Eddie Rickenbacker Pilot Sea Gulls Feeding Snopes
#1 
Strykar
-
- Posts: 45
Posted 04 September 2012 - 18:02
It happened every Friday evening, almost without fail, when the sun resembled a giant orange and was starting to dip into the blue ocean. Old Ed came strolling along the beach to his favorite pier.. clutched in his bony hand was a bucket of shrimp. Ed walks out to the end of the pier, where it seems he almost has the world to himself. The glow of the sun is a golden bronze now.
Everybody's gone, except for a few joggers on the beach. Standing out on the end of the pier, Ed is alone with his thoughts…and his bucket of shrimp. Before long, however, he is no longer alone. Up in the sky a thousand white dots come screeching and squawking, winging their way toward that lanky frame standing there on the end of the pier.
Before long, dozens of seagulls have enveloped him, their wings fluttering and flapping wildly. Ed stands there tossing shrimp to the hungry birds. As he does, if you listen closely, you can hear him say with a smile, 'Thank you. Thank you.' In a few short minutes the bucket is empty. But Ed doesn't leave. He stands there lost in thought, as though transported to another time and place.
When he finally turns around and begins to walk back toward the beach, a few of the birds hop along the pier with him until he gets to the stairs, and then they, too, fly away. And old Ed quietly makes his way down to the end of the beach and on home.
If you were sitting there on the pier with your fishing line in the water, Ed might seem like 'a funny old duck,' as my dad used to say. Or, 'a guy who's a sandwich shy of a picnic,' as my kids might say. To onlookers, he's just another old codger, lost in his own weird world, feeding the seagulls with a bucket full of shrimp.
To the onlooker, rituals can look either very strange or very empty. They can seem altogether unimportant …. maybe even a lot of nonsense. Old folks often do strange things, at least in the eyes of Boomers and Busters. Most of them would probably write Old Ed off, down there in Florida . That's too bad. They'd do well to know him better.
His full name: Eddie Rickenbacker. He was a famous hero back in World War II. On one of his flying missions across the Pacific, he and his seven-member crew went down. Miraculously, all of the men survived, crawled out of their plane, and climbed into a life raft.
Captain Rickenbacker and his crew floated for days on the rough waters of the Pacific. They fought the sun. They fought sharks. Most of all, they fought hunger. By the eighth day their rations ran out. No food. No water. They were hundreds of miles from land and no one knew where they were.
They needed a miracle. That afternoon they had a simple devotional service and prayed for a miracle. They tried to nap. Eddie leaned back and pulled his military cap over his nose. Time dragged. All he could hear was the slap of the waves against the raft..
Suddenly, Eddie felt something land on the top of his cap.
It was a seagull!
Old Ed would later describe how he sat perfectly still, planning his next move. With a flash of his hand and a squawk from the gull, he managed to grab it and wring its neck.. He tore the feathers off, and he and his starving crew made a meal - a very slight meal for eight men - of it. Then they used the intestines for bait… With it, they caught fish, which gave them food and more bait……..and the cycle continued. With that simple survival technique, they were able to endure the rigors of the sea until they were found and rescued (after 24 days at sea…).
Eddie Rickenbacker lived many years beyond that ordeal, but he never forgot the sacrifice of that first life-saving seagull… And he never stopped saying, 'Thank you.' That's why almost every Friday night he would walk to the end of the pier with a bucket full of shrimp and a heart full of gratitude.
Reference: (Max Lucado, "In The Eye of the Storm",pp..221, 225-226)
PS: Eddie started Eastern Airlines.
S!
#2
kirock777
-
- Posts: 1138
Posted 04 September 2012 - 18:55
Interesting read. Thanks!
#3
242Sqn_Wolf
-
- Posts: 2881
Posted 04 September 2012 - 19:26
Remarkable: a story that is both economical with the truth and prolix with the bollocks.Eddie Rickenbacker: American Hero is the result of fifteen years of research by W. David Lewis, apparently a Distinguished Professor at Auburn University. I have no idea if Distinguished Professor is an honorific or a hard-won title, and if you think I am going to make snide remarks about a Brunette or a Ginger or a Blonde University, you are sadly deluded.
I googled Eddie Rickenbacker Seagull. (Please. Please. Don't. Just don't. You must resist.)
