"There was a fellow who was an apprentice seaman in the British Navy. A kid. He got torpedoed and his hands were horribly burned. Just the same, he somehow managed to get into a lifeboat and he took his regular place and rowed. In the morning, his shipmates discovered that the flesh had been burned off his fingers and that he was literally rowing with the bones of his hands. This was probably heroism. But I'm not sure that a bombardier who gets a terrific stomachache just as he's aiming his bombs and nevertheless gets them off isn't a greater hero. You never know. In either case, you can be sure there was plenty of adrenaline being pumped into the bloodstream."
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Story that Smith used to explain his Medal of Honor action afterward, as quoted on p. 139-140
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Maynard_Harrison_Smith
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Maynard Harrison Smith
Maynard Harrison "Snuffy" Smith (May 19, 1911 – May 11, 1984) was a United States Army Air Forces staff sergeant and aerial gunner aboard a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber in World War II who received the Medal of Honor for his conduct during a bombing mission over France on May 1, 1943. Smith was the first enlisted member of the United States Army Air Forces to earn the Medal of Honor.
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