tora tora tora

[Tractorat]

I heard an interesting fact this morning on TV about the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Everyone has seen the movie, Tora Tora Tora.

In the movie, you see the 2 young navy fliers take off in their P40 Warhawk fighter planes to fight the japs all alone. The young fliers are wearing navy uniforms.

Well, during the actual battle, they were actually wearing tux's. They had been at a party the night before where they wore tux's and went to bed still in their tux's. When the alert came, they just jumped out of bed, still in their tux's, and went to war dressed (as 007 would have said "to kill".

I dont remember if this was made clear in the movie. But they think they each shot down at least 5 japs.

The movie had them in uniform because they didnt think the public would believe the real story.

 

[DavidC]

Well, they weren't in their underwear or other compromising attire. Good catch.

 

[Tractorat]

Oops, sorry, my bad. They were Army pilots. (duh)

 

[Tractorat]

"Welch and Taylor received the Distinguished Service Cross, becoming the first to be awarded that distinction in World War II. Welch was nominated for the Medal of Honor, the military’s highest award, but was reportedly denied because his superiors maintained he had taken off without proper authorization."

 

[GAmes]

"........ but was reportedly denied because his superiors maintained he had taken off without proper authorization."

Bureaucrats are a pox on the military.

 

[RUSSELL5000]

I would think that the enemy blowing you off the face of the earth was adequate authorization.