The P-51 Mustang Pilot that Killed a German in his Parachute - Brutal True Story of Richard Peterson 

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I have a story I feel I have to share . My dad was a WW2 vet. he was in the 1st armored Division he was in North Africa and Italy . His tank was hit when he was in Italy and it caught fire A lieutenant by the name of Green bailed out the top and gave no help to his crew , my dad did his best to help the crew get out the trap door in the bottom of the tank I think the co driver died in the tank and not sure who all survived . My dad came out the drivers hatch and when he was coming out he he shot some Germans off the roof of a farm house , during the exchange of fire my father was shot and and ran into some olive vineyards and was later picked up by some of the Germans that he was just shooting at . Some of the young Germans wanted to kill my dad because he had killed some of their friends , the older sergeant was in charge and would not let that happen instead he patched him up and gave him some food and wine , after some time he sent the young guys off ans spoke in English to my dad . He asked my dad where are you from , my dad said PA. the sergeant said what part of PA. are you from my dad said Scranton the sergeant said really , what part of Scranton my dad said North Scranton the sergeant then started to name a few local bars and asked my dad if he had ever drank in them my dad said yes I have how the hell do you know them? The sergeant said I am from Bethlehem PA and worked in the steel mills and I was visiting family when the war broke out and was unable to leave and go back to the USA. and was forced to fight . He stayed with my dad and took care of him as long as he could . I had to share this and say even in war some good people show up and do good thing. I hope I was not to long winded . And even during war it is a small and good world.

My dad had a friend who flew in WW2. He said that at the end of the war the Germans had their jet plane. There was no hope for Germany, but they ordered the jets to attack the American’s anyway. His friend related that a jet had him dead to rights, but didn’t fire. He came along side, waved and flew off. He was a warrior not a killer.

Interesting video that hits close to home. Richard "Bud" Peterson was my father. I call this story of his the "Angel of Death Story". To be honest, it's not one of his or my favorites, but it's true. He felt a responsibility as a bomber escort to protect these bomber crews, and as he recounts, when he saw that Me109 pilot individually killing those men in their chutes, it angered him to that action. You could see the anger every time he told that story. Actually, you depict the parachute attacks on the chutes, but in reality, the German was shooting the men themselves as they hung in their chutes. Terrified and helpless against an inevitable doom, waiting as he picked off their friends one by one. One can only imagine the fear of the anticipation of that. In considering the ethics of the story, imagine the relief of those in chutes who were saved and survived. This story was excerpted from a documentary film the producer made of several top aces of the 357th FG. There were several other more memorable stories from Bud that draw a more accurate, full picture of his warm, outgoing personality. For the most part, he was a fun-loving, gregarious, happy-go-lucky fellow with countless friends. He was one of four top aces of the 357th, and the highest scoring ace of the 364th Fighter Squadron. The Chicago Tribune once wrote an article about him entitled "Shepherd of the Skies" explaining how he repeatedly returned to the target area to help damaged bombers return by protecting them from further attack. His favorite story was about bringing his fighter squadron back to Leiston in a fog and landing each and every one of them without any ILS system. He had some extraordinary dogfighting stories too that he often shared with friends at lunch. In reality, my mother was his bride-to-be at home, not yet his wife, when she wrote those letters ending in "Hurry Home Honey". They married in April 1945, just after Bud returned from his second tour of duty. Lastly, there were very few older, veteran fighter pilots in his fighter group. they were all very young...most were just 20 to 23 years old. Bud was 21 when he got his first P-51 in Leiston. They simply learned from themselves as they recounted their experiences after the missions. As they became more experienced and even better fighter pilots, they realized that new, rookie, infill pilots needed to be taught some basics about being a successful fighter pilot after too many of them were shot up in their first few missions when they had no idea what they were doing. Bud developed "Clobber College" calling himself the Dean of this school where the veteran fighter pilots and aces of the 357th would share advice and tips to the new pilots to keep them out of trouble. Take care, thanks for the memories.

“And that was the end of that”. A lot to unpack in that simple closing

"I didn't want him to blow up. I wanted him to bail." Straight savage

I recall a RU-vid history lesson regarding this. It was found that one German luftwaffe commander threatened each of his pilots that he would personally shoot anyone who shot down a pilot in his parachute.

It's important to document events like this for historical perspective. Kudos to you for taking on the task of communicating such an unpleasant event in WWII history.

