Jay Evensen
  • Front Page
  • Opinions
  • Second Thoughts
  • Portfolio
  • Awards
  • About

On Memorial Day, look beyond the fog of war

5/22/2013

0 Comments

 
PictureA B-17 at Salt Lake Airport No. 2
The fog of war often clouds our senses.

On Aug. 17, 1943, Nazi forces shot down 60 American B-17 “flying fortresses” during raids on Regensburg and Schweinfurt, Germany.

It was soon understood that the raid, at least on Schweinfurt, which was supposed to cripple the Germans’ aircraft manufacturing plants, had been a failure,

and that many of the planes that made it home were crippled beyond repair. Also, 552 crewmen were listed as missing, with about half of them ending up as prisoners of war.

The German plants suffered heavy damage, but surpluses in other parts of the country allowed them to make up the difference in manufacturing.

Looking back 70 years with the sure knowledge that allied forces defeated the Nazis, it’s hard to feel the heart-pounding fear of that day as crews loaded their B-17s, revved their engines, took their places behind guns or as navigators or pilots, walked the narrow catwalk above bomb bays and wondered if they had safely touched ground for the last time.

I didn’t think about that a week ago as I was mowing my lawn and watched a B-17 fly overhead, its roar momentarily cutting through the roar of the mower. But I did a few hours later when I found it parked at Salt Lake Airport No. 2 and took a tour with my family.

Brought to Utah by the Liberty Foundation, the plane was decorated with the markings of the Memphis Belle, complete with pinup girl, swastikas and bombs painted on its sides to represent kills. In reality it was a plane built near the end of the war, destined never to see action but decorated years later to represent the Memphis Belle in a movie.

But that hardly mattered.

Among the large crowd taking tours that day were several aging veterans who worked in and around such aircraft when the free world depended on them and the bravery of their crews.

Memorial Day offers Americans a chance to officially pause and remember such sacrifices, although I am guessing not many do. We owe that luxury to those who never made it home from Schweinfurt and other battlefields through the years.

But we owe them more than that.

If, as often is said, freedom comes at a price each generation must pay, how are we contributing our installment? Do we use the credit card of indifference, or are we building equity through good citizenship and an honest political involvement that includes respect for elected office, even if held by someone of the opposite party?

The armed forces today are voluntary, so it is too easy to overlook the sacrifices they make on our behalf. But war is not the only theater that counts in the long struggle for freedom, nor is it the only place where fog plays a role.

In the latest issue of The Atlantic, author Mark Bowden recounts how that fog affected the way Abraham Lincoln was seen in his day. Members of his own party called him, “timid, vacillating and inefficient,” “not equal to the occasion,” or, worse, “an idiot” and “the original gorilla.”

Contemporary critics and partisanship can cloud things so badly it takes years of winds to clear the air.

That was true with the original Memphis Belle, the only B-17 to complete 25 missions without losing a crew member, despite absorbing many shots and having her engines blown out. She was allowed to sit in the National Guard Armory for more than 30 years, virtually stripped clean by vandals and degraded by the elements. Today the plane is scheduled for restoration and display at a museum.

Sometimes, time is the only thing that brings true focus to the value of a thing, an event or a person.

Or, as Bowden wrote of Lincoln: “Imagine all those critical voices from the 19th century as talking heads on cable television. Imagine the snap judgments, the slurs and put-downs that beset Lincoln magnified a million times over on social media. How many of us, in that din, would hear him clearly?”

How many, on this Memorial Day weekend, can see and hear clearly the world around us, free from fog?

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Search this site


    Like what you read here?

      Please subscribe below, and we'll let you know when there is a new opinion.

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Picture

    The author

    Jay Evensen is the Senior Editorial Columnist of the Deseret News. He has nearly 40 years experience as a reporter, editor and editorial writer in Oklahoma, New York City, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. He also has been an adjunct journalism professor at Brigham Young and Weber State universities.

    Archives

    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012

    Categories

    All
    Campaign 2012
    Congress
    Crime
    Culture
    Iran
    Oil And Gas
    Poverty
    Steroids
    Taxes
    Utah
    Washington
    World Events
    World Events

    Links

    Deseret News
    Newslink
    Marianne Evensen's blog

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.