Our differences are in arbitrary boundary lines only.

September 22, 2016 1:43 PM

Even before Pearl Harbor Day, thousands of young American men had taken to the skies, resolved to thwart Hitler’s goals. But to the United States, these men weren’t yet heroes — they were, arguably, dissidents. To join the war, they first chose to defect — to Canada.
posted by Chrysostom (11 comments total)

Its not defection to move to another country to serve in their armed forces.
posted by Ironmouth at 2:03 PM on September 22, 2016

Having been against Hitler before the US government was, was something that could get you listed by the House Un-American Activities Committee during the Red Scare.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 2:10 PM on September 22, 2016 [11 favorites]

My late father-in-law was one. Born in Oklahoma, he enlisted in the Canadian Army in 1940 at 18 or 19. Became a medic. Liberated the Bergen-Belsen camp, treated some of the internees, buried others. Stayed in the Canadian Army and in Europe until late 1946. Then he came back to the USA and tried to live a normal life.
 
posted by Herodios at 2:13 PM on September 22, 2016 [12 favorites]

There were some in World War I as well. All of the American recipients of Britain's Victoria Cross (its highest military-only award) except for the first one served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:26 PM on September 22, 2016 [3 favorites]

Didn't this happen with the "premature anti-fascists" that fought in Spain against Franco? Not popular in the Red scares after the war either.
posted by Bee'sWing at 2:36 PM on September 22, 2016 [3 favorites]

Yes, bee's wing...a new book deals with those Americans who served in the Spanish Civil War, fighting against Franco: Spain in Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939
posted by Postroad at 3:29 PM on September 22, 2016

My uncle did this. Always wanted to learn more!
posted by zippy at 4:32 PM on September 22, 2016

Some went to China and joined the Flying Tigers.

In the first war, some also went to France.
posted by BWA at 4:35 PM on September 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

Swedish power metal band Sabaton sings about this in Aces in Exile.

(The video mentions Canadian pilots, but focuses a bit more on the Polish ones, which is unsurprising, because the most devoted segment of Sabaton's fanbase is in Poland.)
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 11:25 PM on September 22, 2016

Its not defection to move to another country to serve in their armed forces.
posted by Ironmouth at 5:03 AM on September 23 [+] [!]

Meanwhile, John Walker Lindh serves his 14th year of prison without chance of parole.
posted by BinGregory at 11:30 PM on September 22, 2016

There were also American women who joined the fight early. Novelist Mary Lee Settle, who was born in West Virginia in 1918, went to England and joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. Her elegant and unsentimental war memoir, All the Brave Promises, is worth reading.
posted by BicycleFace at 11:38 PM on September 22, 2016 [3 favorites]