Editing George McGovern (section)

==Military service==

===Groundschool and trainers===
Soon thereafter McGovern was sworn in as a [[Private (rank)|private]] at [[Fort Snelling]] in [[Minnesota]].<ref name="ambrose-49">Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', p. 49.</ref> He spent a month at [[Jefferson Barracks Military Post]] in [[Missouri]] and then five months at [[Southern Illinois Normal University]] in [[Carbondale, Illinois]], for ground school training. McGovern later maintained that both the academic work and physical training were the toughest he ever experienced.<ref name="ambrose-56">Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 54, 56–57.</ref> He spent two months at a base in [[San Antonio, Texas]], and then went to [[Hatbox Field]] in [[Muskogee, Oklahoma]], for basic flying school, training in a single-engined [[PT-19|PT‑19]].<ref name="ambrose-56"/> McGovern married Eleanor Stegeberg on October 31, 1943, during a three-day leave (lonely and in love, the couple had decided to not wait any longer).<ref name="ambrose-65">Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 65–66.</ref> His father presided over the ceremony at the Methodist church in Woonsocket.<ref>Knock, ''The Rise of a Prairie Statesman'', pp. 51–52.</ref>
 
After three months in Muskogee, McGovern went to [[Coffeyville Army Airfield]] in [[Kansas]] for a further three months of training on the [[BT-13|BT‑13]].<ref name="ambrose-68">Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 68–70, 73–74.</ref> Around April 1944, McGovern went on to advanced flying school at [[Pampa Army Airfield]] in [[Texas]] for twin-engine training on the [[Cessna AT-17|AT‑17]] and [[Curtiss AT-9|AT‑9]].<ref name="ambrose-68"/> Throughout, Air Cadet McGovern showed skill as a pilot, with his exceptionally good [[depth perception]] aiding him.<ref name="ambrose-56"/> Eleanor McGovern followed him to these duty stations, and was present when he received his wings and was commissioned a [[Second Lieutenant (United States)|second lieutenant]].<ref name="ambrose-68"/>

===Training in the B-24===
[[Image:Liberal Army Airfield KS 7 Oct 1943.jpg|thumb|left|Liberal Army Airfield in Kansas during World War II, where McGovern learned to fly the B-24]]

McGovern was assigned to [[Liberal Army Airfield]] in Kansas and its transition school to learn to fly the B‑24 Liberator, an assignment he was pleased with.<ref name="ambrose-68"/> McGovern recalled later: "Learning how to fly the B‑24 was the toughest part of the training. It was a difficult airplane to fly, physically, because in the early part of the war they didn't have hydraulic controls. If you can imagine driving a Mack truck without any power steering or power brakes, that's about what it was like at the controls. It was the biggest bomber we had at the time."<ref name="airjourn"/> Eleanor was constantly afraid.<ref>Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 68, 72, 100.</ref> Accidents while training claimed a huge toll of airmen over the course of the war.<ref>Knock, ''The Rise of a Prairie Statesman'', p. 57.</ref>

This schooling was followed by a stint at [[Lincoln Army Airfield]] in [[Nebraska]], where McGovern met his B-24 crew.<ref name="ambrose-96">Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 94, 96, 99.</ref>  Traveling around the country and mixing with people from different backgrounds proved to be a broadening experience for McGovern and others of his generation.<ref name="ambrose-96"/> The USAAF sped up training times for McGovern and others, owing to the heavy losses that bombing missions were suffering over Europe.<ref>Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', p. 115.</ref>  Despite, and partly because of, the risk that McGovern might not come back from combat, the McGoverns decided to have a child, and Eleanor became pregnant.<ref>Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 87–88.</ref> In June 1944, McGovern's crew received final training at [[Mountain Home Army Air Field]] in [[Idaho]].<ref name="ambrose-96" /> They then shipped out via [[Camp Patrick Henry]] in [[Virginia]], where McGovern found history books with which to fill downtime, especially during the trip overseas on a slow troopship.<ref>Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 102–104.</ref>

===Italy===
In September 1944 McGovern joined the 741st Squadron of the [[455th Bombardment Group]] of the [[Fifteenth Air Force]], stationed at [[San Giovanni Airfield]] near [[Cerignola]] in the [[Apulia]] region of Italy.<ref name="ambrose-124">Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 124, 128–130.</ref> There he and his crew found a starving, disease-ridden local population wracked by the ill fortunes of war and far worse off than anything they had seen back home during the Depression.<ref name="ambrose-124"/><ref name="nyt-prof-1968"/> Those sights would form part of his later motivation to fight hunger.<ref name="staug"/> Starting on November 11, 1944, McGovern flew 35&nbsp;missions over enemy territory from San Giovanni, the first five as co-pilot for an experienced crew and the rest as pilot for his own plane, known as the ''Dakota Queen'' after his wife Eleanor.<ref>Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', p. 153.</ref> His targets were in [[Austria]]; [[Czechoslovakia]]; [[Nazi Germany]]; [[Hungary]]; [[Poland]]; and [[German invasion of Italy|northern, German-controlled Italy]], and were often either [[oil refinery]] complexes or rail [[marshalling yard|marshaling yards]], all as part of the [[Strategic bombing during World War II#US bombing in Europe|U.S.&nbsp;strategic bombing campaign in Europe]]. The eight- or nine-hour missions were grueling tests of endurance for pilots and crew, and while German fighter aircraft were a diminished threat by this time as compared with earlier in the war, his missions often faced heavy [[anti-aircraft artillery]] fire that filled the sky with flak bursts.<ref>Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', p. 125.</ref>

