Nov 14, 2020
RAY: This came from Tom Clemala.
It’s World War II, an RAF airfield north of London. A dimly lit Quonset hut filled with aircrews has just returned from bombing runs over Germany.
The meeting opens with the chaplain leading the men in prayer for their lost comrades. He is followed by the flight operations chief, who begins the debriefing by asking the airmen, "From what direction were you attacked by the German fighter planes?"
Without hesitation or dissent, the reply was, "From above and behind."
The flight operations chief hastily scribbles the information on the back of top-secret maps, and hands it to a junior officer with the instructions, "Get this information to the departing aircrews. It may save their lives!"
As the officer turns to leave, from the inky shadows, a hand grasps his arm and he hears these words:
"Hold that order. The information you're about to give will lose lives rather than save them."
What did the guy from the inky shadows know that the flight operations chief didn't?
RAY: The surviving airmen answered that they were attacked from above and behind. But they survived! Those weren't the fatal attacks. The fatal attacks were from some other direction, and those pilots didn't have any advice to offer because they didn't come back.
What he really wanted to know was the information from the guys who weren't at the meeting. Pretty good, huh?
