Skydiver's Legs Severed By Plane
An American skydiving cinematographer has been killed after his legs were severed in a midair collision with the plane he jumped from.
Albert "Gus" Wing had already deployed his parachute on Saturday when he struck the left wing of the DHC-6 Twin Otter propeller plane, a witness on the ground told police.
Both of Wing's legs were severed at the knees, but he managed to manoeuvre his parachute and land near the DeLand Airport, about 65 kilometres north of Orlando, Florida, the local police commander Randel Henderson said.
He later died in hospital, Henderson said. - smh.com.au
That just sounds so hideously unpleasant - can you imagine?
"Crap. Looks like both my legs have been cut off. Well, guess I'll try to manouvre through the haze of aertirial blood towards the airport... "
ANZAC and All That
I thought about going to the dawn parade today. And then I thought:
Most of the soldiers killed were young conscripts, not career soldiers. Most of those men died wanting nothing more than a clean shirt, a warm bath, a decent cigarette and maybe some beer, if possible. They didn't die thinking: Man, I hope that in 80 years' time people get out of bed really early once a year and stand around in the freezing cold remembering me.
They probably died thinking: This is so unfair. And so wrong. I've been terrified constantly for months. The food is terrible and the trenches are filled with water and rats. My feet are rotting. Sod the Empire. God sod the bloody King. I want to go home. I want to go to the dance with my girl. I want to see my kid at least once before I die. I want to go home.
The only reason I commemorate ANZAC day is because I know a fair bit about European military history in the 20th Century, and a lesser amount about the war in the Pacific. And I don't want it to be turned into the Glorious Dead Who Have Fallen. Let's be clear about what we are Lest Not Forgetting.
War is murderous. War robs countries of thousands upon thousands of men (and women) in the prime of their lives. Not only those who die in the conflict, but also their never-born children and grandchildren. WWI and WWII continued to function only through conscription and penalty after the reality of conflict became known.
Today we commemorate our Government forcing thousands and thousands of young men to be shipped overseas, disembowelled, blown apart and shot, infested with illness, captured, tortured and starved. Lest We Forget indeed.
I used to go to the dawn services, but they've just gotten bigger and bigger and I'm disturbed by the increased mentions of "glory" and fewer pledges towards actively eschewing war and working towards peace. Lest We Forget also means Never Again, to me, and I think that was the desperate wish of most soldiers, hence the label "War to End All Wars". But I feel like that message is being lost in "rememberance" (of what?) and "sacrifice" (forcible) and "glory"(please explain, particularly in terms of Gallipoli, the Almighty Fuck-Up)
Train Crash In Osaka, Japan
37 people dead and many others injured, it was a nasty crash (I think it clipped an apartment building). Japan's train system has such an excellent safety record, I'll be interested to see what the cause is put down to. There was mention of a train on the tracks.
Members of my family have been volunteers in the armed forces in most (all) of the conflicts New Zealanders have found themselves in. All came back.
Some talk about it, some don’t. I’ve never been, I never want to go and I hope no generation after me need to, but I am guessing that they will.
But they have said that one of the things that motivated them was to stand up to something that at they time they thought was wrong.
I don’t go to the Dawn service every year, but I make a point of remembering the sacrifice that was made for me, by people I know and the ones I never got to meet.
So it’s not the politics for me, the location, the reasons for going, the things they saw, felt and accomplished. Just the gratitude owed.
Btw
As far as I am aware conscription for WW1 in NZ started in 1916 we left Galipoli in December 1915.
This is just how I feel.
Oh absolutely. And I do agree that if I were directly threatened, as Britain was, I would probably have signed up too. Particularly at that time, when patriotism and glory and duty to King and Country were much more tangible.
I guess I wonder whether signing up as an 18yr old expecting glorious battles or being required to sign up as an 18yr old expecting trenches full of rats means much by the time you get the battlefield? Particularly in WWI.
But you know what, I will not bear arms at my Government's behest. I will kill someone who threatens to kill me or harm those that I love. But I'm never going to kill someone just because I'm told to.
People always say "Oh if they hadn't stopped Hitler we'd all be speaking German blah blah blah". That's just not bourne out by available evidence. The West *helped* Stalin and Mao and they self-destructed eventually. Then it comes down to "well more people were killed by Stalin than by WWII - same said about Mao."
The thing is though, despots use war to keep the country scared and voting conservative (voting for them) rather than liberal (voting for your head to be cut off)
Posted by: phreq at April 26, 2005 07:44 PMA train on the tracks? Never!
smartass ;)
Posted by: phreq at April 29, 2005 04:05 PM