I never knew the phrase “ you’re about to meet your maker buddy” could sound so badass and casual at the same time

that german pilot must've been like "oh hell, i know what happens next." the second he bailed out of his plane.

There was a story of a B-17 that had been so badly damaged it was assumed nobody could have survived inside. Indeed, there were several crew fatalities, but the plane was still being flown by it's badly injured pilot. A 109 came to finish it off, but seeing the state of the aircraft, the pilot elected to signal them to land. He refused. So the German saluted and flew away, leaving the bomber to successfully make it to England. After the war, the bomber pilot lived in Canada and couldn't escape the wondering thought of the man who saved his life. Ended up the German pilot survived the war too, and they met and became great friends. The German said "I had a strict commanding officer who once said 'If I hear of anyone shooting at a man in a parachute, I will shoot you myself'. After seeing the state of the bomber, I felt like the men inside were in a parachute and I couldn't shoot at them."

I Heard this story when I was young on a documentary on the war over Europe, I was about 14 years old. I'm glad to see the younger generations retelling this story so that it will be remembered.

My grandfather was a British Artillery Gunner for the full length of the war. When it was over he wouldn’t talk to me about it and he never went to any parades or memorials. He didn’t want his medals so my mum secretly applied for them to give to me. When they arrived he saw them, grabbed them and threw them in the kitchen bin and shouted “They are nothing to be proud of, we did some terrible, evil things!” He died of alcoholism when I was 9. I asked my grandma what happened to him, she just said”I do know, let’s just say neither side was innocent”.

My WW2 grandfather, long since passed lived his life with regret that he had to kill enemy soldiers. He was forever sad about it and used to say how sorry he was. Absolutely no glory in it, just lifelong regret.

My Grandfather was a Luftwaffe fighter pilot and he had often mentioned that firing on bailed aircrew was seen as an absolute atrocity by pretty much all nations. In general, he had explained that the mentality of the military aviation pilots deviated somewhat from other military branches due to the fact that many of them had been drafted from civilian aviation which was already a sort of an elite in-group. It was much more acceptable to be critical of the regime or even of the war itself since good pilots were hard to come by and air combat was so deadly, it was hard to be patriotic about it. They would meet new faces each day and by the evening half of them would be dead already. He would tell me stories of surprising kindness, pilots visiting their downed adversaries with flowers and gifts in the hospital and other acts of comradery among enemy nations. Interestingly, he always made special mention of the Australian air force as being infamous for shooting at parachutes. He even had a thing or two to say about a few famous German fighter aces who pulled strings in order to be allowed to repeatedly fly superior model 109s on missions against vastly inferior russian planes and just down a bunch of them in order to accumulate ridiculous numbers of confirmed kills.

To shoot a man defenceless in a parachute deserves no respect

Thanks for that superb documentation.

Another big reason not to do this was because you'd be vulnerable to other enemy fighters who'd definitely give you karma when they made you bail

My English grandma told me she was working on her dairy farm one day in the early 40's when a RAF / Luffewaffe dogfight happened near her in the skies. She watched them shoot at each other for a while, but then kept doing farm work like any other day. She eventually heard some planes hit the ground a ways away - but the thing she'll never forget - a parachute landed at the next door neighbour's field - said the RAF pilot was motionless and had no body below the chest other than ribs, bones and blood. Could you imagine seeing that? Neighbours cleaned it up by burning the remains on the spot where he landed. RIP Lest We Forget

What an awesome story. WW2 soldiers were incredible men. God bless them all.

Excellent work. I really enjoyed that.

Western pilots - German, Russian and Allied generally avoided killing defenseless adversaries in their parachutes. The exception in WW2 though were the Japanese. They ruthlessly slew bailed out pilots when they got the chance.

My dad was a WWII veteran who had taken several prisoners through the war. They treated the Wehrmacht prisoners well. The one group that was less likely to be taken prisoner were the SS following the Malmedy massacre. This German pilot that was killed was about the same as those SS. Dad survived 3 major campaigns including the Bulge and just died last year at 95. This was an amazing generation and there are very few still with us.

appreciated your excellent presentation ... thank you !!

good job !!! thank you for your service

German pilots would have shot their own for doing that. The Luftwaffe didn’t condone that AT ALL. Thus the story of the 109 helping the B17 to the coast of France

