A true American Hero

Tom & Wilkin,
It is the do or die mentality which has made many warriors the stuff of legend. Surrender, while an optional circumstance, is not the most preferential for true warriors. Those who do surrender while they still have the means to resist are usually branded as cowards. Without getting into a long drawn out discussion about this ideal of the military mentality, I will say that what FL did was nothing less than any other person who fought in that war. He gave the last full measure of his devotion for what he believed. It would be a shame to classify it as anything less. BTW being a POW can be a brutal experience to where death would be a more preferrable alternative. He was a true American hero and like most Americans dearly loved his liberty, so I believe the idea of being a captive just didn't fit in with Frank Luke's personality. He was a cowboy who lived his own way and died his own way. I admire the man for that!
Regards,
Jim 'ACE' - NNWA 'KEEPER OF THE DRAGON'

"Frank Luke was a tragic character but unfortunately America/Hollywood chose to idolize another hero from the Great War (Sgt. York), and without the popularization by a fine actor such as Gary Cooper; his legend quickly faded." Hollywood chose to make a movie based on York because, with the prospect of America becoming involved in the Second World War, a story based on a man struggling to reconcile his religion with his patriorism was of more immediate relevance. Although Luke was not the subject of a movie, he seems to have done pretty well in the fame department, having been the subject of numerous articles and some books. Can the same be said of Lieutenant Erwin R. Bleckley or Lieutenant Harold Ernest Goettler, who were also aerial Congressional Medal of Honour heros of that war ?

[Vin]

Hugh,

Perhaps that is because nobody dreamed up a cock-and-bull yarn about Bleckley or Goettler.

Vin

OUCH! I just looked up that website reference... I knew Maerchen sounded familiar I guess this is why lots of academics refuse to believe the Bible. one of my favorite excerpts on history making and keeping is in Caldwell's book on JG26... page 312 paragraph 2 - 4
Although there were no heavy antaircraft guns at Grimbergen, the field was by no means defenseless. Three units of RAF Regiment, which was responsible for airfield defense, were present, and their airmen began blazing away at the attackers with Bren guns. Lt. Theo Nibel had eventually caught up with his Schwarm and led it across the field on its assigned task. Nibel recalls:
The Scharm that I led had the mission of silencing the flak at Grimbergen airfield. We felw a total of three attacks on the flack, which returned fire strongly. when I pulled up after third attack, my engine quit. I suspected a flak hit in the engine. I had reached an altitude of 100 meters and had to decide quickly between a parachute jump or a crash landing. I lost high quickly, and was forced to make a belly landing. I found a freshly turned field beside a farmhouse, and made a perfect landing.

Nibel was brought down not by Bren gun fire, but by a partridge strike, which knocked a hole several inches in diameter in his fighter's radiator. ... One British air intelligence report archly attributed the fither's loss to a Free Belgian partridge. After its declassification, the report was translated into German and used as source material by German historians. At some point it was retranslated into English; the poor partridge has now been transformed in some accounts into a "Belgian resistance fighter loosing off a rifle bullet into Nibel's radiator"!

I don't doubt that there is a measure of truth in all the tales about Frank Luke, Albert Ball, William Bishop, pick a name, really... it just seems to me that people really aren't that much more sophisticated and scholarly about things now than they were 2000 years ago. I am not a believer in progressive evolution, I think humanity has existed in a static form... I don't think you can blame technology for the evils around us, it just makes it easier for people to do what they've always wanted to do. oops... that was kinda random. still... as far as things go I'm feeling pretty lucky to live in a country where I can say what's on my mind. I have friends in Kenya that don't feel that same sort of liberty... so...
Shop Smart Shop S-Mart!

Life as a POW was pretty grim. (My maternal great-great grandfather died in Andersonville during the US Civil War). Maybe Lieutenant Luke realized that countries under blockade don't spare many resources for the enemy soldiers they capture. More likely, though, is that he hated the Germans and wanted to go out "like a man." This was a total war. These guys hated each other without question. If they didn't feel that way at first, the loss of close comrades soon made them feel that way. An American Westerner would be raised on stories of the Alamo and Little Big Horn. Death before dishonor was a major theme in these men's lives.

