Word: tatum
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...want to thank you for the wonderful insight of the G.I. expressed in this article, and for the highly informative way in which it is written . . . The descriptions of Popko, Tatum and Ward are character studies that will be remembered...
Butterflies & Men in White. Tatum flew an average of one mission every two days, about an hour and 40 minutes to each mission. The entries in his journal are phrased like a boy's diary notes on how many butterflies he caught or what odd shells he found on the beach, but there is a deadly difference...
...Sept. 19, Tatum was shot down-by two bullets from North Korean rifles. He did not even notice that the plane had been hit until the pressure gauge on the instrument panel began to fall off to zero, and he realized that one of the slugs had hit fuel lines. He managed to turn around and ditch the plane about a mile offshore in the sea. He remembers scrambling into the life raft and watching the plane sink slowly. "I gave it sort of a half salute." His main worry was what his plane captain would think when Ensign Tatum...
That evening Tatum was unable to sleep. He thought about his life-insurance policy and how, if he had got killed, the Navy would have had to read all the letters from his girl which he had saved. "A hell of a job for somebody." But then he pulled his blanket over his shoulder and went to sleep. His crash landing is the only war experience Tatum dreams about. The men in white he shot on the road, or the old woman's detached arms and legs, never disturb his sleep...
...Ensign Tatum describes patriotism this way: "I don't necessarily believe in the big shots as individuals. But there are a lot of people like me and you. I believe in them. I believe in the American girl I see walking in the street. I have never even met her, but I believe...