In message , "Gord
writes
Cub Driver wrote:


As an aside on the aside, one of the 386th BG crewmen I talked to told
me with great feeling how he looked down from 1,000 feet or so to see
the water at Utah beach choked with bodies of American infantry. As
previously noted, only 12 men were killed in the initial assault on
the beach. What he was remembering was what he'd heard about the
carnage at Omaha, and he'd melded it into his own memory. That's the
problem with eyewitness testimony--it sometimes is actually a memory
of a photograph you've seen or a thought you later had.

It takes both The Witness and a lot of cross-checking to sort out
events. You need both, and even then you don't have the truth but only
your best approximation.


all the best -- Dan Ford (email: info AT danford.net)


This is extremely on target, especially during a traumatic event.

It's why accident investigators take with a very large grain of
salt testimony from eye witnesses at an air accident. I read a
lot of NTSB and AIB reports and you'd be amazed at what some
people firmly believe actually happened. An aircraft fully
enveloped with fire crashing straight down when it was a rather
benign 'crash-landing' with no hint of fire. One woman (with a
good imagination?) described the 'Avianca' (?) crash at Chicago
(?) where she 'saw' the pilot 'standing' at one of the cockpit
windows 'waving a little red flag'...oookkk...

As you say, people subconsciously substitute events in their
memory for other events, readings, impressions. The mind is a
wonderous instrument but you must be aware of it's limitations
and various quirks.

Absolutely. I distinctly remember flying in an Anson 50 years ago and
having to wriggle past the guns in the upper turret. 5 years ago a
friend gave me a photograph of the same Anson at the same airfield taken
at about the same time. No guns. No turret.

Mike
--
M.J.Powell