Friday
Sept 23, 2005
SGN.org
Volume 33
Issue 38
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Monday, Dec 01, 2008
06:18
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| NOTE** finding non clickable links? Sorry these columns are not featured in this weeks edition - |
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Sex, love and war |
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| Sex, love and war | ||
| By Don Paulson
- SGN Contributing Writer
From Don Paulsons interview of Jimmy Kelly, a World War ll veteran: Gay people are the finest example how the human spirit can survive the most inhospitable environments. During the second world war, stationed in England, I was a tail gunner on a B17 that flew bombing missions over Germany. I never counted the planes I shot down, but when they went down in smoke. I knew I was not letting that Hitler bastard win. Of course German civilians were also killed by my bombs, but everyone considered them as guilty as Hitler. Some of the local boys were jealous because the girls focused on us, but we were a major part of the liberation forces. On our weekend passes to London we had to wear our dress uniforms so everybody knew who we were. Mostly, we were treated like kings and queens by the English people. In those days, war or not, I was always hunting for sex or recovering from it. I figured when I went into the war that if I got killed Id already had enough sex for years to come. Lots of London was bombed out. Those German V2 flying stove pipe rockets would sail in at 400 mph and demolish everything. On one of my weekend passes I met this cute English guy at a local pub. We rented a room and just as we started kissing one of those damn rockets exploded nearby. I lost my hard on and couldn`t get it back until the next day. Getting bombed is a terrifying thing. You never know when your time is up. London was all blacked out with window shades down and autos lights reduced to slits. The streets were very dark but when did that ever stop gay cruising. I met this plain ordinary Greek god from the British Royal Airforce in front of the bombed out ruins of St. James Cathedral. It was love at first sight, even though it only lasted fifteen minutes. We climbed through the debris of this once great cathedral and found a private place on the alter where we filled each other with the almighty holy ghost. So many men and so little time. I dont believe in war, I believe in sex. But first we had a job to do, to smash Hitlers war machine. I met this other darling guy who lived 50 miles from London by train who Id visit on my days off. He lived with his parents who didnt know he was gay or that we were lovers. They treated me like a celebrity, like a long lost son. All the neighbors were jealous of them because it was an honor to care for poor American soldier boys away from their home to fight for the freedom of Britain and the rest of the world. My lover and I had an intense love affair going, partly because if I got shot down wed never see each other again and once we came to tears about it. He only had a single bed so his parents gave up their double bed for us. After awhile I refused to allow them to give up their bed and insisted it was okay by me to share their sons bed. This of course was what we wanted anyway so we could cuddle, especially because it was so cold at night. Wed put a blanket around us and sit in front of the fireplace and make love. We were together for seven months before the war ended and I went back to America. I never gave him my address. It wasnt nice I know, but thats the way I am. At home, Im basically a loner and very careful of who I give my heart to. I love sex on the hoof and not big on relationships. I sent him a few Christmas cards, but I guess I didnt want to stir up an old relationship and I was enjoying a super active sex life at home. A sex act a day keeps the doctor away. We flew many bombing missions over Germany. If our squadron was attacked by enemy fighters it was my job to knock them out. Its a hit and miss thing, were going 200 m.p.h. and the German Spitfires were going 300 m.p.h., so you never know who hit who as everyone is shooting at once. We were up about 30,000 feet and got hit by an anti-aircraft gun from the ground. They splatter you with sharp pieces of metal called flak. Ive had them cut right through my flight jacket and if they hit the right place, [it] can kill you. On the day our luck ran out, flak hit our left wing gas tank and started a fire the extinquishers couldnt put out. Our right wing was okay so we were able to fly, but we were in deep trouble. The wind speed of the airplane kept the fire in tow, but the slower the airplane descended the hotter the fire burned [it would] either explode or the wing would burn off. We were still over occupied France, very low to the ground and under constant enemy fire. We were coming in on a wing and a prayer. Finally we came to the English Channel when the pilot made the decision to ditch before the wing burned off which would have been [an] immediate disaster. This was May 13,1943. When we were going down, I cant remember any panic as everything was happening at once. We hit the water pretty hard. I was stunned as the compartment was filling with water, then, I realized I was trapped under the door that opened into the body of the plane where the rest of the crew was scrambling to get out. Still stunned, I knew I was drowning in sea water and gasoline. I can remember accepting my fate before I passed out from lack of oxygen. The next thing I remember is coughing up water and the co-pilot dragging me out of the gunners hole. All around the plane the water was on fire from spilled gasoline and one of the crew was caught in it and died. There was nothing we could do. One of our emergency rafts was destroyed and only one half of another was left for nine of us clinging desperately in the brutally cold and stormy water. The pilot of course radioed ahead so the British Air and Sea Rescue were waiting for us when we hit. An airplane dropped us some dinghies but it was too far away for us to reach; fighting five foot waves. Finally the rescue boat reached us and took us to the hospital where we spent the next 24 hours in bed surrounded by hot water bottles before we warmed up. You know what happens to boys in cold water there were nine of us but there wasnt nine inches of dick between us. |
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International Readers |
 THE GAY AND NON-GAY PARTNERSHIP WORKING TO WIN MARRIAGE EQUALITY NATIONWIDE |
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