What is your family's WWII story?

[OzarkDem]

In our family, my great grandparents lost two of their three sons in the South Pacific. Their daughter (my grandmother) nearly lost her husband in Okinawa. It changed them all forever.

One gr uncle died on the USS Qunicy during the Battle of Savo Island (a real shitstorm); the other died going ashore on Leyte Island when Macarthur was returning. Both young men, never married, never had families.

Gr grandfather was head of the county Dem party and campaigned for FDR and Truman.

About 15 men from their little Ozarks village died in WWII.

[Captain Hilts]

1. Uncle was radioman on battleship Iowa, mom in Sec. War's office. Dad was a yeoman in Pentagon. My

My great uncle was director of Materiel for the RCN.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. My Dad Took Shrapnel In The Stomach And Eye During The Sicilian Campaign

He spent several months in Walter Reed Hospital and had several surgeries on his eye...They could cosmetically save the eye but not the sight...Before the war he had lettered in swimming and baseball and was a Golden Gloves boxer who wanted to turn pro... The war ended that hope...

[dpbrown]

3. My father was shot and survived - bronze star and purple heart

My grandfather had five boys and four went to war. They all came home.

[rockymountaindem]

4. I don't know that much about it

My grandfather, who died shortly after my 1st birthday, served aboard a ship in the Philippines. He was in the Army though, not the Navy. One of these days I'm going to have to look at the transparency of his service record that we have. He was in the Army from before the war began in 1941 until 1945, I do know that. And, he married my grandmother shortly before leaving the US after they had only been on five dates. Not only that, but she traveled thousands of miles on a train to marry him. I wish it was that easy to find someone these days :)

On the other side of the family, two of my relatives served in the European theater, one in the infantry and the other in the artillery, but they both died long before I was born, so I can't give any more detail than that.

[Jed Dilligan]

5. One grandfather dodged the draft every way he could

ended up in Italy in 1945, and stayed until 1950. As far as I know he was a sleaze. Not much is known but he was an MP and sent home a lot of very expensive presents--too expensive for an enlisted man to get his hands on legally. Above all, he was dodging his duties as a husband and parent at that point.

The other grandfather had hayfever and bad eyes so they put him to work in defense plants. Specifically, meat packing.

Further out, I had an uncle commanding a PT boat in the Pacific and my grandma's cousin in the old country died attempting to assassinate Mussolini.

It wasn't til the Nam that my family really got ground up in the US military.

[rockymountaindem]

6. Died attempting to assassinate Mussolini?

That's got to have quite a story behind it.

[Jed Dilligan]

16. My brother researched it a few years ago

You've seen the pictures of him parading in an open touring car. Apparently my relative threw a grenade in the car, but it turned out to be a dud. He escaped into the crowd and was hidden a few days--you have to realize, Mussolini was VERY unpopular well before WWII started--but then found and summarily shot. If memory serves me correctly.

Just think. If he had succeeded, maybe JFK would have been in a closed car that day...

[rockymountaindem]

24. What crappy luck

Although that reminds me of something I saw on the History Channel. Someone once threw a bagel into Roosevelt's car and one of the Sec. Service guys dove on it.

[Jed Dilligan]

26. What a delicious way to threaten National Security!

[Hayabusa]

11. My family

My grandfather was a staff sgt. in the army during WWII, but was a cook. He fought at Normandy and during the Battle of the Bulge. He was decorated a couple of times, but the only time that I heard about it was at his funeral 8 years ago.

That's all I know off of the top of my head.

[Jed Dilligan]

19. It's sad so many people don't have their family's stories

Sometimes people just don't talk to elders. I met my ex's grandpa once--for about twenty minutes--no more than six months before he died. In our brief conversation I found out he came from Oklahoma, a fact that neither his children, grandchildren, nor his ex-wife of 20 years knew.

[OzarkDem]

27. There are a lot of great online resources these days

Here's a good place to start

http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/military/

If your loved ones are deceased, as a close relative you can request copies of their military records.

[Jed Dilligan]

50. Nothing like getting it from the horse's mouth, though!

[TheDoorbellRang]

102. Thanks! I'm a genealogy buff

and have been meaning to get around to looking up military records, but hadn't done so yet. This looks like a good source.

[ikojo]

62. I WANTED to talk to my grandpa but he wasn't one

for reminiscing. His parents and siblings were from the "old country" of Bohemia (as it was then known). He NEVER spoke about his childhood or shared anything about his parents. All I do remember is hearing that when letters would come from the "old country" they were often full of bad news and it would upset his parents.

Some people just didn't want to share.

My mom tells me she has few memories of her own childhood. She said that when visiting her dad's parents, kids were to speak only when spoken to and there was to be no noise (something my grandpa believed as well). I think she had more fun at my grandma's parent's house.

[Jed Dilligan]

66. My girlfriend's dad is like that

He came to America to start a new life and doesn't talk much about the old one.

[Raine]

213. My mother told me not to ask

my father war stories, I guess he hated it and had such bad experiences that he wouldn't talk about it.

Also my aunt was in show buz in the early silent movie days and that was another thing that was never talked about. I'm not sure why but she must have had bad experiences with the "casting couch" or something. I wish I knew more but you can't make someone discuss things that they don't want to remember.

I also know almost nothing about my mother's side of the family. Apparently they were some blue blood American family that went back generations but they were crazy as all get out. My mother was abused and humiliated by them so we had nothing to do with them my whole life.

[moc]

7. My grandfather commanded a ship at Pearl Harbor.

Fortunately, he was a few miles outside the harbor during the attack. However, my grandmother, my father and my uncles didn't know he was okay for several weeks.

My father was 9yo and living in Honolulu at the time of the attack. My uncle was serving mass as an alter boy during the attack, and the candles rocked back and forth with the bombing.

About 2 months after the attack, a kamakaze plane dropped a bomb in a school yard about 2 blocks from my father's house. No one was hurt, but he was scared to death. Several months later, Navy families were evacuated to California with great fanfare. Dad thought it was quite the lark.

[Captain Hilts]

9. Which ship? nt

[moc]

12. U.S.S. Lamberton. It was an old destroyer that had been converted

into a mine sweeper. Grandad took command of the Lamberton in 1940. As the story goes, my grandmother was begging my grandfather to let her come out to Hawaii with their three boys. He finally relented, and my father, my uncles, and my grandmother arrived in Honolulu about 2 weeks before the attack.

[OzarkDem]

23. They really saw it first hand

I'm guessing your grandmother was glad to get back stateside.

[Captain Hilts]

98. "Where the fleet goes, we've been." Here are some photographs...

http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/119.htm

[no_hypocrisy]

8. My uncle spent four years in Danbury Prison b/c he refused to fight or peel

potatoes in the service of the Second World War. (He sent a congratulatory telegram to Jeanette Rankin for voting against the War Resolution on December 8, 1941.)

My father dodged having to fight by going to college. When it was over, then he joined, helped to "clean up" Germany (never shot his rifle once), got his GI medical school tuition, and went on to a normal, middle class life.

My father's brother was prevented from joining the Abraham Lincoln Brigade by my grandfather. He ended up doing military duty in Pensacola at the naval base.

[Frances]

15. I didn't think there were college deferments during World War II

I know there were not during the Korean War.

[no_hypocrisy]

21. My dad is one of those guys who actually DOESN'T like to talk about his military service.

All I know is he was born in 1923 and could have gone and he didn't join until 1946. And you looked pretty bad if you DIDN'T enlist after Pearl Harbor.

[Captain Hilts]

36. I wonder how he was able to put off service for so long? What was his job? nt

[no_hypocrisy]

81. He worked as a chemist-engineer in a cement factory in a city.

He went to school and spent the rest of his 24 hours at work.

[Frances]

108. My father tried to enlist in two different counties,

but both draft boards refused to accept him because his supervisor insisted that his job here in the U.S. was too important for him to leave this country.

My father was 27 and had one child when the war broke out, so he wasn't at the ideal age to join anyway.

However, my uncle, who was in his 30s, although unmarried, was accepted in the Seabees. He was a civil engineer and his skills were needed. Once when he was going ashore in a relatively small boat, most of the men in his boat were killed by fire from shore.

My first cousin was a radioman and saw lots of fighting in the Pacific. He was only 18 when he went in. My mother spent all of her summers with him when he was growing up and she said he was never the same after the war.

That's what the pilot says in Burns' World War II series too.

I have a friend whose uncle stayed with her family after the war. He fought in Europe. My friend remembers hearing her uncle screaming at night because of nightmares he had about the war.

I also remember a woman in my hometown who divorced her World War II husband. She said she felt really sorry for him, but that she couldn't take his nightmares every night.

So, I hope everyone realizes what a high price these soldiers paid for saving the world from the Nazis.

[Faygo Kid]

33. There were deferments based on what was needed to win the war.

My uncle was a young and brilliant engineer, and they needed him here.

[ikojo]

73. I think there were also deferments for those who

had children at home to support and it may have been based upon the number of kids...those with no kids went first. By the time the US entered the war after Dec 7, 1941, my grandpa was 31 and had two kids (my mom and my Uncle Red). They lived in St Louis MO at the time.

[goodgd_yall]

48. wow, you really have some gutsy people in your family n/t

[ikojo]

83. Didn't the Abraham Lincoln Brigade go fight

against Franco in Spain?

[Captain Hilts]

86. Yes. In the book "Mr Roberts," Doug Roberts can't get a transfer because he volunteered...

for the Lincoln Brigade and that made him suspect.

[no_hypocrisy]

93. Yes. And my uncle joined the communist party when he was in college in the Thirties.

[H2O Man]

10. I had a lot

of relatives in the service at that time, on both sides of my family. One grandfather was a DI on Paris Island. Several uncles in combat in Europel one grandfather and one uncle in the south Pacific. The one uncle continued in MI in Asia for a long time. Only one of them is still alive.