Pages 429-439 are the ones we need to read. (Although they are pretty harrowing.) The story of the devotional service is true, but not the way the OP has it. It took place about six days after they landed and they had eaten the only food they'd remembered to take out of the aeroplane. And just before they discussed the possibility of cutting off somebody's toes to use as bait on fishing lines. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Professor Lewis says that at least two of the men were atheists and that Rickenbacker hadn't much fussed himself with religion since childhood. Black-hearted commo atheist I might be, but I'm not going to giggle at starving and desperate men finding solace in scripture; however, the miracle that followed wasn't really up to much.
It was the eighth day, so even glurge gets some things right. The bird did land on Rickenbacker's hat, although you'd think that after fifteen years' research the Distinguished Professor would have been able to tell us if Rickenbacker's hat was on his head or over his nose. (The two atheists said it wasn't a seagull, but what did they know, godless jobsworths that they clearly were?) They did manage to catch a couple of fish with the bait, but only enough for an inch cube for each man.
And then, well, that was it. They hardly caught any more fish at all. At one stage they caught and killed a small shark, but it was so rancid nobody could contemplate eating it. One man died and another tried to kill himself by drowning. As they got nearer land there was more opportunity to catch fish and other marine life. (I don't know what the other marine life was, because there are pages removed from the book on the google site, but I can tell you these men were developing a taste for sushi at a time when it was neither profitable nor popular.)
So there you have it. Was there a miracle that saved them? Yes, there was; and, in a very real sense, no there wasn't. It was more likely the night-time rain storms that saved them, and a certain amount of egotistical bullying from Eddie Rickenbacker. Odd that Max Lucado doesn't mention the shouting.
So what about the daily ritual of feeding shrimp to the gulls in eucharistic gratitude? When I googled Eddie Rickenbacker bucket shrimp pier I got six pages of the same story in the OP (with snopes the very first, hurrah) but no reference to the book by the Distinguished Professor Lewis. I conclude that either he meant to include the story but he had a Blonde moment (oh, bugger!) or the story is what Professor Alexei Sayle used to refer to as cack, cack, bloody cack.
http://message.snope...ead.php?t=25243" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://message.snope...ead.php?t=25243
#4
Wisdom_Hunting
-
- Posts: 563
Posted 04 September 2012 - 19:43
Incredible story. To me if true I feel he was the kind of man who deserved to live to an old ripe age. That is a person with gratitude and thus a man with high calibre. RIP Mr. Rickenbacker. God blessed his soul and may God rest his soul now until the time when all the dead are raised.
Btw the man was a WWI fighter ace not WWII fighter ace.
#5
AndyJWest
-
- Posts: 1284
Posted 04 September 2012 - 21:29
Wisdom_Hunting, did you bother to click on the link at the bottom of Wolf's post before telling us how the dead are all going to be raised?
#6
Dr.Zebra
-
- Posts: 2663
Posted 04 September 2012 - 22:01
don´t let facts get in the way of a good story ;=)
#7
Wisdom_Hunting
-
- Posts: 563
Posted 04 September 2012 - 22:32
Wisdom_Hunting, did you bother to click on the link at the bottom of Wolf's post before telling us how the dead are all going to be raised?
The original post did wrongly state Mr Rickenbacker to be a WWII hero.
I did not click on it but just did now, doesn't seem to offer anything particularly useful. Ah you took offence for me mentioning about resurrection of the dead. Well that is your issue since I didn't mean to offend anyone.
If you took offence that my post to you somehow implied a divine intervention in the saving of Mr Rickenbacker make no mistake I've got a better miracle in my own life that would make Mr Rickenbacker saving no clear indication of divine miracle even though I wouldn't say it was not. We never knew if it was coincidence that saved them that day and we each have the right to interpret it the way we want it given no clear indication.
You know it doesn't matter if Mr Rickenbacker wasn't particularly a religious person. Doing what he did on that pier I'd say Mr Rickenbacker knew how to remember and show gratitude. That's a trait of a good person. That's all that matter.
As for you if you have issue with the Almighty God I suggest you not to take your issue with believer. I have zero tolerance on the intolerant. The written expression was a token of my respect for this man. The balls of some people. Unbelievable. You should be ashamed. If it was me who was disrespecting you or insulting you then it would be me who should be ashamed but I did not insult you so why took offence on a personal expression to respect a dead person.
#8
AndyJWest
-
- Posts: 1284
Posted 04 September 2012 - 23:57
Doing what he did on that pier I'd say Mr Rickenbacker knew how to remember and show gratitude.
