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Curtis LeMay Biography: 르메이, B-29프로젝트로 이동

by 50cm 2025. 8. 13.
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[On the tour LeMay and his associates embarked on that fall]

The basic speech he made at each stop was a paean of praise for the men of the Eighth Air Force and an explanation of the importance of the job they were doing. (106)

- paean: 찬가

 

It was a set speech he didn’t even have to write. Sy Bartlett, a once-and-future screenwriter now on Eaker’s staff wrote it for him.

- a set speech: 사전에 준비된 연설, 정해진 대사, 외워서 하는 일. 그러니까 스스로 즉흥적으로 할 일 없고, 그냥 정해진 대사에 따라 외워서 하면 되는 연설을 의미함.

 

But for LeMay, who had never been called upon for such a public-relations venture, and who was always shy in public, it was a chore he was happy to put behind him

- 대외 이미지 관리, 홍보성 활동(public-relations venture) 관련된 일에 소환된 적 없었고, 항상 대중 앞에서 부끄러움 많았던 르메이에게서는,

- a chore: 내키지 않는 일, 귀찮은 일

- put behind him: 불쾌하거나 귀찮은 일을 잊고 넘기다, 지나간 일로 치다

 

 

[크리스마스 이전에 영국으로 돌아옴] 그런데 그 전에 가정에 생긴 딸과의 귀여운 일화

Before leaving the States, however, he had received an order that he didn’t dare to ignore. Janie, whose fifth birthday was approaching, had told her mother she wanted three things—a bicycle, a blue radio, and a baby sister.

“The man who makes bicycles has gone to war,” Helen said, “and the man who makes blue radios has gone to war.”

“And the man who makes baby sisters,” Janie asked innocently, “has he gone to war?”

He had, of course, but that didn’t prevent him from making a blue radio. Because of the war, radios were difficult to find in the stores at that time, especially blue ones, so he set about building one, with the help of two radio technicians, as soon as he returned to England.

 

 

[영국에 돌아왔을 때, 이커는 지중해쪽으로 빠지고 아이젠하워가 유럽으로. 이제 대륙 본토 침공이 가시화되던 중. 그리고 제일 중요한 것은 장거리 비행 가능한 P-51 Mustang이 영국에 도착. 이제 B-17을 호위할 수 있음. à it brought a dramatic change to the American daylight bombing offensive.]

-       참고로 Hermann Goering, after the war, told Tooey Spaatz that the day he saw the first P-51 over Germany he realized the was decided.

 

*르메이가 지휘한 공군은 사실상 본토 작전을 위해 그 전에 독일군을 약화시키기 위한, 일종의 희생하는 부대였다. 이들은 역할을 감내했고, 이후 아이젠하워가 이끄는 육군이 상륙하는 작전이 전개된다. 이때는 이제 호위기도 붙기 시작해서 훨씬 공군으로서는 전선에서 할 만 해진 시기였고(위의 P-51 머스탱), 르메이는 B-29와 관련된 프로젝트로 인해 중국-버마-인도 전선으로 이동하여 일본군을 마주하게 된다. 

 

Protected by the P-51s, they chewed away at those factories relentlessly.

- chew away: 끊임없이 갉아먹다, 서서히 파괴하다

 

 


 

The first inkling of an impending transfer came March 3, 1944, when he was again promoted over the heads of several colleagues to become, at the age of thirty-seven, the youngest major general in the U.S. Army. Shortly thereafter he heard a strong rumor about being sent to a new job, and quickly wrote a letter of thanks to General Eaker, who had recommended him for both the promotion and the job. Eaker, in the meantime, had taken command of all British and American air forces operating in the Mediterranean.(107)

*major general: 미국의 육군, 공군, 해병대에서 소장(2성 장군) 계급

- Brigadier General(준장, 1) 위이자 Lieutenant General(중장,3 ) 아래.

 

Kuter was the obvious man to ask about the B-29. A protégé of General Marshall and a brilliant officer, he had become Hap Arnold’s assistant chief of air staff for plans, and by this time, most of the Air Force planes evolved around the B-29.

- protégé: 유능한 스승이나 후원자에게 지도받는 제자, 후계자, 수제자

- Marshall의 총애를 받는 인물 Kuter

 

*LeMay, going to the China-Burman-India theater

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