Freedom Still Isn’t Free
On May 24, 1945, Downing and his crew took off from the U.S. base on Tinian Island, en route to their 20th bombing raid on Japan. From Tinian they flew 1,400 miles to the southern coast of Japan, where they made formation with hundreds of other B-29s and headed toward Tokyo.
The raid went smoothly until shortly after midnight, when Downing felt his bomber shutter and noticed the interior of the B-29 was filling with smoke.
When Downing and his crew realized their bomber had been hit by enemy fire, they began bailing out just 15 miles northeast of Tokyo. It was 1:00 a.m. on May 25, 1945, when they began to parachute into the night, and before all the crewmembers could get out the bomber exploded in mid-air. Only eight of the 11 crewmembers made it out, and of those eight Downing was the last to get clear of the plane before it disintegrated.
Once on the ground, Downing tried to hide out but was quickly captured by Japanese farmers who had seen him parachute through the sky. He was bound and taken to the same makeshift prison in which Thomas had been sitting for more than a month.
The rice ball on which Downing and Thomas subsisted each day grew smaller and smaller as the summer months passed. What had been a ball of rice the size of a baseball upon Thomas’ arrival in March became something nearer “the size of a golf ball” as the war’s end approached. In fact, food was so scant that POWs who were physically able would get on their hands and knees and drag their tongues across the floors of the cells in an attempt to pick up any kernels of rice that had fallen and were struck in the cracks there.
Unlike many of the men with whom they were imprisoned, both Downing and Thomas survived their captivity and enjoyed being liberated after the Japanese surrendered on August 14, 1945.
As a historian, I’ve collected the history of these two gentlemen over the last six years. And without fail, on the occasions that I’ve been fortunate enough to sit down with one of them, he has smiled and told me: “I only did my duty. And I would do it again if called upon.”
This Veterans Day, let’s thank God for Downing, Thomas, and all the other brave men and women in our armed forces who have served or are serving right now.
It is their service to this country that reminds us that freedom still isn’t free.
Thank God for men like those described here. They paid a price for our freedom.
What a great way to remember these men. I hope they know that the current administration aside, the American people are grateful for their sacrifice.
We should remember them and thank them all, not just today but every day. They keep us safe, they keep us free. For that we owe them a great debt. Semper Fi, Mac.
Thank God that WWII happened then instead of now.
I echo BrianH’s sentiment, as I don’t know if we could have won WWII were it to have occurred in the 21st century. It’s not that we don’t have the weaponry to win, it’s that we lack the will to win.
To all those who stood in the face of tyranny so I can enjoy the amazing prosperity of my life: I Salute You!
Thanks to all military vets everywhere in the U.S. today. Thanks for those who were POWs and those who weren’t but still willingly served.
Unfortunately, our public education system and our culture in general is failing these brave heroes, and all those brilliant and courageous people who fought to build and defend this country. The young people today–hell, even the middle-aged people (with many great exceptions, but not, in my view, enough) not only don’t appreciate the deep sacrifices made to defend and preserve freedom, they openly mock the idea as corny and un-hip. They plod forth zombie-eyed on the ultimate sugar-buzz of political correctness, which teaches them that all ills can be washed away with enough understanding, empathy, and “diversity.” War is always bad, therefore those who wage it are always evil.
You try, but you cannot save these morons from themselves. They will be bent over a barrel getting the Permanent Shaft from the Govt. when they realize they sold out their freedom and country for 30 pieces of gold and the chance to sit at the cool kids table during lunch hour. Let’s finally call Political Correctness what it is: Politically Wrong.
Once again, I’m amazed at the willingness of American parents to sacrifice the lives of their children in the name of Freedom. Buzz words like “they die for freedom” and “protect our country” are used endlessly by the media and politicians to program people into believing all wars are noble. Did the US bother to ask the people of Afghanistan if they want to become a democracy? What give us as Americans, the right to force other countries to accept our way of living? Unfortunately, the truth is our best and brightest are dying so corporate American can squash any country that resists giving up their natural resources to corporate greed. There is an important oil pipe-line running through Afghanistan. Will it be used for US Oil companies or Russian? Time (and war) will tell. Patriotism is a wonderful thing and I have nothing but admiration for the military; however our sons and daughters are dying for greed of corporate America and Wall Street.
My father would have loved this article. He was proud of his service and so am I.
To Maurice – Great post. You are right. Our educators are not teaching our children to honor these heroes but to despise them.
AWR Hawkins,
Great article. You’re absolutely right, freedom isn’t free. The next time anyone here see’s a homeless person, try and remember that 1/3 of them are veterans. I hope anyone who reads this message will remember the debt they owe to those who purchased their freedom.
The cost of freedom, the price of freedom is constant vigilance and a willingness to prepare and defend. The bill and debt can never be repaid. “Perpetual payment on perpetual loan”.
While the burden of freedom is constant vigilance. The debt owed by the citizens of this country to it’s veterans can and should be repaid.
