General Yeager tells this story:
1943: Shortly before Christmas, we left for England and war.
Just a couple nights before, we had feasted on the antelope I had herded and shot cleanly with a P-39. Far better than spam or powdered eggs, it would be our last good meal for a long time.
As the maintenance officer, I had to stay behind in Caspar, WY a few days to help pack and move equipment. We loaded 500 lbs of Christmas candy to give to children into the washing machines we were taking to England. When I was finished, I left for New York to catch up with the squadron just as they were boarding HMS Queen Elizabeth.
Because of enemy submarines and warships, the Queen Elizabeth had to zig zag all the way across the Atlantic Ocean.
15,000 troops aboard that crossing. We rotated in groups of 5000 every eight hours.
5000 sleeping.
5000 eating.
5000 puking.
Switch.
I shared a lot with Mack McKee – we had stuck together since Tonopah – and now we even shared the same eight decker bunks on the Queen Elizabeth.
Mack and I kept things interesting by sawing through the ropes holding the top bunks so when the top sleeper crawled into his sack, the top ropes broke starting a chain reaction pile-up that landed seven people on top of the bottom sleeper.
When we got off the Queen Elizabeth in England, we were green, but eager, fighter jocks.
Who knew what lay in store for us but within 14 months at least 21 of the original 30 were either dead or missing including my best friend, Mac McKee.
We were no longer green.
c. GCYI