[DawgHouse]

13. My uncle was on a Victory ship that was lost to kamikaze attack.

He did not survive.

[halobeam]

14. Great Uncle went down on the HMT Rohna

I personally spoke w/ one of the survivors and he directed me to the book "Allied Secrets" (second publishing) and the author who so kindly signed the book to my Dad. (He was close to his uncle)

My great uncle as all the others that lost their lives that day, had parents and siblings who died never knowing what happened to their loved one. It took the govt. 40 some-odd years to acknowledge this. They didn't tell anyone b/c they didn't want anyone to know the Germans had the kind of missile that sunk the ship.

I'm now in the process of trying to get his purple heart to give to my Dad.. we were turned down so far, b/c he doesn't fall into the next of kin description, meanwhile most "next of kin" died by the time the truth came out. We are looking further into it, plus to get a marker for my great uncle. He has NONE right now.

Sure.. support the troops, did we EVER?

[OzarkDem]

67. First I'd heard of the Rhona

Just found this web site, will do some research. They said the information was kept secret because so many were killed?

http://www.rohna.org/

[Captain Hilts]

85. Me too. I'm learning something here. nt

[halobeam]

141. Yes, 1,115 men died that day and there were 900 survivors.

The survival stories on the site you linked to are unimaginable. The gentleman I spoke w/ told me about the memorial they FINALLY put up in Alabama (the only memorial they had was I believe in Tunisia.. not even on US soil, very hard for the survivors to get to) but now, the survivors and family members try to meet each year. He didn't personally know my great uncle because they had just left port maybe a day or so before, not much time to get to know one another.

They did finally get recognition from the government. H. Con.Res. 408 dated Sept. 25, 2000.. I repeat.. the year 2000.. but not for everything they should have. Some survivors told of their arrival back home, telling their families about the ship, and the family members thought they went crazy during the war, because they believed if it did happen, it would've been in print. Some survivors were disowned by their families as "mental".. just disgusting.

My great uncle's mother, father, all his siblings had died before the truth came out. My grandmother (his sister in law) who loved him very much was old when she learned the truth, but at least had that closure.

It was one of the worst ship disasters in history and most people never heard of it.

The USS Pioneer was the ship that came out to help the survivors, they too meet for the re-union.

BTW, the first book written by Carlton Jackson, "The Forgotten Tragedy" went out of print so fast, because no one knew about it. It wasn't until after the truth came out, that the another publisher printed more copies of the book (only allowed to re title it, Allied Secrets) was also written by Carlton Jackson.

I obtained an out of print copy of the first book, signed by the survivors at the first re-union, by a very giving family member of a survivor who had later passed on. The second edition, I was able to have autographed by the author, and gave both to my Dad for his birthday.

[halobeam]

146. yeah, I meant to answer you too, in my reply

post 141

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

17. My father was awarded the Purple Heart

His is an interesting story- unfortunately, I don't have all the details at hand. I know he enlisted to fight, and became a radio operator. One of his jobs was to run communication lines at the front- at one point he was field commissioned as a Warrant Officer. He and a buddy were running lines one day in Italy when they found themselves in a minefield. His buddy stepped on a Bouncing Betty, killing himself. My father caught shrapnel from it which remained in his body until the day he died at the age of 82.

Those were the days when a war injury was not mocked by Rethugs wearing bandaids with purple hearts penned onto them.



Those were the days our soldier's actions counted for something. Those were the days there was a real monster to fight, and dammit all we fought and WON.

Or so we thought.

[Jed Dilligan]

25. Lineman was a dangerous job--pure sniper-bait.

They used to put Conscientious Objectors on the front lines as linemen, without guns. They didn't need to kill anyone, just get killed.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

43. He wasn't a C. O.

He did his job willingly, with pride and dignity.

He WANTED to be there.

[Jed Dilligan]

53. Not implying he was

I just think it's interesting that that's one of the things CO's were made to do. The story I heard was from Korea, actually.

[Roon]

18. My Grandfather was an anti-craft gunner

My Grandmother was a "Rosey the riveter"

[Contrary1]

20. My Mom's first husband, along with several of their friends...

was killed in the Philippines. After my mother passed away, I looked up his family, so that I could give them his Purple Heart, and newspaper clippings about his death. Only a few nieces and nephews left, but they were thrilled to get them.

My dad worked in the laundry area of an Army Hospital in St. Louis. He did not qualify for active duty because of a birth defect. He ended up with some sort of nail fungus that the doctors could not identify. He had it the rest of his life.

One uncle came back with malaria. I can't remember where he was stationed.

Another uncle was in the Navy. He was not allowed to tell us what he did or where he was going. He continued working for the Navy, even after his active duty was over. He always kept a bag packed, as sometimes the phone would ring in the middle of the night, and off he would go to who knows where or for how long.

[LibDemAlways]

22. My dad was drafted after he graduated from college

and had already started working for a defense contractor. I believe this was in 43. He had his choice - army or navy. He chose navy. Because he was a college graduate, he was sent to officer's training school. He later served aboard a ship in the Pacific. Never got close to combat. When the war ended, he was given an early release. Couldn't get out of there fast enough. To this day he has very little positive to say about the military.

I also had an uncle who was an mp - escorted POW's to camps in the south. He was proud of his military service and just recently had a military funeral when he died at 93.

[Roon]

63. My Grandfather was walkning amongst the German Pows

and a buddy of his knocked a POWs coffee cups that he was getting for his buddies and him. It pissed me off that he did that in front of my Grandfather.

[TheDoorbellRang]

113. That's similar to my dad's WWII experience

My dad had two years of college under his belt when he enlisted in the navy in '43. Became an ensign and finally shipped out in late '44 on the U.S.S. Bataan. Altho he never saw active combat, he was involved in some deal where a bunch of LCT's crossed 3500 miles of Pacific ocean. I actually found an account of this on the internet, called "Thirty-Seven Days in a Bathtub or How to Cross the Pacific in an LCT." Pretty dull reading, unless you know your dad was part of it. My dad had died back in '73, so I never got to quiz him about his war experience.

[Faygo Kid]

28. Mom was first woman to win WPB award in Detroit; Eleanor Roosevelt came to congratulate her.

Mom worked at Packard in Detroit, and she was the first woman to win the War Production Board award, for coming up with a new way to coat airplane wings. Was a big deal in the Detroit media; front page newspapers, and all over the radio. Michigan Historical Museum had an exhibit on it a few years ago.

My Uncle Bob was an engineer; he wrote the test for other potential engineers, so although he was born in 1916, he did not get drafted, because he was too important to the effort. His wife's brother was killed in a foxhole in France by a grenade. She was a light of my life.

They're all gone now. So very glad "The War" is on, for so many reasons.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=oren&GSfn=martha&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=9679079&

[OzarkDem]

122. She was quite accomplished

That must have been quite an honor, meeting Eleanor Roosevelt and your mom must have been very bright to come up with such a great idea.

[proud patriot]

29. Both Grandpa's served one was a paper pusher in the Air force

the other Captain on a medical ship in the Navy both in WWII and Korea.

He was in Nagasaki after the bomb was dropped he has pictures x(

[Nikia]

30. My grandfather served in WWII

He says that he was part of the support staff of the armored tank division stationed in England. He does have a Purple Heart, but I haven't heard the story about it. I probably should ask him more about his experience before he dies.

[Bennyboy]

31. My Father was in the Navy BUT.....

He dropped out of High School and enlisted fraudulently but he played football out of Farragut Idaho. never saw action. I really think it was his one regreat. Whenever he gets together with other relatives or friends of his that did, you can sense his dissapointment that he did not fight in the war. he was a good football player, adn they needed those more than they needed sailors I guess. He tried but they would not let him go.

My Moms brother, my uncle whom I am named after, died stateside from a wound he recieved in the war in Italy. One of the youngest Colonels ever (35).

My other uncle, Gene, was a medic (MD) and according to him, was one of the first people on the beach at Normandy.

[Paladin]

32. I'll Be Thinking About My Uncle Joe While I Watch Burns' Series

My father did honorable, state-side service, but Joe was in the thick of it over in Europe. He was one of those veterans who never, ever talked about his experiences, which I've really grown to respect. Everything I heard about his war-time travails, I heard from his kids, my cousins. I know, for example, that he was caught under a frozen bridge in Belgium for 48 hours during the Battle of the Bulge, while German tanks and troops passed above him. God knows what else he went through.

He was a lifer sargeant, and when cancer finally claimed him a few years ago, he got a full military send-off at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. The flag they presented to his daughter had three empty rifle shell casings in it---indicating his service in WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam. God bless and keep my Uncle Joe, and all who served with him.....

[OzarkDem]

46. What a guy!

Our neighbor was in the Battle of the Bulge, really tough duty.

[Roon]

68. I know

My Grandfather fought in the battle of the bulge and he never talks about it either. I want to interview him before he dies and get the dirt.

[goodgd_yall]

84. I have a close friend whose father was in the Bulge

She said he never talked about it either. That really says a lot about how horrific it was.

[Roon]

121. Terrible

Just terrible. WW2 was also the first time my Grandfather saw a jet.

[paulk]

34. my mother in law was eight years old and living in Italy when

the war started. Her father was in the Italian merchant marine - he was captured by the British and died in a POW camp in Turkey.

Her family lived in what is now Croatia - they spent much of the war as refugees. She had many stories about the war, fascinating stuff because the point of view was that of a child who didn't really understand what was going on - being taken in by a Slovenian family who made her pretend she was deaf and dumb when Chetnik soldiers came around (they would have killed her if she'd spoken Italian), sneaking into the Gorizia train station under the nose of the Nazi guards to steal a piece of leather off of a chair - to make a dress for her doll, getting strafed by American planes late in the war...

She passed away about three years ago now, and it's a shame that many of these stories will be lost.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

35. 2 uncles in the Canadian Army. Both fought in Europe. Both survived.

Those were on my mother's side. On my father's side, one uncle in the American Army, also fought in Europe - was killed.

