We could be heroes.

To say that the victors write history has become trite, but it really is true. One example is air aces. Who would you say has the most air-to-air kills of all time? If you said, say, Chuck Yeager, you'd be way wrong (7 kills), or Canadian hero Billy Bishop (72), or even one of the exceptions to the rule, Baron von Richthofen (73 confirmed, possibly as many as 100). Not even the top American ace Richard Bong (40). The correct answer is Erich Hartmann, who recorded 352 kills during the Second World War. Granted, many Luftwaffe pilots have a high number of kills, due to the Soviet habit of throwing massive numbers of poorly trained troops into battle to overwhelm a more skilled and better equipped enemy. Still, only two pilots have broken the 300 mark, and only 15 the 200 mark, according to one listing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ List_of_World_War_II_air_aces).

Think about it, if Hartmann had flown for the Allies, he would have had the skills to grab say, 50+ kills, which would put him at the top of WWII allied pilots. He would have been a hero. Instead, his unit surrendered to the 90th US Infantry, who sent him to Russia to spend 10 years in the gulag for war crimes, charges which were never proven and were officially dropped in 1997. After returning to Germany, Hartmann flew Sabres and Starfighters for West Germany, retiring in 1970 and dying of natural causes in 1993. Not bad for a man who was shot down 14 times and spent 10 years in a Soviet prison.

Herr Hartmann, I salute you.