Midway (the movie)

[Pilgrim]

I have no great philosophy behind having kids - if you're a religion-benevolent agnostic and evolutionist/biologist like me, our purpose on earth is pretty much reduced to not making a mess out of our own and other people's lives as well as - yup - preserving the species with what we have.

That's about as accurate a description of my own position(s) as I could ask for. Nicely said!

[Bubbalou88]

My son in the Air Force came for Thanksgiving and my retirement. We saw Terminator but I couldn't get he or my wife to see Midway. After reading the posts here I am going to try and see it this week if still showing in our area close by. As far a grandkids, not yet but my daughter age 30 and her husband are wanting to start a family. Hope they hurry, at age 67 not getting any younger

[Dave W]

Dave, wasn't your dad a tail gunner in the Pacific? On a Dauntless?

He was, but I don't know what plane.

Dave! I know he didn't like to talk about his war experiences, and that's ok, but you never ever asked about the type of plane?! A Dauntless dive bomber (at least at one point in his career) or a torpedo bomber is pretty likely if he was with the Navy on a carrier.

He was Army Air Corps. No, I never asked, never was that interested and he wasn't willing anyway.

There were photos of his plane. If they still exist, they're in unsorted boxes in Philadelphia, where one of my sisters has them.

Update:

My brother now has his diary. He flew a B24, possibly one or more modified ones. He flew many missions, including 10 combat missions. The last one, they were hit, most of his crewmates were killed and he suffered ruptured eardrums.

[uwe]

Danke! Appreciated that you took the effort, knowing you're no militaria buff.

So you're telling us that bad Japanese marksmanship and an ample portion of luck and good fate are to blame for you being with us today? 

[Dave W]

Danke! Appreciated that you took the effort, knowing you're no militaria buff.

So you're telling us that bad Japanese marksmanship and an ample portion of luck and good fate are to blame for you being with us today? 

True, but not unusual. I'll bet most of us here today had ancestors who narrowly escaped death at some point.