Page 26 - Abacoa Community News - April '24

Page 26, Abacoa
Book Review

I Will Tell No War Stories: One of today’s finest Equally tense was the situation for the onboard gunners
What Our Fathers Left historians and most whose job was to protect themselves and their crews from
the attacks of enemy fighter planes. Some of the following
skillful researchers,
Unsaid About World War II Howard Mansfield, text has been deleted for lack of space here and been
grew up in that kind of
replaced by ellipses (…).
By Nils A. Shapiro home. “The big problem was the obvious one: aiming the
As we near the century His father, Pincus gun … the gunner, cold and on oxygen after hours of
mark since the end of World Mansfield, had joined inactivity had to exercise split-second judgment … 1)
War II only two decades the Army Air Force Recognize the airplane (enemy vs. friendly fighter)—at
from now, we have all in 1943 at the age of six hundred yards it would appear no bigger than a dime
seen many movies and 19. Although the truth held at arm’s length, edgewise; 2) Estimate its distance
read books about what our was not known by (The gunsight made planes look smaller than they were.)
military forces experienced the general American The plane’s vibration also made accurate aiming difficult
during those years in public at the time, … 3) Estimate the difference in the speeds of his bomber
combat overseas. training for wartime air and the enemy aircraft … 4) ‘Compute the Lead’ – how
But what has been combat was woefully far in front of the attacker to fire … 5) And then fire …
strangely missing is an inadequate. The result was that only one of every four all within three to six seconds.”
explanation, and understanding, of why our veterans— bomber crews—each consisting of a pilot and copilot, a On Sept. 8, 1944, a few days before his 20th birthday,
those who survived to return home when so many did bombardier, navigator and gunners—completed its full Pincus Mansfield’s last note about his crew’s mission
not—locked their wartime memories within themselves, tour of 25 missions. The rest were shot down, killed in over Karlsruhe read: “Temp. -38 C. (-34.6 F) Froze two
refusing to discuss such experiences with family or friends action, missing in action or taken as prisoners. As United fingers.” He was later to lose two fingers of his left
for the rest of their lives. Press reporter Harrison Salisbury said, “To fly in the hand, amputated because of the below-freezing cold that
Eighth Air Force then was to hold a ticket to a funeral. gunners were exposed to in the cramped, clear plexiglass
“bubbles” in which they were restricted during flight. He
Your own.”
It’s The Law! talk about the war throughout his lifetime, even to his had frostbite but it didn’t stop him from flying; he was
Like most men of his generation, Pincus refused to
back in action the next day. The author notes, “My father’s
family. He said a few things about his time in England frostbite, three weeks shy of his twentieth birthday, would
Did You Know That, In but nothing ever about combat. bother him for the rest of his life. It was on his bad left
It was not until many years later, after his father’s