What great story about the kinds of things our men had to endure to win WWII. I believe we’re so far out of touch now that people have forgotten the struggles of men like those Hawkins’ recounted. I say thanks to every veteran I meet today or on any other day.
Dena – I just read your post and am blown away by the fact that you think the media presents all wars as noble. Since Vietnam, every war we’ve been in has been attacked by the media and those very attacks have put our soldiers at greater risk. As for Afghanistan, they make their own determinations. Did you not see that they had an election last week? They choose what direction they are going to go, not we. And have no doubt but that when our soldiers die for freedom in the Middle East(and elsewhere), Goldman Sachs and “corporate greed” are not the reasons.
Dena, I don’t honestly care whether or not the people of Afghanistan want freedom. We went into Afghanistan for our sake, not theirs. The fact that the Afghan people now have the opportunity to have freedom is a beneficial side effect, but this war was started to purge Afghanistan of Islamic terrorists who declared war on the United States.
Thank you for all the great comments.
I am grateful for my mother working 12-16 hour days at Oak Ridge Tennessee for 3 years and later learning that she had helped produce the fission material used in the first atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Her telling me before she died at a young age that her bomb had saved the lives of millions of people.
My father driving a bulldozer for the US Army Corp of engineers covering a few of the bodies of 6,000,000 Jews killed in German concentration camps.
It changed his life forever.
His telling me to go fight the communist bastards in Vietnam or even serve at the Berlin wall to try and kill enough of them that they would never ever attempt to conquer the entire world again.
Everything he predicted has come to past.
Our withdrawal from South East Asia but the communists stopped in Cambodia.
Thailand, Indonesia and hundreds of millions of people are still free.
He thanked me and patted me on the back for going off to a crappy little war and killing communists.
Even my NFL hat was made in Vietnam so I guess they have jobs.
My dad before he died also predicted that some day our government leaders would become rich, fat, and passive appeasers who no longer give a Shiite whether we won or lost our brave troops in battle.
I hope these are not those days.
I pray we will not forget those that have given their blood, lives, health,
and even their own feelings of security.
Sometimes having a dream,
hearing a sound or even a smell can bring back that fear of fear itself.
They can never tell you some of the things we have seen, heard or caused them to cry.
May God preserve our great country and bless its constitution and righteous leaders.
i never relinquished control over the education of my sons. My dad a navy veteran USS Lexington CV-2 was really amazed when his grandson called him from Afghanistan. he didn’t realize the technology available to the troops. yeah he was proud of his grandsons. that is our family tradition Grandpa, uncles, dad and grandsons, all veterans. Semper Fi to the USA.
Thank you Dad, Mom, both Grampies, brother, uncles, cousins and great uncles. I am a proud “Army Brat’. Thank you too, Dad-in-Love even though you served in the Navy!
” Did the US bother to ask the people of Afghanistan if they want to become a democracy? What give us as Americans, the right to force other countries to accept our way of living?”
We have the right to force them not to shelter the savages of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. We have the right to kill our enemies. Got it?
Both my grandfathers served during WWII- my father’s father in the US Navy, and my mother’s father in the Polish Resistance. Four years ago, I told my paternal grandfather on his deathbed what an inspiration he’d been to me. I tried to join the Navy myself, but they won’t take me for medical reasons, despite me fighting tooth and nail to try to get in, so I applied for a job refueling nuclear vessels during their midlife maintenance. I haven’t heard a final decision yet on that job, and I wouldn’t be able to start until May anyway. If they won’t let me serve on the front lines, I can at least make sure our ships are ready to fight when it’s time to deploy.
Hey Dena, #9, I just noticed your post. You know what? You’re a real Marxist a__hole. Was that direct enough? For you to spew your misguided venom on today, of all days, shows just how stupid you are. And what I despise most about lowlifes like you is they always say jackass things like, “I love the military, but…” There’s always a but in a sentence like that so that dolts like you can make some strange political statement that comes right from MoveOn.org or some other dirthole like that. It’s just a pity that our brave men and women in the military have to defend people like you. But, hey, at least you’re enjoying the right to make a jerk of yourself, a right they are defending with their lives. Think about that for a while, you moron, the next time you think this country is so horrible. Hope you choke on those words.
I always love the uninformed “Marxist a-hole” comment. The truth is Marx was nothing more than an economic theorist who’s writings were self-interpreted by early communist leaders like Lenin and Stalin. Everyone seems to forget that before the rise of “Marxist Socialism,” Carl Marx expanded the economic theories of classic economists such as David Ricardo and Adam Smith. Do you recognize these names? You should because they are the ones responsible for establishing America’s first economic epistimological premise. Government shall not intervene in economic affairs they said, only it didn’t work so well. After the great depression a new economic system was instated, one in which the central government had direct control of expanding and contracting the money supply of our nation. If you don’t believe me, look it up. What I find disheartening is that people such as yourself defend something you know little about strictly on the basis of current political brainwashing. We already live in a socialist state, but at least some of us have the balls to disagree with it.