We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2010 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html Sat, 24 Mar 2012 15:15:42 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2012 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification From Miss Ladybug, via an email list I am a part of: This is my dad's uncle. My dad commented that all he was awarded was a Purple Heart (though I don't think it was from this incident). I need to get around to requesting Uncle Floyd's military service records. He never married, so has no decendents to remember him... Miss Ladybug http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html Mon, 03 Aug 2009 07:13:54 -0600 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91756 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91756 Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:32:10 -0600 Dad *hated* carrier landings in an F4U...
Well, considering that the suckers tended to constantly pull to one side I can imagine he would.  One mother of an engine in the strange looking bird. ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91754 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91754 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:37:41 -0600
You're welcome, Lam

You're welcome, Lam

I didn't mean to steal your thunder there, but I have it bookmarked on my machine here, and I shamelessly took the opportunity to show off my copy/paste skills.

]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91752 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91752 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:16:16 -0600 ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91750 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91750 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:33:11 -0600
Thanks, RJ, for saving me the time!
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91745 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91745 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:36:40 -0600
Thank you, RJ, for saving me the time!
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91744 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91744 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:34:36 -0600 ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91743 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91743 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:32:26 -0600 Click Here for everything you need to know about requesting vet records.]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91729 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91729 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:58:16 -0600
You assume correctly, except that it can all be done on-line.  I'll get the URL from my sister tonite.]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91728 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91728 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:43:57 -0600 I assume it would be the same as how we requested my grandfather's records, from the place in St. Louis...

As for the time we were near to Uncle Floyd, my dad was in the Army, so we were most often not in San Antonio, and when we were, I was just a little girl.
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91704 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91704 Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:52:57 -0600
I, too, like Wikipedia - for non-controversial entries.  You still have to read 'em, because the high-schoolers like to put in jokes, like the entry on Jeremy Bentham where it averred that: 

He went to Westminster School, and after defeating the Decepticons in 1760 his father sent him to The Queen's College, Oxford, where he took his Bachelor's degree in 1763 and his Master's degree in 1766. He trained as a lawyer and (though he never practised) was called to the bar in 1769. He became deeply frustrated with the complexity of the English legal code, which he termed the "Demon of Chicane".]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91688 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91688 Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:45:42 -0600 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7th_Infantry_Division_(United_States)

A brief history of the 7th Infantry Division in WWII.  There are probably better, official histories, but this was the first one I came across, and I, personally, like Wikipedia.

There's an echo in here, _Armorer_.]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91687 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91687 Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:38:13 -0600 But only if you don't go all canuckistani on my nick! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91685 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91685 Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:25:46 -0600 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91684 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91684 Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:23:16 -0600 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91683 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91683 Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:14:51 -0600
My grandfather, on the other side of the family, was a Hellcat pilot in the Pacific.  I need to finish cross-referencing his "combat diary" with dates of actions, along with this military records, and try to see how all this fits together...]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91670 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91670 Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:46:38 -0600
At *night*. Which meant he had a better chance of surviving landings on a flare-lit runway than on a blacked-out carrier.

Dad *hated* carrier landings in an F4U...
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91657 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91657 Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:31:02 -0600 Technically, he's my great-uncle.  You know your WWII history better than I.  I wouldn't have known that.  I do still want to request Uncle Floyd's records.  I have my grandfather's (was able to get them without having to pay anything, since I could have my mom sign off on the request), but I've no idea how much it might cost me to get the full record for Uncle Floyd.  There just aren't enough hours in the day for me to do all the things I want to do ;-)]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91653 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91653 Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:49:53 -0600 ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91648 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91648 Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:42:43 -0600
He indirectly saved many more US lives -- Marine fighter squadrons operating from Yontan and Naha later shot down many of the 2,000 kamikazes attacking the fleet around Okinawa that never made it to their targets.
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91630 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91630 Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:45:41 -0600 Good job, Armorer! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91628 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91628 Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:22:43 -0600
Uncle Floyd, the youngest of eight children, passed away at the age of 77, in 1994.
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91626 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91626 Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:32:34 -0600 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91623 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91623 Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:50:26 -0600 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91622 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91622 Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:45:45 -0600 Yes, the second observation is a different post- you are correct.  But my first observation is that there's a buddy out there who will never forget what Floyd did that day, nor will his family.  That is, and should be, the focus.  I can't imagine the fear and simultaneous bravery he faced that day.]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91619 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91619 Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:29:24 -0600
Don't let the Pentagon budget weenies see this story.  They will use it as proof that we don't need to waste all that money buying guns and bayhoents for OUR troops when they can use those provided bythe enemy.  Leaves more money for "social programs" that way...














]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91618 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91618 Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:59:37 -0600 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91617 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91617 Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:37:27 -0600
Other than the story itself, what surprised me was the language used in the article- Jap and Nip?  Could you imagine an article today describing a similar incident between an American and a Camel Jockey, Towel-Head, or the like?  I can't.  I guess the MSM has come a long way.

]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91616 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/08/meet_floyd_bonn.html#comment-91616 Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:20:14 -0600