[rammjaeger]

A man hating the Germans and having German anchestors himself would be more a case for a psychatrist.

I feel he was so isolated among his mates (together with his single friend, the German-American Wehner) more because of his descent than because of his character. He had to prove everybody that he was a "tru American" and not a much-hated hun or "hun-friend". Additional he could expect some beating by German ground troops if captured after a forced landing. German soldiers did not like German-American soldiers very much and I think that is easy to understand.

If I would believe all the articles written about Luke than there was no problem with his descent, at least it was never mentioned but considering the hate-campaign against everything German in the USA (already starting before April 1917 and even resulting in some cases of lynch-"justice") I am strongly believing that Luke was having trouble with his descent too (also if he had not "to take out the hun from his name" like another famous pilot).

I know such things do not fit into the legend of a "tru American heroe" and nobody is interested in a deeper research here.

Regards

Hannes

PS: Did Luke give his name for "Luke Skywalker"?

Hate to sound like the present day American liberal (which I certainly am not), but US citizens have always had diverse backgrounds. When serving in the military during a time of war, they all become Americans. While it is true that those of German origin were investigated/harassed upon their induction into the 1917 US military, Luke and Wehner each paid the ultimate price in defense of their beliefs.

While I dont necessarily disagree with those who state that other well-known Entente and German aces were more "successful" than Luke, how can it be suggested that Luke does not deserve the accolades he receives? As many have already stated, he is the perfect example of the fearless "mans man" that is so highly respected in this country.

Luke's methods as an offensive pilot clearly do not ensure longevity, and were not taught to be emulated. Apparently he really believed that he was invincible, or possibly he wanted to die. As I do not believe the latter to be true, I am a big fan of both the man and his style.

[Rod_Filan]

Herr Täger,
To assume a man of germanic ancestry could not hate germans who are killing his fellow countrymen, without being mentally unbalanced, has no basis in fact. Frank Luke was a first generation American, born of German Catholic parents who were political refugees from Germany. Frank Luke's grandfather arrived in 1860 and FL's father came to America in 1866 when he was only 8 years old. The Luke family rejected their german ancestry and by the time FL went overseas he had been fully integrated into the american experience (probably with little or no knowledge of Germany or the people from which he decended).
As a personal observation; my family is of german decent who did not reject their ancestry and spoke only german at home. Yet, my father willingly joined the Canadian Army in WWII, fully prepared to fight overseas if needed. Fortunately for myself the wisdom of powers-to-be stationed him to guard POWs here in Canada. I believe it was ideological differences and his rejection of tyranny that motivated him, and I suspect the same can be said of many German-Americans that went overseas to fight in WWI.

BTW -
I believe the name of Luke Skywalker was derived from George Lucas. The fact that the home of George Lucas is named "The Skywalker Ranch" could be interpreted as proof of this.

VBR
Ro§bud

I agree. I wasn't trying to belittle his accomplishments, which are still very impressive... it's just that I don't think I would have chosen to die like that. Dostoevsky has a passage in the Brothers Karamazov which suggests that sometimes it's easier to die for your beliefs than to keep on living and trying to find solutions and expressions of those ideas. No doubt living as a POW was a nasty business... It was not my intention to just rake the guy over the coals and slander him... I was simply calling into question the logic behind his decisions. I've always thought that people the whole world over, were basically the same-- everybody wants to lead a happy life and do so without a whole lot of interference and obstacles... the so-called American dream is hardly any different from the dreams and aspirations of everybody else on the planet. I guess you just need that propaganda in order to get people to fight as you need them to fight. I'm actually inclined to believe both the pro-war and anti-war camps on this regard. Some people said that the only reason we got involved in WWI and II was simply to boost the American economy and use such oppurtunities to have American come out on top at the end of the war. I don't doubt that this power-hungry motivation played a role... but to say that the only reason people go to war is for satisfying the wallets of the rich is pretty extreme and short-sighted... oops... well... this isn't really the place for philosophy....
Frank Luke was an impressive individual who called the shots... he's made his decision... and I guess people will never stop arguing about it, now will they? Maybe when people stop disagreeing about things like this is the time we should start worrying....