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PeterL
*The surviving WW1 combatants among my antecedents did not talk about their experiences and never boasted about their accomplishments. *I disagree with Shooter here
“While combat vets are not always the most admirable of men, to suggest that they are pure frauds is simply not acceptable to me.”
I cannot see why a combat vet could not be a pure fraud. *Out of combat, the vet is no different from John Citizen. *In other spheres of their lives it may be different but in terms of honesty, those who fought are no different from those who did not.
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Vin:
Feel free to disagree as you will, sir
Perhaps what I said was not fully amplified. Because their events speak more for them than they can say themselves, we should not assume that they are frauds without due cause. The charges against
Billy Bishop therefore should be dismissed without due cause, and I am not certain such charges can be sustained today.
The charge against Bishop is solely that his statements due not match the personnel and equipment loss records of Central Powers air forces. While I freely stipulate that the German war records were kept with fastidious care, as any first sergeant can tell you there are any number of reasons to gundeck the logs (been there...done that...got the tee-shirt). Ergo, to accept German military records as being holy icons is an error.
Again, Bishop seems like a guy who could tell a tall tale while hoisting a pint, but if his after-actions were accepted by the convening authority of the time, I will not assume to challenge them now.
'Tis now your turn to pontificate, Vin.
Shooter sends