Gather round while I sing you of Wernher von Braun
A man whose allegiance is ruled by expedience
Call him a Nazi, he won’t even frown
“Ha, Nazi schmazi,” says Wernher von Braun
Don’t say that he’s hypocritical
Say rather that he’s apolitical
“Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down
That’s not my department,” says Wernher von Braun
Some have harsh words for this man of renown
But some think our attitude should be one of gratitude
Like the widows and cripples in old London town
Who owe their large pensions to Wernher von Braun
You too may be a big hero
Once you’ve learned to count backwards to zero
“In German oder English I know how to count down
Und I’m learning Chinese,” says Wernher von Braun
— Tom Lehrer
“Despite his past and affiliation with the Nazi party...”
I don’t think he had much of a choice.
Just think of the outcome of our space program if the USSR grabbed all these guys first.
Right after Sputnik went up In 1957 there were rocket clubs formed in high schools around the country similar to the one in the movie October Sky. I was a member of a club of 5 members in my high school in Oklahoma City. Von Braun came to Oklahama City and met with us and a couple of other clubs.
We went on to fire several rockets at Fort Sill that were tracked on radar and our club set the record of 5200 ft. One of our members went on to be and engineer and worked for NASA for a while.
Just think of the outcome of our space program if the USSR grabbed all these guys first.
/mark
He also became a Christian after being witnessed to by a Gideon.
Von Braun was one of the old school engineers who designed the massive Saturn V with basically slide rule technology.
Bet they don’t commemorate him in London.
Von Braun’s epitaph, Psalms 19:1
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.”
Operation Paperclip