On McGovern's December 15 mission over [[Linz]], his second as pilot, a piece of shrapnel from flak came through the windshield and missed fatally wounding him by only a few inches.<ref>Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 179–180.</ref> The following day on a mission to [[Brüx]], he nearly collided with another bomber during close-formation flying in complete cloud cover.<ref>Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', p. 181.</ref> The following day, he was recommended for a medal after surviving a blown wheel on the always-dangerous B-24 take-off, completing a mission over Germany, and then landing without further damage to the plane.<ref>Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 187–189.</ref> On a December 20 mission against the [[Škoda Works]] at [[Plzeň|Pilsen]], Czechoslovakia, McGovern's plane had one engine out and another in flames after being hit by flak. Unable to return to Italy, McGovern flew to a British airfield on [[Vis (island)|Vis]], a small island in the [[Adriatic Sea]] off the Yugoslav coast that was controlled by [[Josip Broz Tito]]'s [[Partisan (military)|Partisans]]. The short field, normally used by small fighter planes, was so unforgiving to four-engined aircraft that many of the bomber crews who tried to make emergency landings there perished.  But McGovern successfully landed, saving his crew, a feat for which he was awarded the [[Distinguished Flying Cross (USA)|Distinguished Flying Cross]].<ref name="ambrose-192">Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 192–196.</ref><ref name="1000-176">Schlesinger, ''A Thousand Days'', p. 176.</ref>

[[Image:15th AF B-24 Liberator.jpg|thumb|right|A B‑24 Liberator of the Fifteenth Air Force's 451st Bombardment Group (not McGovern's group, but also stationed in Italy), on a March 1945 mission over Germany]]

In January 1945 McGovern used [[R&R (military)|R&R]] time to see every sight that he could in Rome, and to participate in an [[audience with the Pope|audience with the pope]].<ref>Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 202–206.</ref> Bad weather prevented many missions from being carried out during the winter, and during such downtime McGovern spent much time reading and discussing how the war had come about. He resolved that if he survived it, he would become a history professor.<ref>Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 186, 190.</ref> In February, McGovern was promoted to [[first lieutenant]].<ref>Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', p. 219.</ref> On March 14 McGovern had an incident over Austria in which he accidentally bombed a family farmhouse when a jammed bomb inadvertently released above the structure and destroyed it, an event that haunted McGovern.<ref name="ambrose-228">Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 228–233.</ref> Four decades later, after McGovern related the incident during an Austrian television program and indicated he was still haunted by it, the owner of the farm called the television station to say that his farm was hit by that bomb but that no one had been hurt and the farmer felt that it had been worth the price if that event helped achieve the defeat of Nazi Germany in some small way. McGovern said finding this out was "an enormous release".<ref>Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 262–263.</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80094970/ | title=McGovern haunted by fear he killed innocent family | agency=Associated Press | newspaper=[[The Bismarck Tribune]] | date=May 19, 1989 | page=5A}}</ref>

On returning to base from the flight, McGovern was told his first child Ann had been born four days earlier.<ref name="ambrose-228" /> April 25 saw McGovern's 35th&nbsp;mission, which marked fulfillment of the Fifteenth Air Force's requirement for a combat tour, against heavily defended Linz. The sky turned black and red with flak – McGovern later said, "Hell can't be any worse than that" – and the ''Dakota Queen'' was hit multiple times, resulting in 110&nbsp;holes in its fuselage and wings and an inoperative hydraulic system.  McGovern's waist gunner was injured, and his flight engineer was so unnerved by his experience that he would subsequently be hospitalized with [[Combat stress reaction|battle fatigue]], but McGovern managed to bring back the plane safely with the assistance of an improvised landing technique.<ref name="1000-176" /><ref name="ambrose-240">Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 240–245.</ref> According to a McGovern associate speaking after McGovern's passing, sometime during his wartime experiences in Europe, McGovern had an extramarital affair and fathered a child with an unknown woman.<ref name="ex03" group="nb" />

===Postwar relief===
In May and June 1945, following the end of the European war, McGovern continued with the 741st Bomb Squadron delivering surplus food and supplies near [[Trieste]] in Northeastern Italy; this was then trucked to the hungry in nearby locations, including to German prisoners of war.<ref>Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 254–256, 258.</ref><ref name="Knock, p. 75"/> McGovern liked making these relief flights, as it gave a way to address the kinds of deprivations he had witnessed when first arriving in Italy.<ref name="Knock, p. 75"/> He then flew back to the United States with his crew.<ref name="Knock, p. 75">Knock, ''The Rise of a Prairie Statesman'', p. 75.</ref> McGovern was discharged from the Army Air Forces in July 1945, with the rank of first lieutenant.<ref name="cby-265"/> He was also awarded the [[Air Medal]] with three [[oak leaf cluster]]s,<ref name="nyt-mitn-61"/> one instance of which was for the safe landing on his final mission.<ref>Anson, ''McGovern'', p. 43.</ref>