There is no evidence whatsoever that Rickenbacker did anything on any pier. There is no evidence that anyone had 'a simple devotional service'. There is no evidence that there were any 'miracles'. Max Lugado wasn't on the liferaft.
#9
Grizz45
-
- Posts: 13
Posted 05 September 2012 - 01:06
Don't tell PETA the Rickenbacker story. They would say the Yanks should have just died.
#10
catchov
-
- Posts: 4230
- Location Qld, Australia
Posted 05 September 2012 - 01:07
Quite …. but let us never forget how we all should be truly grateful to Eddie Rickenbacker for bringing us the most exciting aerial-themed adventures ever filmed.
May I present ….
Ace Drummond (G-Man of the sky)
Episode One.
#11
AndyJWest
-
- Posts: 1284
Posted 05 September 2012 - 01:42
Just to indicate how little research Lucado had done before writing his version of events, he writes that "With a handpicked crew in a B-17 known as the 'Flying Fortress' he [Rickenbacker] set off across the South Pacific". For a start,all B-17s were known as 'Flying Fortresses' - they had been since 1935. And again, if the crew were 'hand picked', it wouldn't have been done by Rickenbacker - he was a passenger on the plane…
#12
SirFreddie
-
- Posts: 1398
Posted 05 September 2012 - 01:45
Professor Alexei Sayle in his heyday!!!
Maybe not Rik Mayalls 'Woof!'
#13
zachanscom
-
- Posts: 385
Posted 05 September 2012 - 01:45
wisdom hunting and andyjwest's exchange was comedy gold
#14
Caledonian
-
- Posts: 214
Posted 05 September 2012 - 01:53
Wisdom_Hunting, did you bother to click on the link at the bottom of Wolf's post before telling us how the dead are all going to be raised?
The original post did wrongly state Mr Rickenbacker to be a WWII hero.
Errr, no. It said: "He was a famous hero back in World War II". Not the same at all, unless you have an incredibly narrow definition of "hero" that takes in only combat. Whether the story's precisely true or not, the press of the day would doubtless have fêted Rickenbacker as a hero after the rescue as he was the only 'name' on the raft, and bigging up recognisable characters in feelgood stories, however tenuous, is what the press do in times of war. If there's a religious angle, so much the better, back then at least.
In any case, I'd have taken the line as meaning Rickenbacker was a heroic public figure during the WWII period oweing to his exploits in WWI. If you believe in that sort of thing, a hero is still a hero thirty years later, irrespective of religious affliation or lack thereof.
#15
AndyJWest
-
- Posts: 1284
Posted 05 September 2012 - 01:55
…Oh, and it was the Central Pacific, not the South Pacific…
#16
Wisdom_Hunting
-
- Posts: 563
Posted 05 September 2012 - 01:57
Doing what he did on that pier I'd say Mr Rickenbacker knew how to remember and show gratitude.
There is no evidence whatsoever that Rickenbacker did anything on any pier. There is no evidence that anyone had 'a simple devotional service'. There is no evidence that there were any 'miracles'. Max Lugado wasn't on the liferaft.
You saying Max Lugado made up the story then provide your evidence, surely an self respecting author of history book would not make up their own story. Their reputation would take a hit.
#17
zachanscom
-
- Posts: 385
Posted 05 September 2012 - 02:06
because there's a bunch of inconsistencies that you would not expect from a real writer of history. also, he basically makes his living by lying to people.
#18
LukeFF
-
- Tester
- Posts: 7853
- Location Redlands, California
Posted 05 September 2012 - 02:16
While Max Lucado is definitely not a historian (he is a minister), I fail to see how he's a liar.
(Then again, I've seen how certain people on this forum reply when anyone dare brings up God or Christianity).
#19
Wisdom_Hunting
-
- Posts: 563
Posted 05 September 2012 - 02:20
because there's a bunch of inconsistencies that you would not expect from a real writer of history. also, he basically makes his living by lying to people.
WHAT? That's serious accusations if he were a politician I'd understand it but a history writer? What to be lied about? And what for? The history itself is what sells. If people wanted fiction they would get fiction
I know history is written by the winner for the sake of politics but still a history book is a history book.
While Max Lucado is definitely not a historian (he is a minister), I fail to see how he's a liar.
A minister so he is a politician!
NOW THAT IS FUNNY zachanscom, and without trolling too.
(Then again, I've seen how certain people on this forum reply when anyone dare brings up God or Christianity).
