Sobering Wisdom From Lemay/Hiatus/A Hopeful Omen?

These remarkably prescient words from General Curtis Lemay—one of the men most responsible for our victories against both Germany and Japan during WWII—were written in 1965. Tragically, we seem to have almost completed the moral descent Lemay warned about in his memoirs (“Mission With LeMay,” 1965, p. 420) 45 years ago. This is most evident in our self-flagellating attitudes toward the Ur-Fascism of Islam, and its global votaries, while their genocidal jihadism is so triumphantly renewed in vigor, at present.

The German people themselves were historically responsible for the Nazi hierarchy and the Nazi war machine. No little band of handpicked zealots alone could have wrought such a fantastic massacre. It had to be done with people. It was done by and with the German people.

We can look back and salute a comparative handful of clear-minded and courageous Teutonic humans who were tortured out of existence by the Schutzstaffel [Nazi SS] or who decayed in concentration camps. But they were a distinct minority. The bulk of the German population was behind Hitler, or pretended to be. The bulk of the population applauded him, sustained him or (in the less evil instances) stood idly by, or turned their backs on the whole thing.

I would not wish to have it pointed out to me by some Whiz Kid, at this late stage of the game, that World War II was a colossal mistake, an international misunderstanding for which the United States was proportionately responsible. World War II was nothing of the kind. It was an event wherein the military giants of those several Axis states decided that they could get away with an incredible land grab, a nation grab, a super-Napoleonic concept of defacement of a world-sized map. They did this with the enthusiasm of their nationals behind them. In minor dissension may have sounded the voices of a few ardent patriots and heroic philosophers; but those were not the majority. An horrific chorus shouted, “Duce!” or “Banzai!” or “Heil Hitler!” Eventually because of the sacrifices offered and endured by our men and the entire populations of Allied countries, the enemy went down to defeat. Enemy cities were pulverized or fried to a crisp. It was something they asked for and soemthing they got. In reverse fashion, if we keep listening to the gospel of apology and equivocation which all too many politicians and savants are preaching today in the United States, we will be asking for the same thing. And in time may achieve it.

However, as I take a likely 4-6 week hiatus, let me highlight this very positive development brought to my attention by Warren Kozak, author of a superb recent biography of LeMay. Confirming what I first learned from Warren—that Curtis Lemay has been chosen by the Air Force Academy Class of 2013 as their exemplar—a person worthy of emulation—I found this blog from an Air Force cadet, along with the insignia, below:

The best part of the whole thing was coming into our rooms at the end and seeing that our new exemplar is General Curtis E. LeMay. This was sewn onto our athletic jackets above the 13 (as pictured) and is now what we all yell whenever we hear the number 13.

These additional observations from Curtis LeMay, circa 1968 (from “America is in Danger,” 1968, Introduction, p. xii), elucidate the source of recent past, as prologue to present, afflictions of the military “mindset”:

Like witch doctors, defense intellectuals have created jargon which tends to becloud understanding. I submit that military strategy and subsequent national defense policies are understandable if clearly presented. Moreover, the average citizen must be familiar with these subjects because, through his franchise, he makes the most fundamental and far-reaching defense decisions.

Gobbledygook has become the union card of defense intellectuals.

Let us pray a new generation of less hard Left indoctrinated, politically (and Islamically) correct cadets is emerging. Hope springs eternal!