A Vet and A Good Man

[Bill Greenwood]

Sen. George McGovern passed away at age 90.

He grew up in S. Dakota as the son of a preacher, so he was a somewhat reserved man and a Christian in the broadest since of the word.

Despite his peaceful background, when WW II broke out, George joined the military. He became a B-24 pilot and flew combat missions in the Italian operations, and was decorated for some of these.
He admitted to being scared many times, but thought this was a fight worth doing and he did his best, as we now know.

Later, in the Vietnam War era, he knew that was not a fight we should be in, and he spoke out when it took courage to do so against the prevailing propaganda.

He ran for president in 1972, and lost to Richard Nixon. The voters selected one of the worst over one of the best.

I met him several times, once at an airshow in the Minneapolis area and more recently at Oskosh where he was at the CAF B-24, like he flew.
He seemed to be a down to earth guy.

[Louis]

I agree. Whether you agree with his politics or not, I don't think anyone can honestly say that he was anything but a great American.

That was truly an amazing generation that saved us from the what would almost certainly have been the worst dark age this world has ever seen. I'm certain that Americans were in just as much disagreement about different matters as we are today, but they still managed to pull together and make it work.

My father was also opposed to the Vietnam war. He was totally a man of peace but flew a PBM patrol bomber during WWII. He loved to talk about the ocean and the Pacific Islanders. He also loved to talk about the PBM...He didn't much like to talk about the ships they sank.