hand. Into his nineties, he was seeing doctors to have parts
Florida… passing and while cleaning out the old family home, that cut off. When I asked him why he was seeing a doctor for
Howard Mansfield found in a small drawer with his dad’s his hand, he said only, ‘It’s nothing. An inconvenience.’”
By Adam S. Gumson, cufflinks and tie clips some small, unlined, pocket-sized Between what was for some a terror that was so intense
Esq. notebook pages, folded over and tossed aside, sitting as it would last a lifetime, for others a guilt at the realization
A certificate of trust they had for almost 65 years. It was an account of each that their job was to kill over and over again, we begin
is a legal document that bomber mission Pincus had been on when he was 19 and to understand in these pages why so many World War II
serves as a concise 20 years old! veterans could never speak about their wartime experiences
and reliable means of Eventually serving as a belly gunner on B-24 Liberator to anyone but each other for the rest of their lives.
confirming the existence bombers for many missions over Germany, the young man Here is one more brief excerpt that provides a glimpse
of the trust and the had kept a handwritten diary describing after each mission of what it was like in the skies of World War II:
names of the trustees what he and the crew of his plane had just gone through— “Sometimes the planes would blow up, the bombs
without disclosing the an extraordinary document that reveals a view of aerial aboard exploding, or the fuel in the tanks, or both … The
names of beneficiaries warfare so intimate and detailed that to read its pages is aircraft splits into pieces of metal … You might see bodies
or other private details as close as one can ever get to living the experience. … Men, pinned to the walls and floor by the centrifugal
of the trust. It is often sent to financial institutions or That was the inspiration and motivation for a new book force of a spinning plane had little time to escape before
government entities in lieu of providing the entire trust by his son, Howard, who—starting with those faded old the bomber hit the ground … The crews in other bombers
to confirm that the trust is still valid and operational. pages and a series of private tape recordings made by his could only watch as men fell five miles down through
A contract is a legally binding agreement between father 75 years after the war and discovered along with bombers and fighters in battle, fell without a parachute
two or more parties that outlines the material terms the diary—takes it from there and uses his own brilliant or with a parachute on fire, or were machine-gunned to
and conditions governing their relationship. It is research skills to add a wealth of information gleaned from death as they hung from a parachute.”
commonly referred to as “a meeting of the minds” sources that fill a reference section of six full pages at the But Howard Mansfield’s book is not all a history of
and typically involves an offer made by one party, end of this book. I Will Tell No War Stories is officially tragedy. His Dad made it home, and the last two chapters
the acceptance of that offer by another party and an being published this month. describe the life he returned to – a touching and emotional
exchange of consideration (such as money, goods, After training in Colorado, Pincus Mansfield was reminder of why these men kept the demons of memory
services or promises). sent overseas to Old Buckenham military air base in East to themselves, refusing to share them with loved ones.
Having a will does not negate the need for probate. Anglia, England, and assigned as a belly gunner on the “My father, like most of the men of his generation,
The will is actually the direction as to what happens crew of the B-24 Liberator, Mary Harriet, in the 453rd chose silence … By his silence he said, I give you peace.
in probate and identifies the preferred personal BG (Bomber Group). He was one of nearly 3,000 men Take it. Take the yawning days of summer boredom, the
representative and beneficiaries. stationed there as either crew or ground support for flying hours on the floor watching TV shows with a talking horse
There is no state inheritance tax. However, when missions over Germany in the years to come. or a wily coyote, the hours lost with a coloring book on
someone dies, a final federal income tax return should Try to picture in your mind, on a single mission, the a rainy day … take the school days and proms … touch
be filed on behalf of the decedent (i.e., the person staggering sight of as many as 1,400 B-24 bombers filling football in the street … Take it all. I give you peace. Take
who dies) or on behalf of the estate. the skies (plus hundreds of roving escort fighter planes), it and don’t ask me questions. I will tell no war stories.”
Jupiter Law Center is a private neighborhood in a carefully organized formation, often with fewer than To all of you who are veterans of any war, or who
law firm located in the RiverPlace Professional 100 feet between wing tips, and—for fear of crashing into now or in the past have had veterans in your lives, those
Center, 1003 W. Indiantown Road, Suite 210, Jupiter, their own very close bombers—being unable to move out words alone are all you need to know about Howard
FL, (561) 744-4600, jupiterlawcenter.com. The firm of position despite being attacked by enemy fighter planes Mansfield, and why I recommend this as just the first of
provides peace of mind by solving problems with and flak from ground-based anti-aircraft cannons. this wonderful historian’s books you will want to read.
integrity and compassion in the areas of estate
and business planning, probate, guardianship and
trust administration, probate and guardianship for
personal injury firms, family law and real estate.

How much will you

need to retire?

Call to schedule a

one-on-one.

Sally S Stahl, AAMS™
Financial Advisor
1851 W Indiantown Rd Ste 106
Jupiter, FL 33458
561-748-7600
Sally.Stahl@edwardjones.com