USAF pilots of german descent

[JoeB]

In "Thunderbolt" Johnson related a story where 56th FG pilots attended a British briefing, and had to sign in afterward. As as a joke all the pilots with German surnames signed first, starting with Zemke. It was a fair list of names. Unfortunately I no longer have the book and don't recall the others.

About the longer history, although some Germans emigrated to the US not long before WWII, others came in Colonial times. The issue of their non-assimilation in places (like PA, as mentioned re: American Civil War), or suspected dual loyalties in a war against Germany (WWI) had been around and considered from many angles before WWII. I think that context is important. We're not speaking of a mainly pretty recent immigrant group suddenly exposed to the issue of fighting for the US, including against the home or ancestral country. The Japanese-Americans (sorry, hyphenation is sometimes simple descriptive) fit that scenario somewhat better. The Japanese case also shows that actual divided loyalties are not the only issue, but the larger society's preconceptions about the particular group.

Joe