"Enola Gay" - If you did a poll a week ago, I'm betting that

[MineralMan]

most people under the age of 50 would not even recognize those two words. People over 50 probably would in higher numbers. People over 70 would remember it for sure.

So, it's not surprising to me that a search for stuff containing the word "Gay" probably flushed that out and it was banished by people who have no idea that the "Enola Gay" was the name of the bomber that dropped the A-bomb on Hiroshima. Not a freaking clue, because we don't teach WWII any longer to our youngsters. Not in that detail, anyhow.

So, that's going to get corrected now and those photos will return to displays. But , that the "Enola Gay" only means something about WWII is no longer universally known or even recognized these days.

More's the pity.

Who is Enola and is she really gay?

[Ninga]

1. The pilot of that plane named it after his mother, Enola Gay.

[MineralMan]

3. Yup. Painting a name on WWII bombers was a normal thing.

Not really authorized, but tolerated.

[dflprincess]

13. The plane my dad was on (he was not the pilot)

Was named the Shiftless Skunk. Great painting of a cartoon skunk on it.

[MineralMan]

15. Nose Art. Lots of creativity in it.

A Google image search brings up lots and lots of it. There are many books full of nose art from WWI and WWII, as well.

[Paladin]

28. And that information has been open-and-obviously available, for generations.

The present-day level of historical ignorance is just stomach-turning.

[mwmisses4289]

2. And in the context of the time,

gay meant happy, cheerful and light hearted. Too bad too many people forget that many of the words we use have more than one meaning.

[MineralMan]

4. Gay was also a common name for girls and women.

Not so much anymore.

[mwmisses4289]

7. Yes, the idea being that

a girl would embody the good qualities of the name.

[Harker]

24. I was born in '59, and I knew a giirl named Gay.

I also knew a Glee, which I've never heard since.

[MineralMan]

32. I like the name Glee, too.

Fun.

[Harker]

35. I've known a couple of joyless Joys, but Glee was truly gleeful. n/t

[Norrrm]

8. and the Gay Nineties.

[WhiteTara]

5. here's my lte this week

I have often wondered how ignorant you have to be to work in the Trump administration and today, I got a jaw dropping answer. You have to be ignorant of WWII history and the participation of the U.S..

In an effort to permanently erase LGBTQ people, the Department of Defense is removing any mention of gays, women and POC. One such removal was a picture of the Enola Gay; an airplane that dropped atom bombs on Japan. The plane was named after the pilot’s mother, Enola Gay Tibbets.

The DOD has removed 26,000 images and mentions that are not of straight white men, even an airplane. I’m sickened by the lack of humanity and intelligence that runs rampant throughout Trump’s people.

[MiHale]

6. What about..."Don we now our gay apparel" that line gotta go!

He’s going to be attacking Christmas songs.

[MineralMan]

9. LOL!

I used to volunteer at a public library four hours a week. I remember often hearing giggling in one area of the library's stacks. I checked it out one day. Where the giggling came from was a book from the 1940s with the title, "Gay Parties for All Occasions." Again, a different meaning for the word when it was published. The middle school kids who were giggling didn't know that, though.

[Norrrm]

10. Another battle in the War on Christmas.

[MineralMan]

11. The Last WWII Veterans Are Dying As We Speak.

They're all over 100 years old now. My father, who was a WWII B-17 pilot near the end of the war, died at age 96 in 2021.

Before long, there will be no WWII vets left. Very soon.

[marybourg]

12. Almost, but quite. My DH, a WWII sailor, would be 98 if

still alive. He was drafted upon high school graduation later into the war.

[surfered]

14. That act of lunacy by the Administration was not on my bingo card

[Aussie105]

16. Gay, possibly a diminutive of Gaylene, is a legit girls' name.

Gaylene, Enola - two names not too popular these days.

But yeah, stupid people will do stupid things.
It's the consequence of applying a filter without checking what it catches, and making exceptions for unintended catches - a rookie mistake.

[BrianTheEVGuy]

25. I'm in my 40s...

And as a child, our family had a neighbor named… no joke… Gay Balls.