No worry the force is strong with me. Bring them on, an entire continent if needed
#20
AndyJWest
-
- Posts: 1284
Posted 05 September 2012 - 02:24
Doing what he did on that pier I'd say Mr Rickenbacker knew how to remember and show gratitude.
There is no evidence whatsoever that Rickenbacker did anything on any pier. There is no evidence that anyone had 'a simple devotional service'. There is no evidence that there were any 'miracles'. Max Lugado wasn't on the liferaft.
You saying Max Lugado made up the story then provide your evidence, surely an self respecting author of history book would not make up their own story. Their reputation would take a hit.
Do you think In the Eye of the Storm: A Day in the Life of Jesus is history?
Are you seriously suggesting that Max Lucado (sorry-spelled his name wrong earlier) is a historian? That is just nuts. No. Lucado didn't make up the whole story. Rickenbacker was stranded in the Pacific on a liferaft, that much is certain. He may well have caught and eaten a seabird (though possibly not a gull). As for the old man with the shrimp, any serious historian would cite a source for such information. What source does Lucado cite?
#21
Caledonian
-
- Posts: 214
Posted 05 September 2012 - 02:26
(Then again, I've seen how certain people on this forum reply when anyone dare brings up God or Christianity).
I think you'll find that's one of the profound differences in some aspects of culture between the US and Europe. In Europe generally loud public professions of devotion/faith are viewed dimly. The prevailing view is that beliefs are a personal and private matter. You should see the outbreak of intense, embarrassed shoe studying on the London Underground that erupts when someone occasionally decides to evangelise loudly to the captive audience of a rush hour tube.
A pan European extension of "two peoples separated by a common language".
#22
Wisdom_Hunting
-
- Posts: 563
Posted 05 September 2012 - 02:27
Yay I see that Andy was no guy with goodwill.
My first foe!
Anymore? just line up.
#23
Caledonian
-
- Posts: 214
Posted 05 September 2012 - 02:30
Yay I see that Andy was no guy with goodwill.
Not sure you'll find many takers for that round here.
#24
AndyJWest
-
- Posts: 1284
Posted 05 September 2012 - 02:36
Interestingly enough, if you Google Max Lucado, you'll find that a lot of the god-bothering-squad have issues with him too. Supposedly over theological issues, but probably mostly over just how much money he makes.
#25
AndyJWest
-
- Posts: 1284
Posted 05 September 2012 - 02:41
(Then again, I've seen how certain people on this forum reply when anyone dare brings up God or Christianity).
I think you'll find that's one of the profound differences in some aspects of culture between the US and Europe. In Europe generally loud public professions of devotion/faith are viewed dimly. The prevailing view is that beliefs are a personal and private matter. You should see the outbreak of intense, embarrassed shoe studying on the London Underground that erupts when someone occasionally decides to evangelise loudly to the captive audience of a rush hour tube.A pan European extension of "two peoples separated by a common language".
True to some extent, though I've known enough people from the U.S. to notice how quite a few find such overt evangelising an embarrassment.
#26
Wisdom_Hunting
-
- Posts: 563
Posted 05 September 2012 - 02:57
Yay I see that Andy was no guy with goodwill.
Not sure you'll find many takers for that round here.
Oh not a problem at all. Would make things easier for me. Bring them all in. Don't hesitate at all.
Incredible story. To me if true I feel he was the kind of man who deserved to live to an old ripe age. That is a person with gratitude and thus a man with high calibre. RIP Mr. Rickenbacker. God blessed his soul and may God rest his soul now until the time when all the dead are raised.
That if is there from the beginning.
#27
gavagai
-
- Posts: 15542
Posted 05 September 2012 - 03:05
I only believe in the Great Toilet in the Sky. That's the final destination of everyone and every species on Earth…Before we begin to believe in our importance, Flush!
#28
AndyJWest
-
- Posts: 1284
Posted 05 September 2012 - 03:08
To me if true I feel he was the kind of man who deserved to live to an old ripe age.
So if it isn't true, he didn't?
#29
Caledonian
-
- Posts: 214
Posted 05 September 2012 - 03:17
I only believe in the Great Toilet in the Sky. That's the final destination of everyone and every species on Earth…Before we begin to believe in our importance, Flush!
There's a touch of Douglas Adams in there…
#30
AndyJWest
-
- Posts: 1284
Posted 05 September 2012 - 03:39
I only believe in the Great Toilet in the Sky. That's the final destination of everyone and every species on Earth…Before we begin to believe in our importance, Flush!