[Catchawave]

37. Both my parents were active Marines in WW2

Dad won a silver star at Guadalcanal with 1st Marine Division and mom was an admin clerk with the 2d Marine Division (stateside).

He stayed active, mom had to get out since he was a Lt. and she was a private. He went on to Korea and Viet Nam, retired as Colonel. Both parents are now buried together at Quantico National Cemetary. We visit about once a year with a martini shaker. They really like that :D

[OzarkDem]

125. Ken Burns covered Guadalcanal pretty well

those Marines had a tough time there. Sounds like a great time when you visit them!

[goodgd_yall]

38. My dad served in the Army Air Corps in Europe

the 8th AF, stationed in Mildenhall in England. He was a radio operator on B-17s. On his last mission his plane was hit by flak that damaged the engine. He and his crew members parachuted out and landed in Germany near the Swiss border. He was imprisoned, but he and his crewmen escaped into Switzerland and remained as internees there for several months. One of the crew members on the B-17 wrote to my mother, after my father had died, and shared his remembrance of the time their plane was disabled. He said he, a Protestant, my father, Catholic, and a Jewish crew member huddled together and said their respective prayers. They thought for sure they were goners.

My mom had not yet married him. They married in 1945 after my father came back to the states.

My dad later, around 1948, had to be hospitalized for anxiety and depression. Though it wasn't called PTSD, I know now that he was suffering from that. I think it affected him the rest of his life. He was always short-tempered and didn't handle stress well.

[merbex]

39. My grandfather worked at the Hingham Ship-yard in MA

as did my husband's grandmother.

The shipyard built Liberty ships and is 1 town away from the Quincy ship-yard.

My grandfather was born in 1900 and didn't participate in WWI

My father joined the Army after graduating from High School in 1945. He never saw "action" as the war ended after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but he completed his service as part of the army occupation of Japan.

[lpbk2713]

154. I lived in Hingham

I remember the Ammo Depot there. We lived right next to it on Fort Hill Street. My father and a couple of uncles worked at the Fore River Ship Yard during WW-II.

[JVS]

40. Everyone was too old to go! YAY!!!!

[illinoisprogressive]

41. My mother was 9 when the Nazi's invaded France and my family

left to go to the south. Airplanes would come by and shoot at the people on the road. They stayed for 18 months and came back (they lived by the Lux. Belgium border, my grandfather was a police captain and was part of the resistance.
I have alot of dramatic stories from my grandparents listening to the BBC and decoding the messaages to the french to them talking about escape plans if the nazi's found out about him to the liberation. The people who disappeared in the night. Wearing gas masks to school.
My mother to this day hears the drone of the heavy loaded planes everyday. Like a reg. plane flies or some kind of noise, ect. triggers the memories. It's something you never forget.

[goodgd_yall]

60. Your grandparents were brave people

I'm sure you are proud of them.

[democrat in Tallahassee]

42. My father went to Omaha beach 10 days after the intial invasion

Fought in the Battle of St. Lo and his batallion liberated Nancy France. He drove a tank.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

44. Gramp was in Germany, but he would never talk about it.

We know nothing. :(

[ikojo]

65. Was your grandpa in the German army or

was a victim of what the German army was doing to those Europeans deemed "undesireable?"

[Viva_La_Revolution]

99. American Army...

But with very strong German blood lines. It had to have been rough for him.

[HawkerHurricane]

45. Grandparents...

My mother's side, Grandpa was a farmer (exempt from draft), but got a job with the Kaiser shipyard in Mobile as a welder (war work, exempt from draft) also.

Father's side, Grandpa was pushing the age limit (too old), and got a job at the Brooklyn Naval Shipyard as a welder, repairing damaged ships.
I know that many cousins and granduncles served, but would be hard pressed to say which one was which.
One granduncle was in army anti-aircraft artilery (90mm) and either transfered to tank destroyers when they got 90mm anti-tank guns or merely trained the gunners temporarily.
One cousin was aboard USS St. Louis at Pearl. Supposedly. Other cousins dispute the claim, since he joined up to avoid being drafted in November of 41 (awful quick trip to Pearl).

[Frances]

115. Where did your mother's father live?

My mother ran a nursery school (day care center) in Bay Minette, AL, for the children of women who worked at the shipyard in Mobile.

My father was an assistant county agent whose job was to make sure the farmers were raising as many potatoes as possible.

He helped set up a camp for high school students who came from different parts of the state to help harvest the potatoes.

I remember my father saying that some of the farmers in the Bay Minette area (Baldwin county) were German. Once my father asked a farmer if he was worried about his son who was in a POW camp in Germany. The farmer said, "No, he's got cousins over there."

[HawkerHurricane]

135. Mom's Dad lived near Atmore, AL

I grew up well seperated from my Mom's side of the family, since my parents moved to Los Angeles 6 months after I was born. Dad's side I was closer with, with Grandpa H telling many tales of his brothers and cousins to me... but I was only 12, and can't remember them straight.

[Frances]

147. Atmore is farming country all right

The state of Alabama used to have a prison there where the prisoners grew crops. I don't know if it's still there or not because I too live in CA now.

[HawkerHurricane]

151. It's still there.

I don't know if the prisoners are still working fields (I never saw them during visits).

[Scurrilous]

47. My Father served in N. Africa and France...

... was wounded and returned to the US with 70% hearing loss.

My Uncle (father's brother) was killed aboard the USS Trigger.

[fairfaxvadem]

61. my dad, too...

He and his brother didn't wait to get drafted. Did time in Africa and France. They weren't infantry, they were in the rear, mostly dealing with German POWs in Africa, saw the destruction everywhere as the war progressed- my dad said you'd never believe it.

[GreenInNC]

49. my family

Great uncle, who I was named after killed in Battle of the Bulge, Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart

Grandfather flew a glider behind German lines on D-Day and later helped liberate one of the concentration camps.

The little town in Virginia where my dads side of the family is from, Bedford, Va., had highest per capita loses of any town on D-Day and the national D-Day monument is there.

[rateyes]

51. Great uncle killed as a private...

several days after D-Day. Buried at Normandy Cemeterey in France.

This is his page in the WWII Memorial Book, part of the WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C.

http://www.wwiimemorial.com/registry/cemetery/search/plaq.asp?HonoreeID=709268

I bet many of you can find pages on the people you are talking about here online. Go to www.wwiimemorial.com and follow the link to "search the registry" Type in the name and home where he/she lived and you might find it. If someone isn't there that should be there, you can request a form to fill out the information, so that he/she can be included in the memorial's database. It's very cool.

[goodgd_yall]

64. Thank you for that link.

I had no idea. I found my father's name.

[rateyes]

72. I'll bet you had shivers run up and down your spine...

My maternal grandmother's maiden name was Johnson. Bruce Johnson, in the first link I gave is her brother. My grandmother married a Hood. Her daughter, my mother, a Hood, married my father...a Johnson. That's my last name, of course.

My mom's identical twin married my dad's brother, and both my mom and my aunt had 4 sons. One of my double-first cousins is named Bruce, after my great uncle.

It's neat to know some of the history of one's family. Of course, my great uncle was killed almost 20 years before I was born. I didn't even know about him until I was in my 30s. My grandmother never talked about him, as far as I can remember. She was very young when her brother was killed in that war.

[rateyes]

119. You can go here and look for his enlistment records in the National Archives

http://aad.archives.gov/aad/

BTW, would you mind posting a link to the page you found? If not, I understand.

Again, glad you found him.

[goodgd_yall]

127. Rateyes

My father's name is on the WWII registry list here:

http://www.wwiimemorial.com/default.asp?page=registry.asp&subpage=search&drawtable=YES

He is the first one, Bonz, Rancho Cordova, CA

[rateyes]

132. Thank link didn't come up for me...

so I did my own search and found him. BTW, my father was a tail gunner on a B-52 toward the end of the Korean War. Air Force. He was getting ready to deploy when the peace treaty was signed...never left stateside. He was stationed in Texas, Denver, and Cape Cod.

[goodgd_yall]

153. My father ended up making a career of the Air Force

I remember in the early sixties telling my mom that he had been offered the "opportunity" to go to Vietnam as an advisor. He turned it down.

[MiniMe]

52. My Dad volunteered and was on the train platform, and they pulled him off

He was an engineer, and they needed him to work on a guidance system for a bomb, may have been the bomb. So he wasn't actually in the war, but he was involved in it.

[safeinOhio]

54. Dad was a Captain in WWII

His unit was trapped behind the lines in the Battle of the Bulge. They fought as long as they could and then burned their vehicles and tramped cross country back to our side. Dad died 4 years ago at age 90. I was luck enough to drive him and Mom to a Reunion a few years before. Thats when I really learned about his service and valor. Years later, after he severed in WWII, while I was a baby he left again and went to Korea.

[ikojo]

55. I think a great uncle might have served during WWII

but I don't know. There is a 1945 photo of my mom and one of her uncles and he is in uniform. Not sure if he saw battle. I don't think my grandpa ever left the country. By the time the US entered the war he had two kids (my mom and my uncle Red). I think he was in California. I do know he worked in the Civilian Conservation Corps doing something up near Lake Forest IL.

[fairfaxvadem]

56. my dad, my mom, and their siblings all in WWII...

It's quite a large collection of photos I have from both Europe and the Pacific. I need to preserve them.

Dad and his brother joined the army in April 42, and got out in 46. Africa, Europe.

Mom was regular army, Lieutenant, nurse, England, worked in surgery 18-20 hours a day after the invasion at Normandy. Was about to get shipped to the Pacific when the war ended.

Her brothers all served as well (sister was still too young, but then served in Korea in the Navy). All four were in the Pacific, then one was shipped to Europe just in time for the Battle of the Bulge. Mom's cousin was in the Bataan march, was never right when he came home.