My grandpa had a situation where he and a scout patrol were on a boat. Everyone was near the engine to keep warm - my grandpa sat on the edge, as he had heard of possible mines and had told his fellows such They hit a mine. 3/4 of the patrol were killed instantly, my grandpa nearly was drowned as he got hit with the severed body of his officer He managed to drag himself and this officer (who was still alive) to shore He was then attacked by a German patrol, killing the officer, forcing my grandpa to use his body as a sandbag as he returned fire He got captured, a German flanking him and trying to disable him instead of killing him When he came to he was bound, his wounds bandaged. The same German standing between him and other soldiers In the exchange of fire, my grandpa had hit some of the German patrol - killing 1-2 while wounding a few others This German, a sergeant or an officer, said roughly “Kill a captured PoW and I will personally kill you myself, we are not Nazis. He fought as we fight. His fight is done.” Later that German patrol was ambushed and everyone got killed but this German who got wounded. My grandpa did the same for him, protecting him and tending to his wounds - after the war they both became friends who visited each other My grandpa said he was the brave and threw one hell of a punch

The Hague Rules of Air Warfare were deployed on December 1922 - February, 1923, and article 10 says "When an aircraft has been disabled, the occupants when endeavoring to escape by means of parachute must not be attacked in the course their descent". Even if it's well known those rules do not apply to US, this guy is still a war criminal instead of some "hero" of any kind.

I don't know how long ago they interviewed this gentleman but he still looks like he can jump in a P-51 and still take down enemy planes.

"You've met your maker buster" Minnesota quotes

Damn straight buddy, thank you!!! My dad was in the old army air corps, bless your soul. I know you didn't want to do that but you were chosen to exact justice for our helpless guys. Rest my friend. Rest.

Thank you for your service sir

This brutal practice was more prevalent, I believe, among Japanese pilots in the Pacific Theater.....though all sides were probably guilty of it at times. A lot of pilots that bailed out recount that they delayed opening chutes until closer to the ground because of this.

Then there's the WWII story of Owen John Baggett, the only person to shoot down a plane with a handgun -- from a parachute. Owen and his crew had bailed out of their badly damaged, burning B24 and was floating down over Berma . Japanese Zeros were shooting the men in their parachutes. They killed two of his crew and Owen was shot in the arm. Still in his harness, Baggett thought it best to play dead, hoping to fool the Japanese fighters. However, he pulled his .45 caliber gun out of its holster and rested it against the side of his leg. This quick-thinking would save his life. One of the Japanese fighters came back to double check that Baggett was really dead. But in the process, the enemy pilot made a fatal mistake: he opened his canopy to take a better look. That’s when Owen raised his pistol and took four shots at the Japanese pilot. The pilot had slowed the plane to near stalling speed to look at Baggett, and now it went into a spin before it was lost to sight. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gWm3SHdlb9g.html

Thank you sir for your service. RIP.

Facts are facts One important fact about fighting an airwar is that airplanes are much easier to replace than experienced pilots are

"With 800 rounds a minute you can do a lot of damage with fifty caliber shells - from six guns. So that was the end of THAT." Sometimes you gotta take the gloves off, I love this man.

I remember hearing of this somewhere as it stirred some controversy even in the Luftwaffe. As said in the video, both sides left downed aviators alone. That's it, they were out of the fight. This incident invited a never ending series of reprisals. Some Luftwaffe pilots wanted to do the same but one of the higher ranking officers threatened he'd shoot anyone that attack a man in a parachute. This whole event was pretty much an aberration compared to the rest of the air war conduct between the Axis and Western Allies.

My father's old boss was a WWII veteran, fellow architect, and good friend of "Bud" Peterson, and I heard this story from him. Terrible thing, but just.

Thank you for your service Pete!!!

I saw another video by this same pilot, where he described the very first time he shot down a German airplane: the German pilot bailed out, apparently unharmed, Mr. Peterson remembered seeing the German pilot drifting past him in his parachute, and the German pilot saluted Mr. Peterson. ...AND NO, MR. PETERSON DIDN'T SHOOT AT THE GERMAN PILOT-(!)

His telling of it gave me goosebumps

First class video! Not phoneyed up, clearly video, but as excellent as real thing--maybe better in some ways. Bravo.

War is brutal - my dad was a WWII vet - he was over near Belgium for around 3 months before he got wounded and sent to texas. He had several stories to backup the brutality. And they hated fighter pilots. Heaven help this soft country if it ever gets into a real war again.

FYI: Really bad, bad things happen in wars. That's why should be avoided. About 20 years ago I had the chance to ask a lot of WWII veterans about their experiences and everyone of them at the end said it should never happen again.

