Shameless hype

[Barrett]

CNN's "Inside Politics" segment today (Thursday 5 July) ran a 20-minute feature on Lyndon Johnson's bogus Silver Star from 1942. At least I didn't trip over my tongue or look at the camera cross-eyed. Henry Sakaida and I broke the story in a '93 anthology with an updated version in the April '01 issue of Naval History Magazine (accessible at http://www.usni.org/NavalHistory/articles0...m). The same issue contains an interview with Joe Foss.
Though the CNN segment contains a couple of naysayers, I think that anybody with two gray cells to rub together will conclude that you must modify the time-space continuum to accept LBJ's version of the "Tow 9" mission to Lae, New Guinea.
Inside Politics is scheduled to repeat on Sunday.

Barrett sends

[Billy_Bishop]

Oh drat!! There was shameless hype on CNN and I missed it!

Maybe I can catch it Sunday.

VBR,

Al Lowe
(Who didn't even know that LBJ got ANY medal in WWII!)

[Barrett]

Not to worry, Al. You can express your opinion on the CNN poll (currently 52% say LBJ did not deserve his gong; 38% just don't care.) there's also a lively discussion portion, dominated by LBJ advocates.

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/johnson.silver.star/

Hmmm...wonder if we could get CNN to cover The Bishop Thing....

Did Alec Baldwin get a medal for bombing
Tokyo?

[Barrett]

Not yet, Ed, but the Oscars aren't due out til next spring!
I did however scan a Pearl Harbor forum in which some of the conspiracy enthusiasts demanded their money back after seeing the movie. They said the only thing that could improve the flick would be Godzilla rising from the depths off Hawaii to finish the job that the Japanese carriers left undone.
Then somebody else opined that King Kong would have to climb the Tokyo Tower (?) to swat down the B-25s!
Meanwhile, 55% of the CNN respondents say LBJ did not deserve his Silver Star. 36% ask "Why are we discussing this?" and 9% insist that he earned it.

The technology age. It took less than 24 hours;

This story "broke" on Sydney talk back radio at about midday via a Aussie correspondent in the USA. The basic response of most of the caller's was not to supportive of poor old LBJ.

MacArthur's already poor rating with Australians sank even further when it was discovered that he gave LBJ permission to fly the mission and then gave him a gong for it. One ex Kokada vet rang and said it was the case of one egotistical b..tard honouring another.


Regards,
Andrew.

***Sarcasm Alert***
MacArthur currying favor with a Congressman?
Inaccuracies in a book by Martin Caiden?
Gee, that's right up there with "Japan Surrenders!"

[Richard_Schrader]

Barrett;
As I recall MacArthur wanted JFK court-martialed for losing his PT boat, and getting two of his crew killed. Old Joe Kennedy wanted his son to win the CMH. Some say thathe "won" the Navy Cross for saving his crew, I've also heard that all he got was the Navy Lifesaving medal.

Richard

I had read Tillman/Sakaida's account of how LBJ "won" his medal several years ago, and it struck me as very well researched. I was considering mentioning it to a local paper here in upstate NY. A local man,Henry Johnson, rescued his comrade by killing several trench-raiders in WWI. He was wounded and I believe that a portion of the fracas was hand to hand. The MOH was considered, but forgotten when the war ended. Now there is a movement to get Mr. Johnson the MOH, but the army nixed it. Johnson did win a French medal(CDG?) because his unit,a black one, was serving with the French army. The whole idea of medals,awards, etc. is a complex matter. The German high command seemed to dangle medals in front of their flyers-and it got results. A ribbon might be enough for British/Americans, but it seems the PLM winners wore them on a regular basis-correct?

There was one Congressman who deserved a
medal. He volunteered for the American Air Service in Italy almost immediately
after war was declared. (April, 1917.) He
rose to the rank of Major. While serving
at Foggia the Italian aircraft factories
were sending self-destructing aircraft to
his field. He personally went to the S.I.A. Factory and canceled the order.This after a marine lieutenant had
his plane shed its wings immediaely after
takeoff, killing him.He was ordered to
Paris by the IPC (Interallied Purchasing
Commission) to expain by what authority
he had cancelled a $5-million contract.
"By the authority vested in me to safe-
guard the lives of American airmen."The
planes already delivered were kept as
ground trainers.The rest of the order
stayed canceled.Now that congressman
should have been given two medals.He was
not an observer with political pals in
DC like LBJ. This man was the "fly in the
ointment," the "little wop" despised by
a lot of his fellow representatives. That
"Little Wop" was non eother than the five
foot dynamo and future mayor of New York,
---Fiorello H. Laguardia!
By the way, his mom was an Italian Jew. Yup there are Italian Jews, believe
it or not!