For me and my five older siblings, our whole frame of reference and outlook on the world, (mom and dad were "older" when they got married after the war: 25 and 31), is from the Depression and WWII, as experienced by our parents. FDR Democrats through and through. Dad was a San Francisco liberal and Mom was a progressive from Wisconsin. And Catholic, to boot!!

[goodgd_yall]

71. Frame of reference

Interesting that you note that. I and my sister heard much about the war from my parents (after all, the war had been over only 15 years) and learned a lot about the holocaust as young girls because at the time we were young, the country was honoring the 20th anniversary of the ending of WWII. I would say my outlook on the world has been framed very much from those two events. The Depression, although my parents lived through it, didn't seem to affect them quite as much as the war. Their lives didn't seem to change that much; they were working poor and just continued being working poor.

[fairfaxvadem]

82. Certainly WWII was the greater influence, I'd agree

My dad didn't experience the depression quite so badly as a kid in San Fran, and my mom's dad had a regular job on the railroad. Times were tough, but they knew their families were some of the more fortunate ones.

The war was definitely the bigger influence.

I remember in the '70s, that series "World at War" which was narrated by Laurence Olivier. We watched it regularly, and my mom and dad always had something to say about each episode from their memories of the time. It was a good way to hear about their own experiences.

[Javaman]

201. Is your mom still alive?

I had an Aunt that served in England and France as a nurse and I'm trying to figure out where she actually served.

PM if you can. :)

[tekisui]

57. My grandfather flew reconnaissance planes.

He was among the first to penetrate German airspace. He flew many missions photographing Nazi positions. His plane was shot multiple times, he crash landed once. He visited a liberated concentration camp and said he saw living skeletons, and piles of human remains.

[Bjornsdotter]

58. My Great-Grandfather

...helped to smuggle Danish Jews out of Copenhagen and hid them in his home. He also helped patrol the southern coast of Sweden between Malmö and Copenhagen.

My Grandfather intercepted and translated German transmissions for the Swedish Army. He was also in charge of a certain section of Malmö, should civilian evacuation had become necessary.

Cheers

[ikojo]

69. Bjorn...does Yad Vashem and the US Holocaust

museum know about what your great grandfather did to help save Jewish lives? This story needs to be preserved. As a Jewish American I thank your great grandfather.

[Bjornsdotter]

92. I've contacted

...my cousin (he's an archaeologist)about doing that. He's looking into having it all documented for our personal family history.

No thanks are necessary :hug:and if he were still alive he would tell the same thing...it was the right thing to do. Contrary to the article link below, he did not accept money to do so. However that is not to say that others didn't. They had to row their boats part of the way so that the Nazis wouldn't hear them coming or going.

Read this article...the real heroes were the Danes.

http://www.auschwitz.dk/Denmark.htm

Cheers

[goodgd_yall]

74. Real heroes, your grandfathers n/t

[illinoisprogressive]

59. Dem in Tallahas, he could have liberated my family. they were by nancy

[yellowdogintexas]

70. my dad nearly lost his feet to frostbite in the Bulge, and he was awarded

a Bronze Star for keeping his unit together when all their command had been killed or died of exposure. As a corporal, he was the senior member of the outfit, and their job was to string communication lines. So they did. In the snow. In the cold.

My mom's brother was at Anzio and also later in the Bulge. He has two Purple Hearts from WWII; he was a career Army as well, and retired in 1969

[mmonk]

100. My father broke his ankle and had to walk on it in the snow.

[EFerrari]

75. My grandparents weren't American citizens.

During the war, they got political asylum in Mexico from President Cardenas at about the same time Trotsky did. My grandfather was an officer in his country of origin and he was invited into the Mexican military but he declined. After the war, he was able to go back home and serve in public office.

Edit: clarity.

[sandnsea]

76. Europe & the Pacific

I had 4 uncles serve. One was an airplane mechanic in England. Two were in the Navy, one was wounded. I really don't know what the other did. They tell drinking stories, not war stories.

Another aunt & uncle and their two daughters were featured in some propaganda magazine of the time. They worked in the shipyards and bought bonds in honor of those other uncles who were serving, so the article says.

My dad was only ten. The WWII generation is dead and dying. The seniors now are mostly Korean War vets.

[goodgd_yall]

78. You're so right

The WWII vets are dying off. Luckily my mother has kept 2 war logs of pictures my father took during the war. It also contains his report of what happened the day his plane went down, so I'm lucky enough to have good information about his service in WWII.

[Annces]

77. In my family

My father was in the submarine service and my grandfather was on a ship. My father had not seen him since he was a child, but they ran into each other at some dock.

I had an uncle too who flew an airplane, but I don't know much about that. I know he loved that movie, No Time for Sergeants.

[DURHAM D]

79. My Dad - knew how to type.

My father knew how to type. As a result he never left the states. When Truman issued the order that men with three children (or more) who were stationed state side could go home my Dad was the first one on the base to see (type) the message. I was six months old. My Dad's birthday is next week and he will be 92.

When my brother was in high school my Dad insisted that he also learn to type - he took two years of typing and one year of shorthand. As a result, although he served four years (l966-1970), he was never in Vietnam.

An uncle survived the Bataan Death March. He is still alive and is 93.

[goodgd_yall]

80. Great OP, OzarkDem

Thanks for giving us the chance to tell our family's stories.:toast:

[OzarkDem]

97. Happy to do it

Its a very important part of our culture and lore. I love doing genealogy and encourage everyone to research their family's military history.

I was very close to my gr-grandparents as were all of us kids. They passed when I was in college. We grew up with the portraits of those boys and their ships in the "greats" living room and visited their graves every memorial day. We still carry on the tradition for them. Lots of love in that family that lives on.

[Gregorian]

87. My mother's brothers were some of America's earliest concienscious objectors.

My father was in the radio corp. Army, I guess. It's not something he talks about. He's totally and completely anti-war. But he wanted to go to college. And being completely poverty stricken, it was his only way. He went to war without a gun, basically.

[ulysses]

88. one uncle on my dad's side fought in the battle of the bulge.

He wasn't wounded, but got pneumonia and still has some effects from it. Uncle on mom's side couldn't get in (he was 6'8") and it bothered him for the rest of his life. My grandfathers served in WWI and my dad was born in '29 and served in the occupation forces in Germany during Korea.

[Beausoir]

89. My father, his brother. One was infantry the other was a courier.

They were able to meet up, during the war, at Swinden. They had 5 hours to be together.

My father "shipped out" of the Great Northern Depot in Fargo, ND on a blistering cold morning. He said goodbye to his mom and walked to the station. So cold they could barely run the trains. Took a ship over the pond. And lived to tell the tale.

[Generic Brad]

90. My mother-in-law was on a ferry boat 5 minutes outside of Hiroshima

And then - BOOM. If not for a minor twist of fate, she would have died that day and my wife and daughter would never have existed.

[rurallib]

91. FIL a grunt in Europe; never talked about it

He did speak of some R&R he had in Iceland, though.
My Dad was an orphan, married and had a medical condition, so he ended up working in a munitions plant in Scott's Bluff, Nebraska.

[bullwinkle428]

94. My maternal grandfather died fighting in the Battle of Okinawa;

my uncle (my father's older brother) was a radio operator in the Navy (Pacific Theater) and survived the war unscathed, and my "step-grandfather" (the man my maternal grandmother eventually married) was a WWII veteran (European Theater, I believe), but I have no recollection of the details of his service.

[mmonk]

95. My father was D Day plus six. Survived the Battle of the Bulge.

His campaigns were the Americas (bringing prisoners back from Panama), North Africa, European campaign, Army of the Occupation (Germany) and some others (his medals are in the attic and I haven't looked at them in years).

[133724]

96. Dad & Mom Built Carriers in Portland Oregon

Uncle Was a Major in the Philippines

Other Uncle was on a ship.

Lost a Cousin in An aircraft crash in the Philippines.

Lost other relatives during the Civil War...

[salin]

101. My father was a navigator with the Army Air Corps - south pacific

the only time he talked about it - was nearly 40 years later when I was in college and doing an oral history project for a "modern US History class". I still have the tape of the interview. Did it on a parents weekend at the U. My mother was amazed that he spoke so much - as in the nearly 30 years they had been married he would not speak about his war experiences.

He was an FDR democrat and a keynesian economist. He was opposed to the Vietnam war and the first Iraq war (he passed before this current bush fiasco.)

[WinkyDink]

103. Father earned the Silver and Bronze Stars in the Battle of the Bulge.

Also was sea-sick as a dog going "over there" on the "Queen Mary".

Godfather/Uncle was on a ship that sank in the South Pacific. He survived.

[tnlurker]

104. My Father

Served in Europe during WWII. He was a private in the infantry and landed on Omaha Beach one month after D-Day. He said that he waded ashore just like you see in the new shots of the time but nobody was shooting at him then. He was sometimes in Patton's army and other times in Clark's(I think). His unit switched back and forth he said. But he was with Patton during the Battle of the Bulge and then went into southern Germany and Slovakia.

He had one bother in the Pacific and one in Italy(I think). I don't know their stories.

[Desertrose]

105. Lost an uncle in the South Pacific.....

Still have his purple heart and the letter from MacArthur.

Plane went down off Papua New Guinea. Never found. July 20, 1944.

My grandparents never really got over it...neither did my Mom.

Three of her other brothers were pilots- one taught flight before the war, one flew in the war and another enlisted (lied about his age) right at the end of WWII.

Changed a LOT of lives that one.

DR

[jumptheshadow]

106. One uncle killed, another shot over the Pacific, another on bomber runs

Both my mom's brothers were part of the Army Air Force. One uncle was shot down over the Pacific, survived, then made the Air Force his career, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. He was one of President Eisenhower's backup pilots. Another uncle flew bombing missions in Europe and supply missions to Warsaw. A few years ago he received a medal from Poland. He had been on the backup list for bombardier for the Japanese nuke flights, but thank God he didn't have to fly that mission.

