AUBURN — I was watching the last debate between President Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney tonight when I began thinking about a former South Dakota representative and presidential contender who died this week at 90 years old.
George McGovern was a liberal Democrat who lost in a landslide to Richard Nixon in 1972. What intrigues me more than McGovern's fine political career was his distinguished service as a World War II pilot.
He was a sincere and brave man who interrupted his studies at college and enlisted right after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He flew missions over Italy, Austria and Germany and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross after his plane was shot down.
McGovern flew the B-24, a pig of a plane that was difficult to maneuver. Pilots who flew this heavy bomber watched the bicep in their right arms become enlarged because this beast was so difficult to steer in battle.
He was a rare and sincere breed who demonstrated his integrity by putting it all on line for his nation in a war that consumed the entire planet.
Stephen E. Ambrose wrote an excellent book, "The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys who flew the B-24s over Germany, 1944-45." It featured McGovern's dangerous missions as a pilot who flew with the Fifteenth Air Force's 451st Bombardment Group stationed in Italy.
The book ended with a fascinating episode in a bloody war that haunted McGovern for most of his life. The former U.S. representative spoke about this devastating moment during an interview on a television station in Austria 40 years later.
After one mission, there was a 500-pound bomb dangerously hanging from the rack. McGovern and his crew had two alternatives: Ditch the aircraft or jettison this bomb to safely land the plane.
The crew eventually freed the bomb, but it dropped on a farm house around noon that day. McGovern figured he had wiped out an entire family on the border of Austria and Italy.
Well, during that TV interview, a farmer called the station and told McGovern he got his family safely out of harm's way before the bomb struck his home.
Imagine how relieved McGovern must have felt. After all, this was a man who risked life and limb for his country, but despite the scourge of war and the psychological scars he was forced to sort out throughout his civilian life, he never lost hope or his belief in mankind.
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