As an adult gay male I grew far more appreciative of Gay Balls than I was as an immature eight year old

[rsdsharp]

17. The sole survivor of Navy Torpedo Squadron 8 was Ensign George Gay, Jr.

His TBD Devastator was shot down, and he watched the Battle of Midway while floating in the Pacific. He was awarded the Navy Cross. Clearly a DEI hire, whose memory must be erased.

[cab67]

18. They did the same to information about Ensign George Gay.

Ensign Gay's entire TBD Devastator torpedo bomber was shot down during the Battle of Midway. He was the only survivor, and he spent many hours treading water near the Japanese fleet, watching the action unfold. He was later rescued.

[Codifer]

31. Yes.

I did not see your post and I did post the same information about Ensign Gay. For a bit, and sadly, he had the best seat in the house. I guess my memory (or bits of it) is OK.

[cab67]

38. He was portrayed in both the 1976 and 2019 movies about the battle.

I'm currently making a 1/48 SBD Dauntless with Dick Best's markings. There are some good Devastator kits out there, but I don't know if they include Gay's ride.

[leftieNanner]

19. Rachel had a segment about Tyson Homosexual

A right wing organization used AI to change the word GAY to HOMOSEXUAL.

Thus, track star Tyson Homosexual.

SMDH

[Ilsa]

20. Such a revealing story that she's done it twice!

The first time was more elaborately told, but it was worth a brief repeat this week.

[CrispyQ]

30. I guess no one taught AI how to do a proper search & replace, which begs the question, is it really AI?

But even if it was, why does one need AI to do a search & replace?

[leftieNanner]

34. A very good question!

I think the new Google AI search is awful. I prefer the Firefox one. Old school.

[FakeNoose]

21. I'm not a WWII vet, but my Dad was

My Dad was a young Navy pilot, training for duty in the Pacific. If the Japanese hadn't surrendered when they did after Nagasaki, I think my Dad would have been deployed into flying over Tokyo soon after that. It would have been very ugly and dangerous, because the Japanese would have fought down to the last man alive.

I've known the name "Enola Gay" for most of my life, I guess.

[twodogsbarking]

22. No more gay airplanes in the military. Executive Order.

[House of Roberts]

23. Just wait until they ban the Flintstones

because the ending theme ends with ‘we’ll have a gay old time’.

[William769]

26. The mind is a terrible thing to waste.

[Codifer]

27. From research years ago

I seem to recall an Ensign Gay, a Navy pilot from the USS Hornet squadron "Torpedo 8" who was (if I recall correctly) the sole survivor of his squadrons attack on the Japanese carriers during the Battle of Midway.

I do not suppose that he fared much better than the Enola Gay did.

[chouchou]

29. Just for fun...The second plane to drop a nuclear bomb was named "BocksCar".

....on the Japanese city of Nagasaki.

[CTyankee]

33. I always thought it was "boxcar." Yes, I knew the true stories about the dropping of those bombs. I was little and I was

scared to death that one of those bombs would be dropped on me. My mother wisely acknowledged my fear and tried to allay it and actually did. I feared bombs no more after that.

[chouchou]

37. Ahh..Mom knows best!

[dflprincess]

36. I suppose they'll ban the movie "Space Cowboys"

As Marcia Gay Harden is in it.

[A_Woman_from_MI]

39. With some trepidation, I quizzed my 23 yo on this

He's brighter than most of his friends, or at least more curious. Still, I wasn't sure. He was immediately familiar with the name, and after searching his mind for a minute, knew it was somehow related to WWII. It took only a small hint for him to recall it was the bomber that dropped the bomb.

So, not an A+, but he would have have got it right on a multiple choice question, and it never crossed his mind it was a reference to anything DEI.

And of course, he was disgusted when I told him why I was asking.

[Noodleboy13]

40. Ok, I am the DU freelance comedy writer, so I'll pick this low hanging fruit. " Hey Beavis!". " uh,.... Yeah, yeah.?

"Your Grandpa volunteered to crew on the Enola Gay"
"Shut up Butt-head!"

Peace,
Noodleboy