22. In an Unexpected Plot Twist, Snuffy Smith Got a Medal of Honor
Seven generals were invited, along with busloads of reporters. A US Army Air Forces band was in place, and a low level flyover by eighteen B-17s was scheduled. There was a hiccup, however, in a story full of hiccups and plot twists: no Snuffy. Nobody had told him, and while the bigwigs waited for the ceremony to start, the guest of honor was in the mess-hall on KP duty, cleaning slops as punishment for repeatedly returning to base late from leave. He was tracked down, hurriedly gussied up, and sent to the ceremony where Secretary of War Stimson draped a Medal of Honor around his neck.
Smith flew five more combat missions before he was grounded for “operational exhaustion” – PTSD – and assigned office work. He was not a humble hero, and milked his Medal of Honor for all it was worth. He kept apart from and refused to socialize with fellow airmen, signed autographs like a movie star, and slept in until ten while his comrades arose before dawn. While everybody else got around on foot or by bicycle, he had MPs drive him around. Such privileges rubbed others the wrong way.
