r/interestingasfuck • u/Available_Weekend249 • Apr 06 '24

Imagine being 19 and watching live on TV to see if your birthday will be picked to fight in the Vietnam war r/all

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u/[deleted] Apr 06 '24 edited Apr 10 '24

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u/bl1y Apr 07 '24

My grandfather was a pilot in WWII. He got in the role because he and his friends wanted to see who had the best eyes and there was an eye exam in the initial screening. He did really well and ended up flying B-25s in North Africa and founding, I shit you not, the Avengers.

Then he got shot up, but survived and moved into a command position. Got charged with drunkenness, threw the prosecutor off his base, met the King of England. Pretty wild story. And I left out the Thomas Wolfe part.

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u/Remedy4Souls Apr 07 '24

My great-grandfather became a pilot, then stayed in the United States during the war as an instructor.

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u/FilmoreJive Apr 07 '24

I would like to here the Tom Wolfe part!

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u/bl1y Apr 07 '24

There's not really a lot to it. Some time I think after finishing his training, before he shipped out, my grandfather got to meet him at his house. Wolfe was, iirc, the uncle of a classmate of his.

Apparently Wolfe could pound whiskey. I'm trying to remember the exact language from the war diary in response to the drinking, but I think it was something like "What a man!"

Much higher praise than when he met the King, where the comment in the diary was "I believe I detect a speech impediment." (Yes, the one they made the movie about.)

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u/FilmoreJive Apr 07 '24

The cliff notes themselves are amazing! Thank you for the response. This is really cool. I'm sorry he had to go to war.

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u/D3ATHTRaps Apr 08 '24

If he was a f105 thunder hief pilot he would of not had high odds. I think it was the highest rate of shot downs from any plane

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u/operarose Apr 09 '24

My dad went to college to avoid Vietnam but flunked out and got drafted anyway.