In later years, journalists noted that the story, at least in the form told by Reagan, was apocryphal and closely matched a scenario from a wartime Hollywood film (although not, as commonly claimed, a movie in which Reagan himself had appeared): You can see it in every crowd that he draws. You can see it in their faces and on the posters that they carry. He will sit on the floor of the plane and hold our hands. It may look like our plane is on fire, it may look like we are trapped, Ron may look old and tired, but he will see us through. The crowd knew what Reagan was saying to them. What matter to the wildly applauding crowd that Reagan's voice had cracked perfectly each of the three times that he had told the story before. "And that pilot," Reagan said, his voice actually breaking, "was given the Congressional Medal of Honor, posthumously!" "And so the pilot sat down on the floor of the plane and said: 'We'll ride it down together, son.' "The kid in the turret cried out with tears," Reagan said. And, when the pilot told everyone to bail out, the gunner knew he was doomed. The belly gunner was wounded and trapped in his gun turret. In Racine, Reagan told a large crowd about a B-17 bomber pilot in World War II whose plane was hit over France. The following excerpt from an April 1980 news report about a Reagan campaign swing through Wisconsin demonstrates how frequently and effectively the actor-turned-politician made use of it: It may have been an old movie script but, my God, it was moving.Īs suggested in the example cited above, this tale was a favorite of Ronald Reagan, who repeated it many times during his 1980 presidential campaign. There wasn't a sound from the crowd, who had their handkerchiefs out. That pilot is what heroes are made of," said Reagan. "The co-pilot jumped and the plane spiraled to its doom. The pilot put his arm around the boy and said: 'Hang on, kid, we'll ride her down together.' "Just as he was about to jump, he saw the pilot approach the kid and squeeze in beside him. The co-pilot tried to pull him loose but no luck so he headed for the hatch. The waist gunner yelled he was stuck in his turret and couldn't move. 'Bail out everyone,' yells the captain and the crew headed for the exit door. ![]() "They were hit by flak and barely staggered to the English coast. "America needs heroes," he said, "and I know about heroes because during the war it was my job to pick out the men and women who deserved medals, men like the pilot of a bomber running to England after a raid on Germany." It was on one of those hills overlooking Los Angeles and Reagan was running to be Republican presidential candidate. I never had much use for the man but I will never forget the one occasion he left my eyes wet, at a rodeo of all places. I know of only one candidate I covered who could move an audience to tears and laughter. The United States presidential race appears to have one compelling speaker in Barack Obama, but the rest fall to speech writers. ![]() A moving tale about a World War II bomber pilot who chose to go down with his disabled plane rather than abandon a trapped gunner in his dying moments has prompted a good deal of philosophical debate: Did the pilot perform a supremely noble and heroic act of self-sacrifice in providing comfort to a dying comrade in the final moments of the latter's life, or did he needlessly throw away his life (and deprive his side of an experienced pilot) for an inconsequential and transitory benefit? Either way, the vehemence of the debate demonstrates how compelling many have found this anecdote to be:
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