I had an interesting experience a few years back, related to this thread.
In Santa Fe (ca. 1998?) I had made friends with an old, and very ill, USAAF pilot whose service was flying the Hump in Burma, carrying fuel mostly. I was on sabbatical, and ended up just helping him clean out his garage over near Glorieta. He was dying, and knew it, and needed some physical assistance, tidying up.
In doing that, we came across a few really great artifacts of his from his time during that campaign... his leather flight jacket (with some patches and painted on the back), his knee note pad, in-flight photos and some other neat and rare things he'd forgotten were there that I'd uncovered.
I gently suggested that we donate them to the Bataan military museum in town, and he agreed.
So, we got an appointment with their curator and went on in with the stuff in a sack.
At the start of the meeting, the curator (VN Army NCO Vet) was doing some polite introductions and so forth. After him establishing my paltry USAF service during the era, he turned to me and said, "So, I guess you got the DFC?"... dead seriously.
I could not believe my ears, and said, "No sir, I never came close to it, I was a REMF mechanic." He then went on with his conversation about the artifacts, saying not another word.
It took me quite awhile to realize that he had been testing me, one might say. So, anyway, I can understand what this thread is about, and feel bad that it ever needed to be posted... knowing though that from every war, such must be the case.
The curator was very grateful to get the artifacts that day, and my friend was relieved that they were in good hands. He told me a lot of stories about Burma and flying in our time together. He's passed on by now. I think of him often, and am proud to have done what I could. I miss him.
Maybe, sometimes, some of those who do the wannabe, aren't so much liars as they are guilt-ridden and sorrowful... which doesn't excuse anything.
2 cents
Sir Blue
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