Red Tails Movie. Looks good, maybe a little Hollywood...

[Mike]

Not quite. MASH was filmed south of Van Nuys and Black Sheep north of Van Nuys.
But it's within 40nm and all in Southern California, so pretty close....

[UtahHeli_Ken]

that could be a problem with the Boyington movie as well.

How many people nowadays (and I'm talking the current "Avatar" and "Twilight" watching generation) will even know who Pappy Boyington even was . . .

Unfortunately, the Pacific War is getting forgotten with it's survivors dying out.....

I know who Pappy Boyington was! So count one    I was also going to add, I know a WW2 Corsair pilot. We have his Cessna 170. Its amazing to get him talking about his time flying them. He remembers it all like it was yesterday! So cool!

[Mike]

That is sooo cool!

Make sure you have him tell you as many stories as possible because these guys are fading into history rather quickly lately unfortunately....
Not many left.

I still regret not quizzing my grandpa on more stories but I was too young to understand it all back then.....

[Rooster Cruiser]

During the Second World War, my paternal grandfather was an enlisted sailor on an army troopship that dropped soldiers at Palau and Okinawa.  He was a Machinist's Mate, but his combat station was on a quad 40mm anti-aircraft gun battery.  He was awarded the Bronze Star for his bravery during a Kamikaize attack on his ship off the Ie Shima peninsula.

Grandpa Chuck (yes, his name WAS Chuck!  Hehe) didn't like talking about it much, but I did get the gist of it from him.  He said he did what he had to do so his ship wouldn't sink from suicide attacks.  The reality was that he had to deal with all the blood and gore of pulling the remains of a shipmate from his 40mm battery so he could take his place and keep his battery's guns shooting.

My life pales in comparison to my grandfather's...

Happy Father's day, Grandpa Chuck   

RC