"The whole nine yards" is the full amount of bullets a 50 caliber gun had in the wings.

One of the absolute best war stories on RU-vid 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

As he should. Disrespect your enemy and expect it returned.

6:58 *"With 800 rounds a minute you can do alot of damage with 50 caliber shells from 6 guns"* 🤭savage level 100%!

"So that was the end of that" Exactly sir.

The thing is: The Allies most of this he time abided by the Genieve Convention articles of war whereas, the axis very rarely did. But, then again, the idea of war is to kill the enemy.

Great video!!!

I love how unapologetic he is about what he did. He knew he was right and hasn't lost a night's sleep over it.

This German pilot was out of the ordinary, as the German Pilots held themselves to a higher standard and weren't as rotten as some of the ground troops could be. He was lucky other German pilots didn't see what he was doing, or they may have gone after him themselves. Glad this guy took care of business and served him instant justice!

My great grandpa was his crew chief and I heard stories of them cleaning the German off his plane. The history challen episode didn't mention that he flew through the German as well as almost dumping his guns into him. I've got a picture with all of them together in front of an early hurry home honey

That puts a whole new meaning to "personally I wouldn't let that slide"

Fighter pilots have respect for each other. They don't shoot people, they shoot aircrafts. A fighter pilot without his plane, slowly parachuting down to the ground, is nothing more than a civilian at that point

My father was the nose gunner on a B-24 shot down over Hungary. The peasants were going to run him through with pitchforks, a Hungarian soldier got there in time and took him prisoner. Spent 11 months in a Stalagluft.

great work

Thanks to all the below comments the reverence for you that you have for your loved ones is well well given and well taken they were wonderful they saved our butts we are here because of their bravery I'll read every single story I get emotional reading them because those people did so much for us and so little is said about some of these guys but in my heart every one of those guys is Heroes thanks for sharing your loved ones stories they're wonderful and it gives them life after death

The video shows a dead German in a parachute near the ground. 50. Caliber in real life is an extremely destructive round, and it probably didn't leave much to float down in a parachute. War is hell.

"When you look over and see your friend that you were just talking to is Nothing but goo YOU'LL know what to do!" Patton

There's a reason the P-51 was re-designated the F-51 after the war and was being used as a ground attack fighter as late as the end of the Vietnam War. Probably the greatest prop engine fighter ever built.

Thank you Bud, your a real hero 👏

The purpose of air combat was to destroy the plane. It was considered poor form to shoot a pilot in his chute. It still is to this day.

Great video, and very well researched. Well done, and thank you for this rare story.

There is a passage about this kind of thing in Adolf Galland's autobiography "The First and the Last". At the time he was General der jagdflieger commanding all the fighter units when he was approached by Reichsmarschall Goering with a question. He was asked hoe he would consider a standing order to shoot down enemy pilots having bailed out in parachutes. Galland said he considered such a command to be dishonorable and he would refuse to obey it. Goering (a former Richthofen Flying Circus fighter pilot himself) smiled and told him he agreed totally, that had come under pressure from 'above' to implement such an order and was now convinced he was right to push back. To my knowledge Luftwaffe fighter pilots were never ordered to kill helpless men in parachutes and this is the first I've heard of it happening.

It is rather difficult to read about an incident like the above, but it was WAR and those things really happened! I have read so many incredible stories of incidents that happened during WWII and then later wars. I don't know why, but I really like those war stories, even if some of them are difficult to watch; I know the TV programs I see or those great old WWII movies, or "Tour of Duty'" and 'Combat" and "Twelve O'Clock High are only TV scripts but they do represent what was real at one time and the stories are both interesting and some are heart-rending! And I know some of the footage was real!

The Japanese pilots were well known for going after men in their parachutes. That really angered many western fighter pilots who considered it to be totally unethical.

"...I mean, y-you can't miss!" Well, maybe most of their _pilots_ couldn't, but there's a good few reasons they're both called "Stormtroopers"...

