"Quelle courage!"

My post below touched on the courage of the American torpedo planes at Midway who pressed home their attack despite overwhelming odds.  It has caused me to muse on the differing qualities of bravery.  There can be no doubting our admiration for those men but somehow, I suggest, one doesn't have quite the same feelings concerning the kamikaze pilots of the Japanese navy.  Even less do we admire the modern-day suicide bomber.  And yet, to all intents and purposes those American airman were committing 'suicide', indeed, as 'Ghengis' points out, only one of the thirty eight crew members survived.

I think the answer lies in the very word 'suicide'.  How often have we read of suicides in the news and, amongst a myriad of responses, the thought occurs that it was a selfish act, almost, one dares to presume, a cowardly act.  This harsh judgement is mitigated by the knowledge of the victim's distress and suffering but even so, one sees the relatives and friends who must somehow carry on through this 'vale of tears' despite their pain and shock.  The suicide bomber raises no sympathy except amongst the fanatics who share his or her cause.  Nor do they merit any admiration for courage.  After all, the American flyers wanted to live but took the risk anyway.  Similarly, one's admiration for the kamikaze pilots is diminished by the knowledge that there was no longer any risk for them, they had already made their decision to die before they stepped into their planes.

Deliberately, I have avoided all mention of morality.  A man can be brave in a morally dubious cause.  Nor, in this context, do I have anything to say on the subject of terrorism.  Terror is a legitimate form of warfare and it takes many forms.  The courage of its practitioners depends on the circumstances.  Thus, an IRA bomber who plants explosives in a London street and makes off is not at all brave, not least because his only penalty if caught is a few years in the slammer.  On the other hand, if he tried to break into the SAS HQ at Hereford he would deserve the Republican equivalent of  a VC, even if it would almost certainly be posthumous!

Comments

[Hank_]

David

A difference for what ever you think it is worth.

The suicide bomber and Kamikaze pilots die when they deliver the weapons. The torpedo bomber pilots, while the odds of survival were low, did they not ride the torpedo to the target.

Squadron Eight (which lost 29 out of 30 crewman) was launched without enough fuel to make it back to the carrier but hopefully enough to where air/sea rescue could find them. The other two squadrons could theoretically have returned to their carriers burning there last drop of fuel on touch down, but more likely to be picked up be air/sea rescue.

While they knew the odds of successfully returning approached zero, this seems to me to be different than being told crash into the enemy. Which does not diminish their bravery the least.