\u201cEh, p!ss on him!\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m sure we\u2019ve all heard a variant of that muttered by someone, directed towards someone in authority \u2013 when they\u2019re out of earshot, of course.\u00a0 (smile)<\/p>\n
But one time, it literally happened.\u00a0 In that case, the \u201cwhizzer\u201d was a relatively junior officer \u2013 and the \u201ctarget\u201d, a GO.<\/p>\n
And the junior guy got away with it with nothing but an ass-chewing.<\/p>\n
. . . <\/strong><\/p>\n The date was 21 September 1944.\u00a0 It happened somewhere in the air over Germany.<\/p>\n On that date, the 303th Bombardment Group executed a combat mission against rail yards in Maintz, Germany.\u00a0 Some of the aircraft involved were from the 359th Bombardment Squadron.<\/p>\n That squadron had some months prior instituted a rule prohibiting pilots from leaving the cockpit during a mission.<\/p>\n The earlier practice had been for pilots in need of a \u201cnature call\u201d to go to the bomb bay and take care of business.\u00a0 The new policy was that the pilot and copilot were to relieve themselves out of their respective cockpit windows after cracking them open slightly, allowing the slipstream to carry away the waste fluid.\u00a0 After landing, the pilot was required to clean the window area personally.<\/p>\n During the 21 September mission, the copilot of at least one of the 359th planes had to answer the call of nature.\u00a0 He did so \u2013 unaware that the pilot had simultaneously decided to take a \u201csmoke break\u201d, and also had cracked open his<\/span> cockpit window.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the smoker\u2019s window created a cross-draft.\u00a0 Not all of the waste fluid went out in the slipstream.\u00a0 Some of it was caught in the cross-draft and struck the smoker dead in the face.<\/p>\n The smoker was Brigadier General Robert F. Travis\u00a0 – CG, 41st Combat Wing.\u00a0 He was flying in that aircraft that day as pilot and mission commander on what was the final mission of his current combat tour.<\/p>\n The copilot was the 359th Bombardment Squadron\u2019s Operations Officer \u2013 who was a Captain.<\/p>\n After landing, General Travis chewed the Captain\u2019s butt for an extended period of time.\u00a0 He told the Captain he would award the navigator and bombardier on the crew a DFC, but that the Captain wouldn\u2019t be getting one.\u00a0 He even threatened to court-martial him, but that threat was never carried out.\u00a0 (The fact that General Travis’ tour ended and he left a month later might well have had something to do with that. [smile])<\/p>\n In fact, other than that ass-chewing nothing at all<\/em> happened to the young Captain.\u00a0 He left the service after World War II, but returned to the USAF in 1948.\u00a0 He then served until January 1977, retiring with 32 years active duty – as a Colonel.\u00a0 One of his last assignments was as the Commander, Rhein-Main Air Base.<\/p>\n The copilot\u2019s name was William E. Eisehnart<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0 As far as I know, he\u2019s the only junior officer who ever literally<\/span> p!ssed in a general\u2019s face and got away with it.\u00a0 (smile)<\/p>\n Lest you think this story can\u2019t possibly be legit and should begin with, \u201cNo sh!t, there I was . . . \u201d, you can read this online Google Books excerpt<\/a><\/em> from Stephen Frater\u2019s Hell Above Earth<\/u>; it documents the incident.\u00a0 The title of this article was shamelessly lifted from the end of the incident description in that source.<\/p>\n A second description of the incident can be found here<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0 A third description can be found here<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n As of earlier this year, Col. (Ret) William E. Eisehnart was still alive and resided in the Hilton Head, SC, area.\u00a0 May you continue to live long and prosper, Colonel.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Author\u2019s Notes<\/u>:\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n 1.\u00a0 Yes, this was the same Brigadier General Robert F. Travis who died in a B-29 crash at what was then Fairfield-Suisun AFB, California, in August 1950. The base was renamed Travis AFB in his memory the following year.<\/em><\/p>\n 2.\u00a0 Hat-tip to the Military Corruption site for the original article I saw<\/a> concerning the incident. Further research based on information in that original story allowed me to locate the referenced links in the article above.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"