Quote:
Originally Posted by Franek Grabowski
But what if Clostermann just only confused name and date in his memoirs, does it mean the story is bogus?
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Hi all,
In the preface of "The Big Show" one can read : "I wanted them (Note : Clostermann's father and mother) to live it (Note : his life in the RAF) with me, day by day, even if I did not come back to describe it myself.
So every evening I used to write down for them the events of the day in a fat Air Ministry notebook stamped 'G.R.'."
We can also read what follows :
"I ask the reader not to expect a work of literature. I simply jotted down day by day the impression, the fleetingly-caught incidents so sharply imprinted on my memory. It would require a remarkable talent to reproduce with truth and at the same time with literary grace the life of a fighter pilot in the last war. It is precisely because they are
true, because they were written in the flush of action, that I have made no attempt to retouch these notes."
That means clearly that "The Big Show" was written during the war at a time when confusion of dates was not possible...
JCM