There's a touch of Douglas Adams in there…
Yup. 'Mostly harmless'.
#31
Wisdom_Hunting
-
- Posts: 563
Posted 05 September 2012 - 03:39
I only believe in the Great Toilet in the Sky. That's the final destination of everyone and every species on Earth…Before we begin to believe in our importance, Flush!
It's not about feeling important at all, not at all. You're mistaking self respect with megalomania.
I believe in respecting myself and to treat other people with due and equal respect.
That's all.
I believe people should have genuine goodwill towards one another. If not don't waste my precious time.
If you think you're important enough to treat other people rudely or cruelly or by generally being a jerk then I can't be bothered with you. I don't care if you're even the UN secretary general or the king of Bahrain or the Antichrist. Can't be bothered.
Believe me, I do as I preach. I fought an entire dictatorial regime. Can't be bothered by some megalomaniac decadent people.
#32
AndyJWest
-
- Posts: 1284
Posted 05 September 2012 - 03:46
I believe in respecting myself and to treat other people with due and equal respect.
That's all.
You have a funny way of showing it: "As for you if you have issue with the Almighty God I suggest you not to take your issue with believer. I have zero tolerance on the intolerant". And who appointed you God's Spokesman on the forum anyway?
Rickenbacker deserves respect and admiration for what he did, not for what people out to sell books and religions like to claim he did.
#33
JimmyBlonde
-
- Posts: 2346
Posted 05 September 2012 - 03:49
So what the actual fuck is this thread about exactly?
#34
Wisdom_Hunting
-
- Posts: 563
Posted 05 September 2012 - 03:52
So what the actual fuck is this thread about exactly?
Basically about an old guy who was a WWI hero with a bucket of shrimp comitting to a ritualized seagull feeding in the pier. Some people argued there was no old guy and a bucket of shrimp. And then proceeded to mock quote Jesus because I mentioned a personal expression of respect for that old guy mentioning resurrection of the dead eventhough no mention of the name Jesus.
It's not a strange world what is strange is the people
Thank God my fate doesn't depend on them
#35
AndyJWest
-
- Posts: 1284
Posted 05 September 2012 - 03:53
What is this about? Gods, shrimps, and seagulls.
(Shrimp move in mysterious ways
)
#36 Guest__*
Guest__*
Posted 05 September 2012 - 04:11
Welcome to the forum, leave religion and politics at the door.
#37
JimmyBlonde
-
- Posts: 2346
Posted 05 September 2012 - 04:43
It's not a strange world what is strange is the people
#38
Blade_meister
-
- Posts: 1373
Posted 05 September 2012 - 04:48
Ok ,You have established that Max Lucado is not a Historian and makes to much money, that Rickenbacker was a WWI hero and he did end up in a life raft stranded somewhere in the Pacific. That was a great warm up gents, now lets jump right into the main crux of this discussion,
Is the Theory Of Evolution True, or is
The Belief of Creationism True???
If you are looking at your shoes, I know which answer you are going to choose.
If you are rolling your eyes, you've been here before, these aren't the Droids
you are looking for, Move Along!
If you just thanked The Lord for this opportunity, I know the answer you are going
to choose.
Good Luck.
S! Blade<><
#39
catchov
-
- Posts: 4230
- Location Qld, Australia
Posted 05 September 2012 - 04:50
God bless the interweb for bringing strange people together.
#40
JimmyBlonde
-
- Posts: 2346
Posted 05 September 2012 - 05:12
Well hell, why not throw all the fat in the fire in one go?
Now, I always heard that Rickenbacker was a self-publicising blowhard who probably broke more airplanes than he ever shot down so the $64,000 question is:
Was Eddie Rickenbacker an actual honest to goodness fighter ace who was put on this earth by a kind and loving creator who incidentally happens to despise gay people for no particular reason?
Or…
Was Eddie Rickenbacker the product of a crazed experiment by out of control market researchers, derived from the continual and subtle genetic mutation of generations of primordial Rickenbackers and then unleashed upon the world in a massive "Buy More War Bonds" publicity stunt?
This question is as incoherent as it is in poor taste I know but, allow me to remind you ladies and gentlemen, that this is the internet after all.
despeissislatchaving.blogspot.com
Source: https://riseofflight.com/forum/topic/32376-old-guy-bucket-shrimp/
0 Response to "Eddie Rickenbacker Pilot Sea Gulls Feeding Snopes"
Post a Comment