RIP Mr . Peterson and thank u for being courageous 🙏🏽

Sad story! For the most part, German pilots were gentlemen. Another post mentioned the story of American B17 pilot Charlie Brown, and German Ace Franz Stigler. There is a great book, A Higher Call, that details their chance encounter over the skies of Germany. I own a copy of the book, and highly recommend one read it. Another great book, Combat Crew, by John Comer, details his 30+ missions as a B17 top turret gunner, and I think radioman duty went with that, if I recall correctly. Anyway, John mentions in his book how a formation of B17's "allowed" a German pilot to fly right through their formation without firing a shot; I think he said they were all simply amazed at this German pilots bravery, so they spared that German. This was the same day (and I believe the same raid on Schweinfurt) 12/20/1943, that Franz spared the B17 piloted by Charlie Brown. Sometimes there was honor in the skies. By the way, a quick internet search of WWII Aces will reveal that 99 of the top 100 are all German. Lastly, the book, A Higher Call even tells the story of a German Ace, that rescued American and allied pilots from a concentration camp, the Ace got them out, and to a regular prison camp for airmen, no doubt saving several lives.

My father was an RAAF pilot but served with the RAF 66 squadron during WW 2. William Coombes Barker It was as my father described it an odd ball squadron made up of NZ Australian Canadian pilots. He once told me of a New Zealand pilot in his squadron whom was shot down then baild out an was strafed by a German plane. Never saw dad so upset telling me this story. I can now understand this American pilots fury as well this story reminded me of my father's experience. Thanks for sharing.👍👍👍👌👌

My Great uncle fought In the desert campaign with the 8th Army Desert Rats as an AT Gunner. Almost right through, 41 to 45. They still had to go on nightly combat patrols though. On one such patrol they were walking past along an old desert stone wall, about waist height when they saw another patrol heading the opposite way along the other side of the same wall. My uncles OC (Officer Commanding) that evening just thought it to be another allied recon and didnt pay them much attention, accept a usual nod and brief hello, the other party leader did the same.. But my uncle, Sgt Harold Norton was suspicious and as the last guy on the other side of the wall was passing him (he was tail end) they stared at each other and it became apparent they were 'enemies' it was a German Afrika korps patrol. My uncle said they just stared at each other, slowing their walk in shock, then nodded at each other, smiled and carried on. Nothing happened and my uncles patrol got back with no drama's he said haha, omg :)) I will never forget this, what he told me! I was just 12 when he did but is as clear as today. Just goes to show there was humanity even in the worst times. Bless them!

I just watched the story of Franz Stigler. He spared the crew of an embattled B17, and escorted them home. The B17 had taken fire and stigler could see one of the crew was bleeding profusely and he didn’t have the heart to shoot them down. Instead he escorted them to safety. My next recommended video was this.

I'd like to hear some stories and history of the use of nitrous in the P-51 Mustang

In WWII there were heroes, there were people that live their lives without noise, and there were scoundrels that would shoot people in parachute... on both sides.

My dad was in the US Navy in WWII and served in the South Pacific. He said it was not uncommon to see the gunners cut a Japanese pilot in half as they floated down. War brings out brutality in men.

When I was a kid in the early 1960’s a neighbor of ours was a WW 1 combat veteran and he told me of seeing a German biplane machine gunning a pilot as he was floating down in his parachute. I don’t know if the pilot in the parachute was an American English or French pilot I just remember our neighbor telling us of seeing this.

Yes Richard Peterson you are one of the great ones you will go down in history for a long time👍🏼👍🏼😃💖😎

I believe I saw Richard Peterson back in the 1980s. every year they used to have the Tico Warbird show in Titusville Florida. I attended it every year and it was always a great show. A lot of world war II veteran fighter pilots would attend that show and give talks and autographs. I believe Richard Peterson was one of them

The old saying "What goes around comes around" really applied here!!!

If I remember correctly I saw Chuck Yeager in an interview say that he was in a fight for his life with a German pilot......narrowly escaped by shooting him down.....and swung around and got him in his chute because he didn't want to have to face that pilot again. It's war folks. War is ugly. These are some of the reasons war veterans don't want to talk about what they did in combat. Sometimes it ain't heroic or glamorous. Life isn't a movie. Life is real.

I served with the Green Beret and Airborne Rangers. Joined during Vietnam, got out and then joined again during Desert Storm. Luckily as a paratrooper my training was never needed in wartime. Had a few mishaps (lol) Collided with another jumper after jumping out opposite doors out of the C-130. His parachute stuck on my equipment while coming down. A jumper walking on my parachute above me who yelled at me, but it's him that has to do the corrective action and get the hell off my parachute. And dragged by winds on the ground when windy, where I quickly hit my "quick release" releasing the risers.

Great story to start the new title, especially has I hadn't heard of this guy. I don't think the German pilot would've been popular with his own Staffel either. It was not approved of by any of the combatants in Europe.

