# I pit DrDeth
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [February 28, 2021, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971 "2021-02-28T19:52:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 44
### Author:  [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/864 "2021-05-11T01:07:44Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> my dad’s memories really have not great historical value.
So he didn’t remember if he was a civilian Dec 8 1941?
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/865 "2021-05-11T01:08:12Z")
Christ almighty.
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### Author:  [@Enjoy\_Slurm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enjoy_Slurm)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/866 "2021-05-11T05:24:11Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> Christ almighty
Was he another one of DrDeth’s dad’s best friends during the Spanish American War of 1812 along with General Custer?
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### Author:  [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/867 "2021-05-11T05:33:42Z")
Seriously, as long as you’re all spinning on this carousel, DD’s too preoccupied to carry out new, novel jackassery. Sit back and wait a while.
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/868 "2021-05-11T07:50:30Z")
The thread’s happily engaged in its intended purpose of mocking its subject. Right now, it seems they’re taking him for a nice game of Willie Scuggins, and they won’t let up until he finishes throwing the wobbler he’s obviously started, and starts frothing and violently attacking himself.
Probably best to go schoolmarm it up somewhere else until it’s over, yeah?
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/869 "2021-05-11T08:12:44Z")
\< golf clap \>
Quality use of a Pratchett reference there.
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/870 "2021-05-11T10:15:39Z")
> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> Probably best to go schoolmarm it up somewhere else until it’s over, yeah?
TIL that South African schoolmarms call their students fuckin jackasses and say Christ Almighty a bunch.
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### Author:  [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/871 "2021-05-11T10:34:42Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> Christ almighty.
Look at it this way: we have an in-house connection to what went on behind the scenes in General MacArthur’s command, and his memory’s a little faulty. We’re trying to coax some continuity out of him while he’s lucid, and occasionally it requires yelling to jolt his synapses into working.
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/872 "2021-05-11T10:46:34Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> TIL that South African schoolmarms call their students fuckin jackasses and say Christ Almighty a bunch.
No, but your finger wagging game is eerily on-point.
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/873 "2021-05-11T11:08:52Z")
> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> No, but your finger wagging game is eerily on-point.
Christ, if I may repeat myself, almighty.
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/874 "2021-05-11T11:16:59Z")
Pit thread not going to your liking? Gee-willikers, Mister Dorkness, that’s never happened before…
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/875 "2021-05-11T11:17:53Z")
Yeah, it’s not, because an incredibly tedious wank-off has arisen. Glad you’re having fun, though.
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/876 "2021-05-11T11:20:15Z")
Thanks. It’s not the birthday present I asked for, but it’s nice enough.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/877 "2021-05-11T11:22:20Z")
> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> It’s not the birthday present I asked for, but it’s nice enough.
Happy cake day! I’ll toast you properly tonight with some Kalimotxo (which I learned about from you).
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/878 "2021-05-11T11:22:59Z")
And have you forgiven me for that yet? 🙂
But seriously - thanks, and enjoy.
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### Author:  [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/879 "2021-05-11T11:27:33Z")
As far as his father goes, I think what these people say sums it up.
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> I don’t feel that questioning the accuracy of the posts that you have made about your father is an insult to him or his memory.
> [@mordecaiB](#):
>
> While someone may have insulted your dad somewhere in this thread, the vast majority are making fun of _ **you** _ . People aren’t calling your father a REMF or saying he wasn’t a real soldier because he wasn’t in combat.
For the record, my intention was to poke fun of DD and _his portrayal_ of his father’s service, _as was recounted in many threads until the inconsistencies were pointed out._
Good god, I hope this is my final post and he’ll indeed let it go.
**Warning! The following is all TLDR territory. If history isn’t your thing, you can scroll right past it. . . Nothing here for you**
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> He claimed that other than MacArthur in a PT boat no one could possibly get out. I showed that the _entire US Far East Air Force was transferred to Australia._
>
> But yes, bullshit is often more believable than the truth. Witness trump.
DD is claiming that I am claiming that (did I get that right?) no one other than MacArthur, et al, escaped. He then found a cite online which shows that US FEAF personnel were transferred from Mindanao, some 600 miles away, so this proves I’m lying! Great catch! Great cite!!! And he’s going on and on about it, repeating this many times.
Except I never said that. So that cite proves nothing.
His claim now is that his father was attached to the US Far East Air Force (FEAF) after he joined the Army on or after December 8th rather than GHQ. He then was sent to Mindanao (or arrived there in the first place) while it was still safe and then evacuated along with everyone else there.
This is new information which seems to a way to allow his father to leave the Philippines. It’s problematic in that it was never mentioned before and seemingly contradicts earlier accounts.
On several occasions, DD claimed that his father was _recalled_ to GHQ. I quoted one earlier.
> [@WWII: Battle of Midway...why couldn't the Japanese have pressed on and captured the island?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-battle-of-midway-why-couldnt-the-japanese-have-pressed-on-and-captured-the-island/917029/89):
>
> And for some strange reason, even tho my dad was _ **“lucky” enuf to get Malaria and be flown out before the islands collapsed** _, **he was pulled back to Macs command unit** “by personal request”- _name withheld._
>
> (shortened)
>
> **otherwise Bataan death march** , so i guess **malaria is better than that**.
(bolding mine)
Here is another from the most recent GD thread.
> [@Pacific War: McArthur vs Nimitz: Who Was Right?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pacific-war-mcarthur-vs-nimitz-who-was-right/296959/40):
>
> **But in a way Malaria saved his life** - he arrived as a civilian aircrew for Boeing on Dec 8th, volunteered, **caught malaria and was invalided to Australia** then home before the Philippines fell. **Otherwise Bataan death march**.
>
> **Then someone in the Bataan gang requested my Dad back into HQ**. Almost certainly not Mac himself.
My bolding
I’m sure there will be some sort of explanation why “back into HQ” doesn’t mean “back into” and why I’m an asshole for quoting him.
If the father was in Mindanao then transferred to Australia along with the other members of FEAF, he would never have been in danger of being part of the Bataan Death March. Why would he? He would have already been in Australia. Catching malaria or not would have made any difference. The Bataan Death March was for prisoners from Corregidor and Bataan and not for FEAF personnel in Australia. They were already gone when the US surrendered. Malaria didn’t save him, his assignment to FEAF did.
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### Author:  [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/880 "2021-05-11T11:47:32Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#):
>
> I’m an asshole for quoting
I know, right!? Aww shit, now I’m the asshole…
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### Author:  [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/881 "2021-05-11T11:58:36Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#):
>
> Aww shit, now I’m the asshole…
It takes one to know one.
And what the fuck is wrong with your scroll button? You’re actually reading this? Just don’t operate heavy machinery.
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### Author:  [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/882 "2021-05-11T12:48:54Z")
> [@Enjoy\_Slurm](#):
>
> Was he another one of DrDeth’s dad’s best friends during the Spanish American War of 1812 along with General Custer?
Oh come on. You knew this was going to be tediously fact checked with footnotes.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/883 "2021-05-11T16:13:00Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> Lord have mercy, who gives a shit.
Presumably, all the people engaging in the topic who aren’t you?
For my money, **TokyoBayer** ’s post in this thread are very nearly the ideal Pit postings. They contain a wealth of interesting historical detail, and they comprehensively dismantle the dishonest claims of a lying asshole.
And if “Nobody’s mind is going to be changed by this,” is the metric by which we decide if something is worth posting, this whole message board is going to get super quiet.
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