Clostermann shot down?

[Mermet]

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?

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