Parabéns pelo seu canal! Sou veterano da aviação naval da Marinha do Brasil e sou fascinado pela história dos bravos veteranos que lutaram nas guerras. The comment was written in Brazilian Portuguese, if you wanna know what it means.

My Uncle Tom in the York and Lancs regiment during the Second World War was shot by a sniper in Antwerp Belgium. Luckily the bullet ricocheted off his helmet but he was in shock. A group of Durham Light Infantry soldiers saw where the shot had come from and broke into the building. It was a Hitler youth type of young soldier who then tried to surrender now he was caught. He cried for his mother while they bayoneted him to death. When my uncle asked why they had killed him they replied he could have easily surrendered before he had tried to kill more allies so he deserved to die.

An old friend of mine got shot down from a US bomber, over Hamburg. He said the civilians would just as soon hang you from a tree if they caught you. He was fortunate he was picked up by a policeman and wound up in a POW camp where he remained to the end of the war. Even if you made it to the ground, you were in grave danger in that situation. I think it was the same for the Germans over England. These men are almost all gone now. I miss my friend. He was a hero in so many ways and you would never have known it unless you knew him.

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

Good Move Mr. Peterson,War is hell he asked for it.You did the right thing wonder what went through his mind.Next time i will look more into it.Glad you made it home.

Thank you sir👍

Wilcke, Hartman, Galland, Barkhorn, Rall, and almost every JG52 pilots often found themselves arguing with their fellow Luffwaffe because they saw them shooting pilots in parachutes

Killing someone from a bomber crew in a parachute wouldn't make sense because: 1. Your mission is to destroy bombers (or fighters), keep fighting them. 2. If you are flying around hunting someone else, you can be distracted and become a victim by an enemy fighter. 3. Bomber crews downed over your own country will become POW, they won't came back and fight. There are stories from fighters pilots killing enemy airmen when they where over enemy ground, in this rare case it could make sense. But even then there where only rare occasions about such incidents, but it can make sense not to deploy you parachute to early. appendix: I wanted to explain why the action of the German pilot wasn't justified it was plain stupid and might have cost him his live. For the US pilot, well some people would be surprised to know about things allowed in a war. The German pilot was an enemy combatant, if he couldn't take him as prisoner he was allowed to shoot him.

😮! La guerra es la guerra! Buen vídeo!!!

Some people obviusly get's consumed by the darkness in times of war its just sad that these thing"s have and still are happening.

My Grandfather was a British naval medic on D-Day. On one of the American beaches, I cannot say which one, he was administering morphine to the American soldiers, moving from one wounded to another with orders to only give morphine out to those soldiers who could be saved according to their wounds and chances of survival. He ignored this order and gave the stuff out according to who he decided should get saved. He found an American soldier with a bayonet stuck in his back still alive and gave him the morphine. So this tells me that the action he was involved in was still hot fighting on the beach. The American survived the war and I saw him as a child at my Grandfathers house. Posh Allen they used to call him. Because of his fine posh American accent. For that act of insubordination I am proud of my Grandfather. When the war ended and he was to have collected his medals. He refused to do so. He was so disgusted at what he had been through and that was the end of it. There are millions of untold stories. This one about the parachutist is a reminder of those kind of stories we don't often hear. It is hard to keep ones integrity and keep your finger off that trigger even when you know that it could destroy your honor even if you think it could be justice. War makes people sick inside their souls. That is the reason why many soldiers never spoke about what they had gone through when they came back.

The "Silver Star" is a very high honor. My uncle was a tank commander under General Patton in North Africa during Operation Torch and earned the Silver Star. If anybody here is still reading these comments and wants to know about my Uncle Pete's story, I'll be glad to tell you. I'm not bragging, but I'm just so damn proud of him and his 5 brothers who were also in the war. One was a nose gunner on a B-24. They all made it home, including my dad, obviously. But Uncle Pete's story, where he earned the Silver Star is amazing.

Justice served. R.I.P. Major.

Now for something uplifting. The Japanese fighter pilot, Sako, was on a routine scouting mission over new guinea, when he spotted an American transport plane . Upon further inspection it was only carrying women and children. He waived off his wingman and returned to base. Years after the war at a joint reunion he actually met the co-pilot, his wife and daughter who were all on that transport.

“You’ve Met Your Maker Buster” sounds like a brand new song for Marty Robins’s Gunfighter Ballads and I’m here for it