"Death or Glory Boys"

[Guest mruk]

Deleted

[Chris Noble]

Hi Dave. Interesting thoughts.

Just my two penneth worth on the thread.

Were these men of a different 'ilk'? Were these just random acts of gallantry, i.e. somebody taking the initiative when all had seemed lost or doomed to failure?

I suppose there could be many reasons for gallantry. Regimental 'Pride', self preservation or preservation of one's own comrades, the reasons i suppose could go on and on.

Going off thread a little, but i think this could be relevant of somebody or someone, actually 'playing down' their act of gallantry.

Lance Corporal Thomas Bryan, 25th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers (Tyneside Irish), V.C. awarded for actions at Arras, interesting piece from the St. George's Gazette. He states in the article that as some members of a gun team tried to escape, he shot them with his rifle, although, eye witness accounts state that they saw his bayonet flashing as he completed the 'destruction' of the gun crew.

Was this a bit of judicious editing? I think the British public with their mind focussed on 'Hun Beastliness' would have been more satisfied that the true course of events led to Bryan bayonnetting them to death?

Regards, Chris.

[Pete1052]

I've read a few WW II American Medal of Honor citations in which the recipient was killed in action several days after the engagement which had won him the medal. One was in my dad's division in WW II. It makes me speculate that some of these heroes were on a roll, psychologically--that where others saw the need for self-preservation and taking cover, they saw opportunities to defeat the enemy. Due to the law of averages and the extreme risks they were taking, unfortunately their luck ran out.

[Vista52]

One of my friends was a combat veteran in Vietnam. He once told me that sometimes these new guys would come into his unit and the very first time they got into a firefight they would get killed doing something crazy. He said something like "they had watched to many John Wayne Movies."

Paul