What's the first thing to come to mind when I say "Curtis LeMay"?

[TheMightyFavog]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Lemay

[Little Wing]

1. Bomberman

[WCGreen]

2. Death from the sky

[YDogg]

3. Curtis LeWho?

[MrSlayer]

4. Who?

n/t

[Oeditpus Rex]

5. 'Kill 'em all and let god sort 'em out'

:eyes:

[GoneOffShore]

6. Dr. Strangelove

Loony Christian Air Force officers, "Bodily integrity", bombs, bombs, bombs, SAC.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. Dr. Strangelove.

Crazy SOB woulda got us all blown to smithereens during the Cuban missile crisis if Kennedy had done what he wanted.

[WI_DEM]

8. George Wallace's running mate in '68

[av8rdave]

9. Dickhead!!!! Sorry, I met him once...

[struggle4progress]

10. H-bomb

[Kickin_Donkey]

11. Firebombing

[mitchum]

12. The man who became a political liability for George Wallace...

Think about what level of lunacy it took to be a political liability for George Freakin' Wallace. Mindboggling, isn't it?

[sarge43]

13. "But sir, why are you demoting me? I shouted 'halt, halt, halt' and

fired my piece at you."

"You missed."

[KG]

30. oops

[Pierre.Suave]

14. WW2

bombers.


























What do I win?

[Kat45]

15. asshole General

[petronius]

16. "...bomb them back to the stone age." (nt)

[barb162]

17. B52 bombers

[chknltl]

18. The Discovery Military Channel, about twice a week.

I'll bet he gets mentioned there at LEAST that often. I never knew him of course so I can only speculate here: He was a very driven man. Many driven men have a bad attitude which goes sorta like: "It's MY way or the...f**k that highway, you are just plain wrong and stupid as well!!!" From all the stuff I seen about him on the Discovery channels I get the impression that he was like that. Admittedly he is an icon in American Military history who should be as well known as General George Patton or George Armstrong Custer and yet for some reason he isn't so well known.
c

[Manifestor_of_Light]

19. My Lai massacre..."We had to destroy this village in order to save it."

Very sad.

[femmocrat]

20. Military

[wain]

21. Bombs Away

LeMay

Vietnam War era tag for the general. Based upon his quote to solve the conflict: " bomb them back to the stone ages."

I think that's how I remember it.

x(

[Strawman]

22. McNamara describing him and the fire bombing of Tokyo in "Fog of War"

[China_cat]

23. Peaches

Peaches Lemay, the stripper.

[trackfan]

24. Bombs n/t

[Chomskyite]

25. Dead civilians

And forerunner of Cheney.

[allalone]

26. war

[KT2000]

27. Insane ! n/t

[TheBaldyMan]

28. Dr Strangelove

He's the general Jack D. Ripper was based on.

[leftofthedial]

29. nuke 'em back to the stone age

[KG]

31. NORAD

[Crabby Appleton]

32. "...back to the stoneage" nt

[Cobalt-60]

33. Strategic Air Command

Curtis' boys were riding shotgun in the sky during the cold war.

[taterguy]

34. hero

[NoPasaran]

35. "Bomb 'em into the Stone Age"

[Bridget Burke]

36. I was told he'd fly into a SAC base, unidentified & unchallenged.

Then he'd come out of the plane & say "You're all dead." Just a reminder to the Security folks.

My father & two uncles served under him in the 8th Air Force. My father was in SAC, as well. The LeMay character in the saccharine Strategic Air Command was called "General Hawks." As a SAC widow, my mother preferred Dr Strangelove.

I read that LeMay was against using the A Bomb in Japan. He thought the fire bombing had done enough damage.

I've also read that JFK said (something like): "If you decide to Go, you want LeMay in the lead bomber. But you don't want him deciding whether or not to Go."

He was a Dog of War. It's up to the civilians to keep his kind leashed.