko:

 

In the Navy and while in boot camp, I listed 'Corpman' as my top choice for Navy career.

This was 1969.

They made me a Radioman.    Go Figure.

 

..........Widder

 

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14 hours ago, Widder, SASS #59054 said:

 

In the Navy and while in boot camp, I listed 'Corpman' as my top choice for Navy career.

This was 1969.

They made me a Radioman.    Go Figure.

 

..........Widder

 

They did that because you misspelled Corpsman. :P

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Thanks for posting that.  Another true American hero from The Greatest Generation.  Thanks to all who have served.

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