Captain of the Clouds

By Miss Kubelik

Tomorrow is George McGovern's 88th birthday, and he's planning to celebrate it by skydiving.

Perhaps now the nation will finally realize that George McGovern is a genuine war hero. See, his interest in jumping out of a plane is partly due to his service in World War II.

That's right. Our 1972 Democratic nominee — relentlessly demonized by Republicans as a traitorous antiwar peacenik and a girly man — was a highly decorated B-24 bomber pilot in "The Big One." In the words of the National World War II Museum, McGovern "flew 35 missions over enemy territory from bases in North Africa and later Italy, often against heavy anti-aircraft artillery, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross for saving his crew by landing his damaged bomber on a British airfield on Vis, a small island off the Yugoslav coast."

Of course, you never heard about any of this when he was running for President, because Senator McGovern thought it would be in bad taste to brag about his war exploits.

But it's 38 years later, and we cats are under no such constraints. So we will brag for him. We've had our disagreements with Senator McGovern since 1972, but one thing's for certain: He puts Republican chickenhawks to shame.

Happy birthday, Senator. We cats PURR.

(PHOTO: Layne Library, Dakota Wesleyan University)