Courage
Of late I've been reading "Arnhem" by Major General R. E. Urquhart, the commanding general of the British 1st Airborne Division in Operation Market Garden. I must say it has been a wonderful read so far and the acts of gallantry under fire by the paras are incredible. The following is an excerp from the book,
"One of the medical officers, Jimmy Logan, advised Father Egan, the padre with the party, that one of the young soldiers had only a quarter of an hour to live. As Egan knelt by the youngster's side with words of comfort, he reckoned the soldier could not be more than 20 years old.
'If you'll bring me a couple of stretcher-bearers along, Padre,' the young man said quietly, 'I can handle a rifle. Just let them put me in position.'
Already in this battle, Egan had seen much gallantry. "I'm sorry,' he said disarmingly, 'but the stretcher-bearers are too busy just now.'
The soldier was placated, but remarked: 'I only hope the others don't think I'm letting them down.'
Egan stayed with him until he died."
Reading this reminds me of a remark by one of the green berets in 'Black Hawk Down', it goes something like this, "Why we go out there is not for the country, but for the man standing next to you." Going back to Operation Market Garden, the 1st Airborne was never to recover from the losses suffered in that battle, of 8905 officers and men plus 1100 glider pilots, only 2163 had returned with the rest being dead, captured or missing. 5 Victorian Crosses (Britain's highest medal for bravery in combat) were awarded, 4 of them being posthumous, details can be found here. Sometimes I wonder how I'd react when under fire, I guess all I can say is that I hope we won't ever have to find out....
A little off topic, but here's a cool video of a jump and my current collection of SF and airborne books.
"One of the medical officers, Jimmy Logan, advised Father Egan, the padre with the party, that one of the young soldiers had only a quarter of an hour to live. As Egan knelt by the youngster's side with words of comfort, he reckoned the soldier could not be more than 20 years old.
'If you'll bring me a couple of stretcher-bearers along, Padre,' the young man said quietly, 'I can handle a rifle. Just let them put me in position.'
Already in this battle, Egan had seen much gallantry. "I'm sorry,' he said disarmingly, 'but the stretcher-bearers are too busy just now.'
The soldier was placated, but remarked: 'I only hope the others don't think I'm letting them down.'
Egan stayed with him until he died."
Reading this reminds me of a remark by one of the green berets in 'Black Hawk Down', it goes something like this, "Why we go out there is not for the country, but for the man standing next to you." Going back to Operation Market Garden, the 1st Airborne was never to recover from the losses suffered in that battle, of 8905 officers and men plus 1100 glider pilots, only 2163 had returned with the rest being dead, captured or missing. 5 Victorian Crosses (Britain's highest medal for bravery in combat) were awarded, 4 of them being posthumous, details can be found here. Sometimes I wonder how I'd react when under fire, I guess all I can say is that I hope we won't ever have to find out....
A little off topic, but here's a cool video of a jump and my current collection of SF and airborne books.
posted by zanious at 12:01 AM
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