The Day I Fired Alan Ladd and Other World War II Adventures

144 Pages·2002·0.42 MB·English

by  A. E. Hotchner

The Day I Fired Alan Ladd and
Other World War II Adventures
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The Day I Fired Alan Ladd and
Other World War II Adventures
A. E. Hotchner
UniversityofMissouriPress
ColumbiaandLondon
Copyright©2002by
TheCuratorsoftheUniversityofMissouri
UniversityofMissouriPress,Columbia,Missouri65201
PrintedandboundintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Allrightsreserved
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Hotchner,A.E.
TheDayIFiredAlanLaddandOtherWorldWarII
Adventures/A.E.Hotchner.
p. cm.
ISBN0-8262-1432-0(acid-freepaper)
1.UnitedStates,ArmyAirForces—Biography.2.WorldWar,
1939–1945—Personalnarratives,American.I.Hotchner,A.E.
D811.H723A32002
2002072778
(cid:1)(cid:1)™Thispapermeetstherequirementsofthe
AmericanNationalStandardforPermanenceofPaper
forPrintedLibraryMaterials,Z39.48,1984.
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NaturalBridgeforhavingpublishedanexcerptofthisbook.
For Virginia, Ginny, and Ginger
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Preface
What I discovered about war is that despite one’s best effort,
it is not easy to be heroic. I’m talking about a live hero. Dead is
not as difficult. To perform heroically in a perilous situation is
onething,butIfoundthat,inmycase,therealdifficultywasin
getting myself into a spot where heroism was possible. Nobody
onlatrinedutyevergottheMedalofHonor.
ForfouryearsItwistedandturnedthroughthelabyrinthofthe
militaryestablishmentwithouteverarrivingatthezenithofmy
search,whichwastofindawaytoengagetheenemyandthrough
deedanddaringconquerhimheroically.Iknowthatsoundsnaive
but I assure you that in 1942, with nineteen ships of our Pearl
Harbor fleet in smoldering ruins and twenty-four hundred of
our people dead plus the fact that Hitler was ravaging Europe,
thedesireforpatrioticretributionwasreal.ButthemoreItried
to perform what I perceived was my duty, the more the unpre-
dictable finger of military fate kept pointing me in the opposite
direction.ThewayIseeit,heroisminthemilitaryisdividedinto
threecategories:menwhotrytobeheroicandfail;menwhotry
and succeed; and men who never get a chance, of which I am a
prime example, as you will see in this account of my four-year
careerintheAirForce.Irosethroughtheranksfromprivateto
major,hopingwitheachpromotiontobeputinharm’sway,but
harmavoidedme,notmeit.
vii
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Thebestlaidschemeso’micean’men
Gangaftagley.
RobertBurns