A Grim reminder of the realities of War ...

[Mark Allen M]

We know most of the grim realities of war but there are other examples that are unfortunately quite sad as well. I wish I mean't this post as some sort of funny joke, (as well as the pilot of this 35th FG P-51), but unfortunately not so. This is a not-so-great example of what happened (happens) during times of war, military commitment and assignments overseas. Sad but a true fact of life sometimes with our service members.
Obviously takes a tremendous amount of sacrifice and commitment by every member of a family while serving one's country.


P-51D "Shirlee" 35th FG
"Shirlee belonged to the 35th FG and was sitting in the mud on the ramp when she posed for this photo. The nose art says it all---"Shirlee" is crossed out and replaced by the poignant expression; "She Couldn't Wait". It may seem odd to make more than a passing mention of the significance of the name, but far too many GIs and sailors ended up losing sweethearts and wives while they were off fighting. That's just one more thing to add to the rain, mud, mosquitos, heat, disease, and Japanese. Did we ever mention that it was a crummy war? A really lousy, crummy war." Photo & text source Phillip Friddell (Rocker Collection)

[lmritger]

A picture is worth a thousand words... :-/

Lynn

[p51]

It's easy for people who never served or those who have glossed over the past to dismiss how common a problem this was. It wasn't just a matter of someone never coming home, there was a greater question on if anyone would be waiting for the man when he got home after the war...

[Mark Allen M]

+1 Lynn
+2 p51

All so true

[John Dupre]

Wouldn't that make for a great and evocative warbird scheme?

[Jack Cook]

and here I thought a grim reality of war was something like death or destruction?

[SaxMan]

Obviously, the formula works the other way as well, where service members meet someone while assigned overseas while their girl (or guy) was at home. I imagine that's been going on since the Oog went off to go fight the Boogs from some distant caves and met another cave woman.

When you do read biographies of many of our greatest generation, you find that many did have a "fling". You also find that their women back home tended to take a forgiving attitude towards this behavior, so long as things got back to "normal" once the war was over.

The human heart is a very complicated mechanism, and every one is different.

[Mark Allen M]

Wouldn't that make for a great and evocative warbird scheme?

That thought came to my mind as well. Quite the controversy it would make

[Milmart Militaria]

She probably hooked up with Jody

Ain't no use in goin home,
Jody's got your girl and gone.
Ain't no use in goin back,
Jody's got your Cadillac,
Ain't no use in feeling blue,
Jody's took your checkbook too

[Jim MacDonald]

I saw a very moving diary on Ebay several years ago that put it in a completely different perspective. It was a diary kept by a woman in a big city (I want to say Pittsburgh). There were many entries about a friend of hers or a friend of a friend finding out that her boyfriend or husband had been KIA. It seemed like that for almost every KIA entry, several days later would be an entry that her friend or the friend of a friend had committed suicide & the body had just been found.

I was very shocked at just how many there were just in that one ladies circle. Made me wonder how much the suicide rate spiked during the war years. Something that I never would have even thought about if I hadn't seen that diary.

Mac

[Mark Allen M]

and here I thought a grim reality of war was something like death or destruction?

Yah! I suppose my thread title was a bit overly dramatic depending on how you look at it, but as Jim and others have stated there seemed to be plenty of people suffering in so many different ways and reasons during and because of that war. (WW2). Tragic and heartbreaking and although a subject most would rather not discuss, it's never the less a reality of the hardships suffered by so many back then, and today.

Just don't Google "Dear John letters from WW2" unless you really want to be miserable.
For those thinking WTF does this thread have to do with warbirds. Well it is a nice photo of a PTO 35th FG P-51, even if the nose title is depressing.

[RacingMustang]

Oh that is just too sad! Great pic though.

[Project Warbird]

I know how he felt, I got a dear John letter as I was going through the Suez Canal on the USS America going to the Gulf. I guess it happens in all wars. I would really like a 51 owner to do this scheme.

[sdennison]

Always with the"twist".

[Stephan Wilkinson]

[quote][/quote]

In the merchant marine, we called him Jody the Grinder.