My mom's sister's husband was turned down for the American air force, but enlisted in Canada. While he was serving my aunt died of complications of childbirth. He was shot down and killed a few months later.

My grandmother, a politician's wife, sold bonds and worked in a factory.

The war pretty much devastated the family.

[marlakay]

107. My dad was in the army air corps

back then they didn't have the air force, my uncle was in it too and ended up being a pilot after the war. My dad was a gunner who sat in the back of the plane shooting targets. And he was in japan.

I never knew that he also flew planes until the year he died. (2000) (glad he never had to see Bush or my dad would be screaming daily at tv) My son-n-law is in the air force and came to visit him when he was sick and my dad told him a lot of war stories that he never told me. He was the type to keep the grim details from the women folk.

I remember him saying during boot camp, it was either texas or oklahoma during the summer one day they had to run all day with only a small canteen of water, my dad had such bad blisters they made him go to the doctor and he saw 3 people covered over with blankets. They had died from the walk. Dad said if he hadn't seen them no one would ever know as no one talked about it.

another day they came back from a walk totally thirsty and hungry and the food line was so long he and his buddies went into the bar to get beers, he got so drunk his friends were afraid he would get in trouble so they tied him to a pole! I sure never got to hear that as a kid growing up!!!

[virgdem]

109. My father was a navigator on a B-17...

stationed out of England. On a mission in June of 1944, he was shot down over Germany with his entire crew. He parachuted out, landing on his knee and injuring it. He was chased by a German farmer with a pitch fork and taken into custody, where he was imprisoned at Stalag Luft 3 (for those who remember the movie The Great Escape, that was the English part of Stalag Luft 3). He spent 22 months as a "guest" of the Germans and was liberated by General Patton. To this day, he rarely talks about the war, although he did show me the journal that he kept a few years ago.

[kskiska]

172. My dad's story is strikingly similar - a B-17 co-pilot

He was stationed out of England, and was on a mission in April of 1944 bombing a Messerschmitt plant. On the way back he was shot down over Augsburg and a farmer turned him in. He sustained a flak injury to his hand - a hole right through it. The Germans did a terrific job fixing his hand. He was imprisoned in Stalug Luft 1 at Barth, on the Baltic. He was a "guest" for 13 months until the Russians liberated the camp, during which time I was born. He never used to talk about the war. Most of what I know was told to me by my mother. In recent years,though, he has shown me artifacts including a pair of leather mittens he made, and a baking pan made from cans of Klim, which was milk spelled backwards. He said that they weren't treated awfully bad, the guards taking them swimming, and allowing them ice skates, until it was discovered that some were using them as wire cutters.

[virgdem]

182. The story is very similar...

was your Dad a non-com or officer? I understand that officers were treated a little better than non-coms were. My Dad was a Second Lieutenant in the Army Air Corps and he said that he was treated as well as could be expected, but he was never given anything like skates or taken swimming. They lived for Red Cross packages and did what they could to escape, but the tunnels were always discovered. I wish I knew a bit more, but my Dad does not talk about it very much. One thing though - he hates barley. I think that they fed them barley alot and he refuses to eat it. It's possible that your Dad and mine were stationed at the same air base. I'll have to ask my Dad exactly where he was stationed.

[conscious evolution]

110. My father fought in the Phillipines

He was in a heavy weapons platoon.The Cabanatuan survivors returned through his units line.
An Uncle who was a Naval Beach Master on Omaha.Another in the 82nd Airborne.
My Aunts husband was in the Coast Gaurd.He drove a higgins boat which was destroyed on Utah Beach.He survived and ended up spending the day huddled up in a shell crater.

[LibraLiz1973]

111. My grandfather was in the army

The 13th bomb squadron- He was a turret operator.
He and 3 of his friends somehow managed to stay together the entire war. They were all over the place~
Russia, Egypt,Germany, France etc.
One of his planes was named Miss Mi Nookie
He was part of the pre D-Day subterfuge

Alot of what he did was classified so there is stuff I don't know
because some of it was never de-classified.

Both of his brothers also fought in the war- one in Patton's army.
He (the brother) was injured on the battlefield and thought to be dead.
A telegram was sent to his mom (my great grandmother) telling her he died
before they realized he was alive and needed surgery.
In any event, all 3 of the boys survived.


He told me that when he came home from the war he used to go to the VFW every night
and drink like a fish, trying to forget some of the things he had seen. That went on for
about 6 months, according to what he told me.

He went on to marry my grandmother and have 4 children, 8 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. They were married for 50 years before my grama died.
He worked for our local news station for 42 years.

My grandfather was more a father to me than my own ever was, so I called him dad starting around the time I was 16.
He died in April 2007, he was 86. I miss him every day. His really was the greatest generation. He took care of his family and was a really, really stand out guy.
I never heard anyone say a bad word about him.

[ironflange]

112. My dad never left Canada

He signed up for the Air Force in about 1941, right out of high school, so he wouldn't get drafted into the Army. He spent the War at a training base in Ontario, repairing and maintaining the trainers. He would have loved to do that for a front-line squadron, but never got called. He had plenty of fond memories of his service; obviously, he was never in any sort of danger, didn't suffer much unpleasantness, apart from an occasional plane crash that had to be cleaned up.

He had two older brothers in Europe, one was a foot slogger, and the other flew a full tour as a navigator in a Lancaster. He didn't talk much about it.

edit: One more thing. My dad had many relatives in Ukraine. Turns out one of his cousins somehow wound up in a Red Army penal brigade, the guys they would march through suspected mine fields and the like. Cannon fodder. Bucking the odds, Peter survived the War.

[Laurier]

155. Interesting

My father-in-law signed up for the RCAF in 1941 as well. I have a photograph dated October 1941 titled "Airframe Division, RCAF Trainees <******* Aircraft School>" that shows him and approximately 220 of his fellow volunteers in very good detail - the photograph is clear enough that the men are certainly identifiable, and I easily picked my father-in-law out of the crowd.

Do you know where your Dad trained? If it happens to be at the same location, I'd be happy to share this photograph with you, just as an interesting piece of history.

ETA: My father-in-law did serve overseas, though, from late 1941 to until late 1945 (yeah, it took a while for them to get home after the war ended) so odds are that your father was not in the same group since you said that your father never left Ontario. But... just in case.

[ironflange]

184. I don't know where he trained

But I found a similar photo among my mom's things last spring, the aerial shot of the whole group. I haven't studied it carefully yet, though.

[antigop]

114. My Dad was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge

His leg was amputated and he went through the rest of his life with a wooden leg. Every step he took was painful. He passed away in 1987 and his injuries contributed to his early demise.

He did joke about his wooden leg, though. Many people knew him for years and never knew he had a wooden leg.

Funny story:
Even after the war, he continued to play softball. (He loved baseball, actually.) He and his buddies were on a slow-pitch softball team and Dad played first base. Dad always wore long pants. One time there was a play at first base and the batter ran into him, knocking him over, knocking his wooden leg loose so that it turned 180 degrees around. There was Dad, lying on the ground, with his leg completely turned around. The batter was horrified, stunned. The only thing the batter could say was, "Are you all right?". Dad said, "I will be in a minute". He turned his leg around, re-attached it and said, "OK, play ball!"

[BrotherBuzz]

116. Pops was drafted into the navy

After 'secret' radar school (now the Naval Postgraduate School) in Monterey, California, he was flown all over the Pacific, trying to chase down his ship, a tugboat. After touring the Pacific in some Admiral's C-47, the navy discovered his tug was back in Seattle. He caught up with the tug in Alaska, and steamed down the Aleutian islands, bypassing Japan, to port in China. He enjoyed a long layover while his ship waited for further orders. When orders came to tow an abandoned US ship, they encountered a group of Chinese guerrillas (Communists) that had the same idea, and a small arms firefight ensued. The Commies were driven off, they rescued the ship, and, I guess, Pops fought one of the first battles of the Cold war, or as the 'John Birch Society' referred to it - the beginning of WWIII.

Uncle Dick was in the Marines, and Island hoped all the way to Japan. Purple heart.

Uncle Bob was drafted in 1941, before Pearl Harbor. Went to OCS and was assigned to the 93rd Division, the only African American division to serve in the Pacific theater. He retired from the Army as a Major General.

Uncle Tom was a war contractor and made a fortune manufacturing electrical components for the air industry in Las Angles. He retired wealthy.

Uncle Charles managed a parking lot in Las Angles and liked to drink. He retired drunk.

Uncle Mead (by marriage) was a graduate of the Naval Academy and commanded Admiral Hall's flagship, Ancon, on D-Day at "Omaha" Beach. He saw and heard it all. He retired as a rear admiral.

Uncle James (by marriage) was an officer on the USS Meredith. He survived the sinking in the Solomons, but not the ensuing sharks attacks.

Mom worked in the California oil fields (Standard Oil) reading and charting oil production from the wells. She says a weeks work back then could be plotted on a computer in just five minutes, today.

Grandma lead a team of Grey Ladies at the local AFB

Grandpa, a union carpenter, landed some nice work at the local shipyard.

[kickysnana]

117. My dad was in Basic Training when the war with Japan ended.

His brother, five years older, was a machine gunner in Europe and was in Belgium during "a bridge too far". Dad says machine gunners seldom lived long but evidently Uncle Charlie was quick.

[Irishonly]

118. My dad was a WWII Vet

He would never talk about the war unless it was with other vets. I know he was a sharp shooter and a paratrooper. We went to England and then to France. His feet were badly frostbitten and that's how he met my mom. She was his nurse.

The only time I ever heard my dad yell about WWII was when I was in high school. I wore a black arm band on the anniversary of Kent State. I was told to take it off or I would be expelled. He yelled he hadn't fought for some stupid suit to stifle his daughter's right to free speech. I got to keep my arm band.

He worked very hard to help the Nam vets. He didn't understand PTSD but he was there for them and helping them as much as he could. When he passed away in 86 I was so proud and touched by the outpouring of sympathy and grief from our Nam vets.

