WIX Archives
Amazing
Posted by Rob Mears on Thu May 15, 2003 01:17:58 AM
In reply top US TV Alert! posted by B Darnell on Wed May 14, 2003 08:40:25 AM
I'm still amazed when these aircraft are found in the condition that this B-25 was in. The airframe was for the most part smashed of course, but the fact that the olive drab, blue & white paint were in the same condition they were in the day that plane was lost - it just blows my mind.
Also, the ability to see those components in the condition they were in, but on modern video really brings "sixty years ago" right home for me. The sounds of the jungle, and the sound of metal falling on rock (when they flipped that wing panel over) offered me a fleeting moment that spanned six decades of historical fog, and transcended the blurred images of a black & white war. It was another rare chance to perceive the environment and actions of WWII battle through the same type perspective in which I just recently viewed the vivid reality of the War in Iraq. I feel so deeply for the poor lost soldiers that had in a sense waited on that hillside for someone to bring closure to their legacies, and to the unresolved pain felt by their families. And there are so many more.
It almost leaves me with a desperate feeling inside when I think about how many stories of courage and loss during battle will never be told because soldiers like the crew of that B-25 just didn't quite make it home, who's tales died along with them. I can think of no other human service that could possibly stand above that.