…I’m assuming that a spoiler warning is unnecessary, seeing as the movie is seven decades old.
And to the inevitable wags who’ll note that it was “beauty that killed the beast,” I’d like to note that while beauty is all fine and good, “500+ shots to the heart and groin from a .303 Vickers” is what gets put on the After Action Report.
Now, Kong downed two of the biplanes, each with two crewmen onboard. I’d guess that each of those guys got the Purple Heart, at least.
So…any other thoughts?
The reason they wouldn’t receive any medals is because they were not Og-fearing hetero-planes. This is why this has been swept under the carpet all these years.
The much coveted Bronze Banana, maybe?
With a posthumous Congressional Medal of Monkey Business for the ones knocked outta the sky?
Well, the media would definately be blaring the “Hero” word all over the place.
Everyone’s a hero. Someone takes a dump and he’s a brave hero for not keeping vecal matter in his lower intenstine.
Now, c’mon, how about a serious answer from some of our military members?
Isn’t the pilot of the biplane Kong smashed eligible for a Purple Heart or something? Or does that have to be in a combat zone?
Who were the pilots, exactly? Were they active Army Air Force pilots? Or just adventurous private flyers with some WWI-era planes with machine guns?
I think if they were Brits, they’d get the Victoria Cross.
(But only the pilots; I recall some dangerous mission or another in WWI where the pilots all got VCs and the observers got bupkis. The observers weren’t gentlemen, you see.)
From this website, it appears that they’d be eligible for the Congressional Medal of Honor (i.e, “…engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States”):
In today’s political climate, they would probably receive a stern reprimand and perhaps even a courtmartial for the wanton destruction of an obviously endangered species.
Also, whomever ordered this could be in trouble, since it was using military forces within the border of the US to respond to a local criminal matter (trespass, property damage?). And there are specific laws (in the Constitution itself, maybe) prohibiting this. It takes special action from the Legislature or the Governor even to use the state’s reserve forces for police & public safety duties in a disaster.
Yep, somebody could be in big trouble over this.
In the 1930s, just a “nice job” from the Colonel back at the base. In the 1980s, everyone in the entire command would get a half dozen medals, ribbons and citations each.
Outside of Purple Hearts and the “Victory Medal”, hardly any WWII US GIs got anything (percentage wise).
You’re forgetting something. It wasn’t the airplanes that got him.
T’was beauty that killed the beast.
Damn, Andy, you didn’t even make it to the second sentence of the OP?
:smack:
It’s that tunnel vision you get when you think you’ve got a sure shot.
toadspittle made an important point above. What authority was it? The Army Air Corps? The New York Air National Guard? (Did that even exist at that point?) NYPD? (Did they use planes in the early 1930’s?) WWI recreationists?
Odds are, though, that the pilots would receive, regardless of what authority sent them, a vote of thanks from the New York City Council, and possibly the New York State Legislature.
And think of the property damage and people on the ground killed and injured by all of those bullets sprayed all over Manhattan.
(Inspired by B. Kliban’s “Q: What did the city of New York do with King Kong?”):
The Ronald MacDonald medal.
The sequel, **Son of Kong{/b], begins with Carl Denham, the producer, on the run from process servers; he’s being sued for damages caused by Kong.
Ahem, that’s Son of Kong.
(Preview is your friend preview is your friend preview is your friend…)
Moving movie thread to Cafe Society.
Had to be.
This was guerilla warfare, wasn’t it? :dubious: