Former senator to discuss war

George McGovern to make Rapid City appearance

By Bill Harlan, Journal staff | Thursday, September 13, 2007

Previous Page

Share

• del.icio.us
• Digg
• NewsVine
• Fark

Print

Email

RAPID CITY -- Sen. George McGovern will have "A conversation about THE WAR" on Friday night as a fundraiser in Rapid City for South Dakota Public Broadcasting. (See the box.)

The war in question will be World War II. The event at The Journey Museum also marks the upcoming debut of Ken Burns' 16-hour documentary, "THE WAR." The first episode airs at 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 23.

McGovern flew 35 combat missions from a base in Italy during World War II, flying over some of the most heavily defended targets in Europe.

"I'm going to tell people what that was like flying a four-engine bomber at 25,000 feet at 50 degrees below zero," McGovern said in a telephone interview earlier this week.

The B-24 Liberator had little insulation.

"The only thing that kept us alive, we wore heavy, sheepskin-lined suits head to toe." The suits also had electric heaters that plugged into the bomber's electrical system. "If you avoided a power failure, you were alright," McGovern said.

The B-24 also had little armor.

On a mission to bomb the giant Skoda ammunition plant in Czechoslovakia, McGovern's aircraft was hit. "We lost a couple of engines and the third wasn't functioning just right," he said.

Unable to maintain altitude, McGovern made an emergency landing on the small Adriatic island of Vis, which now is part of Croatia. The runway was just 2,200 feet long. A B-24 required 5,000 feet, McGovern said, but he managed to put the bomber down precisely at the beginning of the air strip. Then he and his co-pilot "rode the brakes" hard, stopping just 15 or 20 feet short of the end of the runway.

McGovern was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross for that mission. "It was a scary day," he remembered. "The gods were with us."

Friday night's conversation will be about World War II, but McGovern will take questions. As the anti-war Democratic presidential candidate in 1972, it's inevitable he'll get questions about the current war.

"The contrast is painful," he said. "I never ran into one single dissenter -- across the country or overseas. Everyone was solidly behind us."

Now, he estimates 70 percent of Americans think going into Iraq was a mistake. "That's a dramatic difference," he said. "We never should have sent American troops into Iraq. It had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks."

McGovern also disputes the argument that if only the United States had continued to support South Vietnam, the outcome might have been different -- in a good way. "One difference would have been, instead of 58,000 dead young Americans, we could have run that up to over 100,000."

On Friday, McGovern will be interviewed by Larry Rohrer, director of content for South Dakota Public Broadcasting, which is taping the event for later broadcast.

There will also be a short film about Burns' television series, music by the Jim Szana trio and refreshments.

And maybe some lively discussion about war.

If you go

What: "A Conversation about THE WAR" with Sen. George McGovern

Where: The Journey Museum, 222 New York St., Rapid City

When: 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14

Cost: $50 per person

Tickets: Reserve tickets by calling 1-800-333-0789.

More: The event is a fundraiser for South Dakota Public Broadcasting and a kickoff for Ken Burns' 16-hour documentary about World War II, "THE WAR," which debuts Sept. 23.

Contact Bill Harlan at 394-8424 or bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com