We all have the lives we have today because of your courage and bravery. We will NEVER forget the Greatest Generation, and the price they paid for us. God Bless You, Captain.
Words don't do it justice. Captain Luckadoo's amazingly detailed recall of his experience from almost 80 years prior speaks of course to his enduring health but also how those events were burned into his being. His willingness to share such detailed memories are so precious. To hear Captain Luckadoo relate his experience with such clarity mixed with deserved seriousness as well as humor is beyond description. We owe SO MUCH to this generation who, as citizen soldiers, preserved our nation's future...our present day. May God bless Captain Luckadoo and all of his peers. We should NEVER forget....
This should be played in every high school history class. To give this generation A perspective of The type of courage that is needed to maintain freedom
MAJOR Luckadoo. His service and sacrifice deserve recognition of his military rank. He’s not a typical “civilian” and his salutation should reflect that.
What a wise old man. Just incredible to hear his memories and thoughts. And it's astonishing how increadibly clear thinking he still is at the age of a 100, he could be 50 years old. I am glad he got a 100 years for everything he did for all of us. Thank you, Lucky.
This guy is sharp as a tact and recalls his harrowing experiences like they were yesterday. Just an incredible human being and American Hero ! Thank you so much for all your sacrifices & my freedom Mr. Luckadoo ! May God Bless you sir !
Flying ,freezing in the air, plane get shredded by flak, men mutilated by bullets meant for planes, dying in a fireball, or falling to your death, parachuting opens and you get strafed, etc. I don't see how someone couldn't understand, but I do see how few could sympathize with such a unique experience. That doesn't mean you can't empathize with what the experienced. That empathy can aid people in the future who may be put in a similar situation.
This is without a doubt a valuable piece of history that needs to be preserved. THe world has forgotten what was sacraficed to stabilize this world to grow to what it is today. Incredible. Thank you Lucky, thank you for all you gave up for us.
My grandfather was a b-17 pilot, he summed it up like this Government "you're 18, and uh, you need to go to war" Him "wait what" Government "you have to save the world" Him "uhhhhh" Government "get to it" Him "yes sir"
Wonderful stories of harrowing times. Thank you Lucky. Thank you to you and the men with which you served and especially those that died for our continued freedom!
We owe this gentleman and others who gave and sacrificed everything for any generation after them be they be airmen, soldier,sailor, marine, land worker, substitute factory worker…….. May your god bless you Lucky!
I totally understand how cold -50 or more is when he speaks of it. Stationed in North Dakota with B-52s, we saw many a cold day below -50. Being Mechanics we worked in it for 8 hours+ to get our aircraft ready.
Watching this... Listening to him... It hits me so hard when I think about the fact that this part of history is coming to a close in a way... That the men and women who served our country are dwindling. A man/boy [they really were still kids] technically needed to be born by 1928 (you could enlist in the army at 17 with parental consent) to fight even for a little while... 2028 is coming up fast and most people (especially men) don't live to 100. Women had to be 21 to volenteer.. so born by 1944.. They would be 100 today. This man right here is amazing and that he can _still_ tell his story.. These men's stories.. so well is certainly incredible.
Captain Luckadoo seems quite clued up about the wider issues regarding targets , bombing accuracy ; fighter cooperation etc. I suspect he has learned a lot of that after the war . Bomber Command RAF had 4 years previous experience > I gather USAAF authorities had looked at night-time bombing but it was just another layer of training that would delay general operations . Some USAAF units did do night -training . There was quite a lot of co-operation between the RAF and USAAF at liaison level . Certainly there was mutual help with equipment and knowledge ; it was nice of John Luckadoo to acknowledge the skill of the RAF. Certainly heavy bombers of WW2 did not have the ability in general to hit pinpoint targets ; except the odd squadron like the 617 ; highly trained with specialist equipment and they were not always successful . To some extent the myth of the Pickle Barrel has survived into legend ; you see it in You Tube commentaries some times . It' a testament to the 8th Air Force ' that they turned it around in a short time and as John Luckadoo says they saturated targets and destroyed them that way , as did the RAF . Together they made a large contribution to the defeat of Germany .
INSANE all those bravery man like Lucky went thru. Did know about many things just to be up there in the B17. The Best generation of all times for sure. WW2 Generation.
Probably the best and greatest recount of a WWII Bomber crew that I recall, summarizing the air war over Europe in WWII. Summarizing with the intent that you listen to the whole 34 minutes and the subsequent questions, 1) The Brits said bomb at night. 2) Fear, Fighters, Flak, Freezing, 3) Co-Pilot as a tail gunner ? (unique story) > ? 25 Missions in 25 days , their record, 4) New Co-pilot.. stress, non acceptance. 5) Nov 1943 daylight bombing of Berlin, 22nd mission, story ! Such insight of the times ! Curtis le May, Thorpe Abbots to Berlin ? Mission Scrubbed ! A story ! 6) Cracked officers with combat fatigue vs RAF, Idk if he is correct. 7) Bremen, Purple Heart core. AA fire. Luftwaffe attack, rallying his remains under three engines.... THE Q and A is amazing ,, Schweinfurt etc >> The Brits area bombing was successful , horrible but Area.
My Grandfather met these men in London.."on the piss.." In The Franklin pub..near Charing Cross... And would ask..the next day.."Where is Harry?.." The simple anwer was.."He never came back" And they continued.."on the piss" THAT was a part of my Grandfather's war..a war that he..as an infantryman was envious of in that aircrew were selected because they were more intelligent by selection..of their academia... There was my Grandfather..from The Rifle Brigade and Kings Royal Rifle Brigade (infantry) talking, speaking having fun with these men in a pub who treated him as an equal in this war.. It broke his heart when he spoke of men like him that did not come back
What ever it takes to keep this guy alive will be well worth the price. He is the last chapter in the history of WW2. Old dude got issued a double set of extra big balls.
At 19:46 of Part 2 in the series is when they first address daytime vs nighttime bombing and how the British bomb at night, but they don’t mention the British are bombing at night because they got their asses kicked during the day and had to change.
Watching Masters of the Air. I thought Band of Brother's and the Pacific were great. Masters so far is an equal! Just finished episode 6. My goodness, what these kids went through. Ib said kids on purpose, cause they were.
Sir,as a warrior I salute you cant sit long your ##$$$ are bigger and I was at -60 degrees and I know how you felt.The pucker factor is what we know about. I follow my compass to defend freedom. God speed to you. Freedom is not FREE
It boggles my mind that they've had over a decade to figure out why the Pacific didn't work as well as Band of Brothers and they still couldn't get it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ay6I_-n82w8.html
He's 10000 times more on the ball than Biden. Massive respect for this man, he's an amazing storyteller and carries such gravitas with his words. I've flown in a Ba7 I know just how cramped they can be when full of people.
This guy is a great story teller and we owe him so much! But fingers self amputating to the knuckle? That sounds absurd. I'd really like to know where he heard that or if he saw that happen.
Oh no, this did happen. Not made up. Airmen regularly got severe frostbite. Self-amputation is medically called “autoamputation,” which is what he means. There are many possible triggers, including frostbite. At that altitude, where the temperature ranges from -40 to -70 degrees Fahrenheit, severe frostbite can occur within a few minutes. During active combat, it would have been easy to do this accidentally.
Bottom turret stories of getting wounded and the blood would freeze and roll around on the bottom and the best thing to do was to gather the frozen blood drops so they wouldn’t smear the turret when it got warmer at lower altitudes.