[OzarkDem]

133. Great story

especially the part about your black armband honoring Kent State shootings. That was pretty unusual for those days, he sounds like a great guy.

[Irishonly]

205. Thank you

He was.

[Ghost in the Machine]

120. My Grandfather's Diary from Guadalcanal

"My Grandfather's Diary from Guadalcanal"


Monday September 20, 1943
"Diaries are forbidden now, so am going to hide mine. one more entry tho. Tonight saw a beautiful sight. 4 Jap bombers came over and, as they had been getting away clean, an (old) major, 37 (too old to be any good) pleaded for permission to patrol Henderson Field. It was granted and he started over Carney (not sure of this word*) and shot down all 4 Japs. All flamers. Two of them let loose their bombs too damned close, but too late to get away. The sky was full of tracers and planes in flames. At night was an awesome sight. Saw one of them early next AM and what was left of it was brand new. Bodies of 7 Jap airmen were found nearby."

I'll be posting some more as I read it. This is coming from a 64 year old diary. My grandfather was Lloyd E Davis. They called him "Red".

http://www.militaryunderground.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=117&topic_id=1&mesg_id=1&page=

[BeatleBoot]

123. My Dad's ship was sunk nine miles off the coast of Baltimore, MD

By a German WolfPack submarine.

That's how close our enemy was from our shores.

He was a Merchant Marine.


My father-in-law was a Marine who fought at Guadacanal and came home with Malaria.


I love that generation.

It seems like they are now dying off and its too bad...

[KiraBS]

200. I love the British from that generation too.. So brave...

They fought, they were bombed night after night, then again with the doodlebug, they starved and worked
long hours. They make me proud of my country more than anything else, the resilience. I am sure it
has rubbed of on to us, their grandchildren because Londoners are so resilient, that is why many of us were on the London Underground the day after 7/7 because we know our grandmother's raised our parents through daily bombings and often lost their homes. It is hard to justify being scared of terrorist threats, when you think of 40's London.

[LostInAnomie]

124. My grandfather was at Pearl Harbor.

He never would tell me much about the war. I didn't know he was at Pearl Harbor until I was 16 and the local paper showed up to interview him for the 45th anniversary. The most I ever got out of him is that when the bombing started he thought it was some kind of accident then he realized what was going on and he and the other guys in his quarters ran like hell for cover under a truck.

Other than that, all I know if that he fought in the South Pacific and received a Purple Heart for getting hit in the hip by some shrapnel.

[Solon]

126. To be honest, I don't know much...

My grandfather on my Father's side died 6 months before I was born, and my grandmother on that side of the family died a year AFTER I was born, so I never knew them. All I was told was that my Grandfather on that side of the family survived D-Day. Other than that, the only clues I have is that he acquired a Mauser K98 rifle and a pistol(never seen it, Uncle has it) from a German officer.

My mother's parents I knew, and I was raised on stories from the only grandpa I knew about how he guarded Japanese POWs immediately after the war, in the Philippines, I think. When I say stories, I mean outrageous stuff like he would say he wanted to take a nap, so he'd hand his gun over to a Japanese POW and took his nap. Actually, he told so many stories, no one in the family actually knows which are true and which are false. Another story that comes to mind is the story where he was in training, and missing my grandma, they were newlyweds at the time, he stole a Jeep so he could visit her a couple of states away. He passed away 10 years ago now.

My Grandma even has her own stories about the war, she worked for the OSS, in what capacity she will NOT say. Anyways, she met a lot of German POWs that way, on their way to interrogation, I assume, though I never bothered to ask. She said that they were very proud, even indignant, in their bearing. Other than that, she won't say. She worked for both local and federal governments for as long as I can remember, U-City government mostly, except for the stint in the OSS.

[argyl]

128. My Mom's favorite cousin was shot down over Germany.Her brother,

my uncle Homer,was more fortunate.He also flew bombing missions over Germany and made it back with a Distinguished Flying Cross. His bomber group was protected by the Tuskegee Airmen.

Needless to say,he has nothing but praise for them and their courage.

My Dad enlisted the day after Pearl Harbor,as did my uncle Homer and millions of young men around the country.He never saw combat but he was in the Army.

They were both country boys,born and raised on farms,my Dad in Kansas and uncle Homer in Central Texas.Thanks to the G.I. Bill they both were able to receive an education they could have otherwise only dreamed about.

Dad went to Baylor Medical School and was a physician for over 30 years before he retired and uncle Homer went to Texas A&M where he received a degree in Mechanical Engineering.They're both still alive.

My Mom's cousin's body was never recovered and my Mom says his parents could never really come to grips with his death.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

129. My maternal grandparents in lived in SE Asia during the time of the occupation

My grandfather was imprisoned by the Japanese for selling medicine in order to support his immediate and extended family. My grandmother had to go and plead with the Japanese authorities for his release, which ultimately proved successful so he was only in prison for a few weeks. My uncle once told me about going to school under the Japanese occupation and seeing a decapitated head on a pole or something to that extent. Quite a few of my relatives were educated under the Japanese education system until the country in question was liberated

My paternal grandfather served with the army and the civil service in Britain and Australia

[Rosa Luxemburg]

130. grandfather's survived after being torpedoed

father went out to the far east at the end of the war. Their house in England narrowly escaped being bombed by a V2 rocket.

[Canuckistanian]

131. Amazingly enough, not one of my family were in the war

My grandfathers were too old and my father was 16 when the war ended. All other uncles were either the wrong age or were farmers who were exempted.

My father later joined the Canadian Merchant Marines, but that was in 1947.

[Sparkly]

134. My Dad was drafted into the army.

He was a lieutenant and served in India, where he was in charge of baking bread!

He was an orphan, and the GI Bill allowed him to audition for Yale School of Music (in his uniform, because he didn't own a suit). That really set the course for the rest of his life.

[misanthrope]

136. My paternal grandfather served...

...in the Army Air Corps but I don't know what his MOS was, I just know he didn't see combat.

My maternal grandfather was pitching in the Baltimore Orioles organization right before he joined the Army Air Corps. He never saw much in the way of combat but went to Europe. He was in newly liberated France when the air raid siren sounded one day. Gramps dove under a bunk and nailed the bridge of his nose on the bed's metal rail, popping it wide open. He ended up with a Purple Heart and a scar for it, but the funny part was that it wasn't even a German plane overhead, it was a misidentified Allied craft. He always laughed about that incident.

My (great) Uncle Marvin joined the service but his eyesight was so bad he couldn't go into combat. I think he ended up in some administrative position.

My (great) Uncle Ed was in the Navy but I'm unsure as to his assignment or experiences.

My (great) Uncle Joe was in the Marines and caught shrapnel at Iwo Jima. He always refused to talk about his experiences over there but considering the chemical addiction problems he developed afterward, I would say it haunted him.

And it wasn't just the men in the family. For instance, one of my great-grandmothers wound armatures in a plane factory.

[blonndee]

137. My granddad was in the 45th/180th

I think he served for about 3 years. Started in N. Africa, went to Anzio and spent some time elsewhere in Italy, and then on up into France and Germany. I don't know many details but he told my grandma and my dad a little about the camp at Dachau.

When I was living in Oklahoma, my parents visited and my dad wanted to go to the 45th ID museum. We found a Nazi flag that my grandpa and some of his company had taken off a German tank. It had his signature on it.

[unblock]

138. my mother was smuggled out at the age of 3

the ss came for the jews in my grandparents aparement building. the asked the super 'how many jewish families' and the super said three. so they took the family on the first floor and put them on a train to their deaths. they went to the second floor and found two jewish families sharing one apartment and put them on a train to their deaths. they left without realizing there was a jewish family on the third floor as well.

the super didn't intend for there to be any ambiguity and when he saw my grandparents later that day, he evicted them on the spot, knowing that he himself would be imprisoned if the ss found out what happened.

my grandparents went into hiding and with the help of the underground, they were smuggled out from vienna, through the heart of germany, to the forest along the belgian border. they had to pretend to be taking a picnic in the forest, so they could carry nothing with the beyond what would be needed for a picnic. from their picnic spot they took a stroll and 'happened' to wander across the border where a car was waiting for them.

they waited in belgium for a visa to america or england. meanwhile the war started in poland. the germans were about to invade belgium and their great escape from vienna would be for naught. but their visa to england came through only a couple weeks before the war turned west.

eventually my grandparents made it to america and the rest is history.


some of my grandparents' siblings also made it out alive, but most of the rest of the family from vienna were killed in the camps.

[Sparkly]

139. Wow...

That's a story. :hug:

[Hekate]

160. My father in law was in the Belgian Underground; his wife and kids were lost to the camps

He was already very old when I met him, but one day out of the blue started telling me stories of his life then: how he blew up a bridge with a train on it; how he helped rescue and shelter several American airmen, who remembered him after the war; and so on.

The stories of how my husband's parents and a few other relatives survived the Holocaust are incredible.

Hekate

[Midlodemocrat]

198. Wow. unblock that is quite a story.

Quite a wonderful story. How awesome that your grandparents made it here.

[Stinky The Clown]

140. Grrrrr ...... internet burps.

[Stinky The Clown]

142. Another internet burp .... argggggh

[happyslug]

143. My Father was in the Maryland National Guard

29th Division, 115th Infantry (Maryland National Guard). He enlisted three months before the Draft. He had tried to enlist in the US Navy a few years, but could not find his father to sign the papers (He was then under age 18). He had been on his own since the mid 1930s, but still needed his father; permission to enlist in the US Navy. He then waited a few years and enlisted in the Maryland National Guard, which was mobilized a few months later. After Mobilization he was promoted, first to Corporal in the 60 mm Mortar Section, then to Sargent with his own Squad. He had worked with Horses on various farms in the 1930s as a teen ager, both as plow horses and as two and there horse teams pulling wagons. Do to this he was Scheduled to be transfered ot the 5th Cavalry Division in 1942, but that was canceled when it was decided to de-horsed the 5th Calvary (And decision Patton opposed at the time and said if he had a Horse Mounted Calvary Unit in Tunisia and Sicily he could have used them to go cross country and cut off the Germans, preventing them was escaping allied forces.

He said with most of the rest of the personnel from his division Scotland on the Queen Mary in September 1942. Just think about it 15,000 men on one ship, with orders NOT to stop if anyone fell overboard (The Ships was fast enough to outrun almost any submarine of the time period, so it went on its own i.e. NOT in a convoy). The men were told of this fact, and no one fell overboard. Once ashore, they marched through the town. No one in the Town had inform of this before they landed. My father always remember a young teen asking "Are you Germans" for the US Uniform was different from the British Uniform. One of his fellow Soldiers then yelled "Sieg Heil" and the kid then went into a Terran against the Germans and how he hatred them, and kept this up till my father was out of hearing. The rest of the Town just watched. He then spent the next two years on the "Moors of England" useless for anything by Training. One time his unit marched by Jamaica Inn in Cromwell, made known to the troops via the 1939 movie of that name. Anyway his unit marched by it, and it looked like it had been portrayed in the movie. When the Unit stopped they marched, they bivouac and then some of the Soldiers went back (It had to be at least five miles back to the Inn) to get some beer, which they brought back. Here they hiked with full packs at least 20 miles, then they had the energy to walked back (This time without packs) to get the beer.

My father has some other stories for example his purchase of a bike. His Buddy had just paid 2 pounds 6 for a bike, and the store owner only had two, so my father purchased the other for 1 pound 6. His bike was a single sprocket, i.e. the peddle went as fast as the rear wheel, no matter if you were peddling or not. Down hills he had to keep his feet free of the Peddles as the bike went as fast as it could.

One time he had dated an English woman he left her at her home (When she refused to invite him in) and went back to his base. On the way he was hit by a Truck. An English Doctor treated him and sewed up the wound in his head. His date showed up and he had to tell her it was all her fault for NOT inviting him in (They both Laughed about that).

HE also repeated his meeting with Montgomery, who looked over his Squad while they were undergoing Training and spoke to them. As did General Bradley. At the same time Eisenhower sat in his staff car with his Driver (My father used another term that reflected the well know intimate relationship between Eisenhower and his female Driver).

He had some other stories, which he would tell us when he was sober. When he was drunk what happen after June 6th would come out. His unit landed on DAY ONE of D-day, but as the second wave. The Virginian National Guard had broke through the defenses (My fathers comment was HOW, it was steep for troops with full gear). He was in combat by 9:00 AM but by then the Beach had been taken. He lost 6 men out of his 12 men Squad in Normandy during the next month. This was some of the Hardest Combat the US has even fought. Rommel knew if the Allies broke out from Normandy, they was nothing stopping them short of the Rhine, thus Rommel concentrated on close in defense. He once had ot lave behind a fried who asked him to stay as he was dieing, but my father had to leave him behind and move forward. His best friend burned up in front of his eyes when the Magnesium Grenades he was caring lost they pins (This was a fellow Sargent). He had another Friend die while Lieutenant lived after being attacked by Germans. This Friend had been made a platoon Sargent, second in Command to a Platoon to a Lieutenant. The Lieutenant is to LEAD the unit, the Platoon Sargent is to be at the REAR of the Unit. For that Reasons Platoon Sergeants rarely die in Combat IF THE LIEUTENANT IS STILL ALIVE. The Unit, from what I gather, still resent the Lieutenant getting a medal for that action, while the Platoon Sargent died.

He had some other stories, for example he had a replacement come to his unit who did NOT know how to load his Rifle. My father asked him how come he NEVER learned and the Replacement Told him his Drill Sargent hatred him so put him on KP all during Basic training and afterward sent him o France to fight (In my Father's Opinion to die). My Father told his Company commander the man needed trained and would take him 2-3 weeks to do it, but he did NOT have the time so the unit sent him back (Hopefully back to the States to be re-trained, which is what the unit wanted and said, but we are talking about the last year of WWII).

He also told the story of when his "old Captain" was killed by a Sniper. When My father First enlisted hi unit was commanded by a old man who had been Commissioned during WWI. That Captain later deserted when he was told he was NOT going with the Company. He was Captured and promoted to Major and removed from Command of the Unit (Through kept in touch, in the 1950s he was Sheriff of the County the Company was based out of). Then my Father had to serve under another Captain, a very competent officer who my father respected. He always referred to his as his Old Captain for just before D-Day he was moved to be commander of the Weapons Company of the Battalion and a new company Commander was appointed. Anyway after D-day, while th unit was in Combat, his old Company Commander came to see how his old men were doing. While talking a Sniper killed the Captain. The Sniper had to be in one of two places, a Farm House and a Barn. My father rushed into the house and opened fire with his BAR (HE had picked up on the beach as he walked by) and shot through the ceiling. The Family was eating dinner and he yelled in English "Where is he" Referring to the Sniper, the Family made out like they did NOT Understand him, but my Father said they did. HE was about to Shoot them when his Corporal talked him out of it. They return to the Unit and wanted to check out the Barn, but orders to proceed has arrived and the Company moved forward. Later on my father heard the Sniper had killed someone else and had been found in the Barn.

Would my Father killing those French Farmers a War crime? Yes, even he admitted that. It was do to his training he did NOT killed them right off the bat and do to training his Corporal knew it would also be wrong and talked my father out of it. Such war-Crimes occur and have to be addressed both in training AND in punishment. The Training prevented my Father from doing a War Crime, but if he did it, he would have been court Martial and serve time in Jail. Executed? NO, it was a crime of Passion, in the heat of Battle. The Courts have always looked at those with less punishment then the people who DO NOT TRAIN THEY SOLDIERS NOT TO DO THINGS LIKE THIS and PUNISHED THOSE PEOPLE WHO DO IT NOT IN THE HEAT OF BATTLE BUT BECAUSE THEY CAN. These later crimes are Murder and nothing else, but you will be surprise how many times the later is called the former. Which is why BOTH should be punished for often you can NOT tell the difference.

He also had some light stories, for example the time his men found some alcohol. HE tasted it and told his men "I have drunk moonshine from Maine ot Georgia and this is the worse thing I have even drunk, no wonder the French left it for the Germans and the Germans left it for us".

HE had problems with Officers, for example he once had to tell a Lieutenant to stay away from lone trees. He knew the Germans had them pre-targeted for Artillery Strikes so my father stayed away form things that stood out. This Lieutenant told him to move his men closed to such a lone tree and my father Refused, the Lieutenant told him, he would have my father COurt Martial ed for Disobeying an Order. MY father said yes he could be but he WAS NOT MOVING HIS MEN TO A PLACE WHERE THEY CAN BE HIT BY ARTILLERY. My Father was never Court Martial ed, but he did find the Lieutenant's body a few days later near another lone tree.

Another story my father told was when his Colonel called the Sargent's together to meet with him and the Colonel told them "To take better care of their Lieutenants, to many were being lost". My Father immediately rose his hand and said" How about my Lieutenant, he jumped over a Hedgerow and sprained his leg and was evacuated to England"? The meeting broke up right afterward.

On the day he was wounded by Artillery, he had just seen the largest tank he had ever seen (Probably a Tiger) and had been doing patrols for almost a month (HIs first Sargent mentioned a battle field commission to Lieutenants, since he was already doing A lieutenant's job, but my Father did not want a commission, he had dropped out of School in the 8th Grade and knew once the war was over he would be kicked out if a Commissioned officer, but kept on if made Platoon Sargent). Anyway he was wounded during an artillery burst and evacuated to England and then to the US.

When he was on his way home, he had some more stories, the story of how he and a "Czech" (an American of Czech Descent) where going to beat up a Sargent who were doing a Blanket Role ripping off new draftees of their money. My Father had a Good Right Arm, the Czech had a good left arm, and between them they told the Sargent they would beat him up for cheating the nw draftees of their pay. Another one reflected that fact his Unit was National Guard NOT regular Army. When he was wounded, that was published in the local Newspaper. His Friend's family read about it and contacted his Aunt (Who he had been living with before the war) and found out my Father was in Florida. They made a Train trip to Florida to ask him how they son had died. The First time My father heard they were coming when they walked into the Hospital Ward he was sweeping (Had ot do something while he recovered). All the Army told them was he died not how. This was the family of the Soldier who had burned alive in front of my father's eyes. My Father looked at them and lied, that their son had died quickly. That made them feel better and they left. This is one of the Advantageous of National Guard Units. The people in it are Local, and thus know who to contact to get the facts of the case. It also forces people to do those little extras for other people in the unit. Not only because they know the Soldiers, but also know his family (Or his family knows your family). It forces people to act together AND also to help each other grieve over losses. It may take family months or years to overcome the loss, and it is easier for locals to provide support while this is occurring then some national agency which may be hundreds of miles away.

Most of these stories between June 6 and July 11 (When he was wounded) 1944 he would NOT tell unless he was drunk. His drinking was at its height in the late 1960s. Various reasons for this has been discussed in my family at that time and today, but the best is the one told of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSS) and today VA. I have heard that most NEW PTSS today being treated by the VA are NOT from recent veterans of the War in Iraq, but from Vietnam Veterans whose memories of those events are being brought to the surface by the news report from Iraq. The same problem hit my father, he had suffered a huge economic loss in 1964 (He lost his Home and had to file Bankruptcy) but his drinking INCREASED afterward and then reduced dramatically in the early 1970s. This reflects the news report of Vietnam more then anything else.

29th Division History
http://www.29thdivision.com/history/index.html

[Frances]

152. Thanks for sharing these stories

[Stinky The Clown]

144. My family did its part

My Dad and his three brothers, plus one cousin who was raised with them like a brother all served in Europe. My dad also did some time in North Africa.

My Mom's brother was in the Navy, crew chief for a fighter.

My Mom's cousins (six of them) all served. One was killed flying back to base in England in 42. Remarkably, in that 11 close relatives of mine served, he was the only relative on either side of my family that was killed.

My Mom and her sisters were 'Rosies' at a Chance Vought (aircraft) plant. MY father's sister worked at Norden (of bomb sight fame).

[hughee99]

145. My grandfather's family all fought

My grandfather was in the 29th infantry, landed in Normandy on D-Day and fought in Europe (Germany and France mostly, a short time in the Netherlands), while his 3 older brothers all fought in the Pacific (2 in the Navy, 1 Marine). All survived, but my grandfather and his brother (the Marine) were wounded. My grandmother was a nurse, stateside, during the war.

[Kelly Rupert]

148. Grandfather was a chemist

working on US rocketry programs. Other grandfather was an anti-mine diver; won the Bronze Star.

[halobeam]

149. All of these stories are amazing.

I wasn't surprised to see that many haven't heard of the HMT Rohna. I've corresponded with some relatives of the victims and of the survivors. I'll be keeping my eye out for anyone who might have had a relative that was on it.

Still to this day, some know their relative was MIA, and don't know their name could be on the list.


THAT IS HOW WE FOUND OUT ABOUT MY GREAT UNCLE.

Hard to believe it. We found out in the late 1990's.

[lovuian]

150. Kids Grandpa was a paratrooper who jumped out of planes

he belonged to a renown WWII group
He was wounded his right arm was never the same

[knight_of_the_star]

156. Grandpa was in the Royal Navy

Down my dad's side, he was a radar operator starting during the blitz, was one of the first ones. He died decades later from cancer, wish I knew him, but according to my dad grandpa and some of his buddies came up with the story about carrots improving eyesight to fuck with the Germans. I remember how dad told me he told him and grandma told me about how practically every guy in Britain wanted to be in the RAF during and after the blitz, go give Hitler a good one.

[alcibiades_mystery]

157. My grandfather fought for the Italian army; my father's building was bombed

by the Americans!

My grandparents sheltered an Italian colonel who was being sought by the partisans. They were fascists. Not, like, hey, that guy is such a fascist. No, they were members of the Fascist Party of Italy, and supporters of Mussolini (actually, they were supporters of the monarchy, but Mussolini was the closest thing). My father, age 4, saw Mussolini strung up in Milano.

My American grandfather had polio at a young age, and was not eligible for service.

[grasswire]

158. I'm struck by the common sacrifice aspect...

...that Ken Burns mentioned in an interview Friday. Every household in America was affected.

My Uncle Bob was an Army captain on Corregidor. He lost his leg to gangrene and an Army surgeon sawed it off there, while prisoners of the Japanese occupation. He was a POW for three years. My grandmother had no idea for a long time whether he was dead or alive, but then he was allowed to send yellow postcards home, heavily censored. I have them. An Army rail depot in Texas was recently named after him. He did not speak of his experiences to the family, but testified in Washington and also turned over a diary he had kept on the labels of fish cans.

Uncle Pat was in the Battle of the Bulge and captured by the Germans briefly. He was carrying a letter from home -- against regulations. So when he was sitting in the dirt with Germans point guns, he buried it in the dirt behind him. He was also in Tunisia, and he told me one time that it was the most beautiful place he had ever seen. He suffered from "shell shock" and was always extremely nervous around noise. He, like another story above, married my mother's sister after just two dates prior to shipping out. They met at a roller rink, and got married two days later. The marriage lasted until he died just a few years ago.

Uncle Cameron was in the Navy in the South Seas somewhere. He would tell us stories about being in the jungle and eating grubs with natives, etc. He told us about one incident where they were traveling at night in a jeep and came to a log across the road. Someone hopped out with a bolo knife or hatchet or something to try to hack it through, and it turned out to be a huge snake. He also reported seeing more than one Japanese plane downed in trees with the pilot long dead inside.

Another uncle was in the Navy but I don't know his story. And an aunt was a WAVE. My own father was 4F with a bad ticker and a green card as a Canadian citizen. (I don't know if they drafted resident aliens.)

Those are the stories. I honor all who served. Thank you, thank you.

[Oeditpus Rex]

159. Don't know, really

My dad was a battalion medic in the ETO and was part of the medical corps sent to the concentration camps near war's end to help the survivors. When I was a kid, I found some photos he'd brought back — corpses, badly decomposed. I still have a few of them.

He didn't talk much about the war and I can't get his records; apparently they were among millions destroyed in a fire in 1973.

[UncleSepp]

161. My grandfather's records also burned

The full records, that is. The Army sent us something that was supposed to be his record, but it's only one page, with his name, when he came in, and when he got out. He talked about the war only three times after he got home, and that was mostly to say "I can't tell you what I saw. Ever. Don't ask, I won't talk about it." I know he had a military driver's license for just about anything with wheels or tracks, that he was missing for a while and then found in a hospital in France, and that he ended the war in Linz. That's about it.

[Oeditpus Rex]

163. LTNS, Unk

:hi:

Yeah, I found that basic stuff at ancestry.com. I learned he was actually in twice — he enlisted before the war and went through basic training and stuff. Got out in 1940, then was re-upped after Pearl Harbor. But the rest of it, when I put in a request at eVetRecs, I got back the letter about the fire with some forms to fill out that, they said, might help reconstruct his records or find other sources for them. But I don't have most of the information they need. :(

[UncleSepp]

165. Heya, Rex!

There's really not a lot to go on, but maybe. I'm not sure about whether to pursue it. He didn't seem to want anyone to know what he did during the war. It might be better to leave it be, I don't know.

On edit: I do know at least one thing he did, during the war. It was sort of a secret mission, but his part in it wasn't so far out of the ordinary. What was out of the ordinary was how in the hell my grandmother managed to sneak onto the base and in through the barracks window... Grandpa didn't get any mail for almost a year, and boy did he get a surprise when he came home.

[bluestateguy]

162. My grandfather served in the Signal Corps

I'm not exactly sure when he enlisted, but it was soon after Pearl harbor. He was stationed in Colorado, and was told to prepare for a possible overseas deployment, but the call never came.

After the war he went to work in our family's business, and gradually took it over in the 1960's. He never attended college. He cast his first ever vote for FDR in 1944 and never voted for a Republican in his life. He died in 1986.

[lamp_shade]

164. My father - Utah Beach - D-Day plus one

He never talked about it. Alcohol killed him at age 53.

[Hekate]

166. Dad had to memorize the Eye Chart to get into the Army Air Corps, his eyes were so bad

Dad had to memorize the Eye Chart to get into the Army Air Corps, his eyes were so bad.

He was working for Lockheed Aircraft already before the war, and I think would have been exempt from the draft, but after Pearl Harbor he enlisted and worked in support capacities for the Army Air Corps. (I don't think they let you fly if you have to wear Coke-bottle-bottom glasses.) He ended up stationed at Gila Bend, Arizona.

My father was a taciturn man who had a security clearance. He never talked about his service, and never talked about his job as an inspector-supervisor at Lockheed, where he worked for 44 years. What little I know I learned from my mother. When I was very young I came across a series of caricature sketches of my father done by some wag in his unit -- they depicted him in various activities, always with his nose buried in a book (Cassidy in the Chow Line, Cassidy in the Sack, Cassidy in the Can).

His brother was also in the Army Air Corps, but I only found that out recently, when I attended my uncle's memorial service.

We were not a "military family" -- which I say advisedly because when we moved to Hawaii in the 1950s I went to public school with the children of many career military men. The impression I got was that the men of my family would serve in the military if the country needed them to, but were at heart civilians. I also grew up knowing that military service could be an honorable calling.

My mother was seven years younger than my father -- they didn't meet until after the War -- but she did a stint as a Rosie the Riveter while staying with her older brother and his family in San Diego. While she was still in high school in Colorado a refugee boy came to her school, and his story affected her deeply: he had witnessed the book-burnings in Germany before his family fled for their lives.

That uncle actually did make a career out of the military and finally retired as a Colonel from the Air Force in the 1960s. But he was such an authoritarian jerk that his own son ended up leaving the country for Canada during the Vietnam War.

I have no idea who in my family ended up seeing combat in WW II, if anyone . . . those that served did what so many others did, which was to get on with their lives after they came home again.

My mother made sure we understood what that war had been about, though.

My husband's family were actually living in Europe, and most of his relatives died before he was born. His father had a wife and 4 children who perished in Auschwitz; he only escaped because he was in the hospital at the time and the doctors told the SS he couldn't be moved. Then the doctors supplied him with false papers and he joined the Underground. My husband's mother couldn't persuade her parents to leave Vienna until it was too late, but she persuaded two of her sisters to come to Belgium with her and bring their families. Even so, one sister and her family were taken. . .

I grew up believing certain things about my country, and those beliefs made me proud to be an American. One was that when it came to fighting wars, we were the good guys -- we would only go to war if necessary, and would treat POWs humanely. Another was that in time of war, everyone would share the burden -- not just those in uniform, but those at home as well. And that World War II was indeed a fight to save the planet from totalitarian and murderous rule, so those sacrifices were in a noble cause. But that was then, and this is now. I still believe the part about WW II. But all the foreign policy blunders from Vietnam onwards have severely shaken my faith in the rest.

Hekate

[puebloknot]

167. My father landed at Omaha Beach D-Day Plus One. He was in ...

... the Battle of the Bulge, then marched all over Europe as an infantryman, before the end of the war.

He was in the Second Infantry Division, 9th Infantry Regiment, Canon Company. This is the famous regiment that served in the Boxer Rebellion in China, and the famous Liscum Bowl which was given to the regiment as a gift was in San Antonio, Texas after WWII, and I remember seeing it when I was five.

He was stationed in Germany ten years after the war, and we went as a family to Bastogne, and he began then talking about his experiences at the Bulge.

My uncle survived the Bataan Death March, in part because a Japanese officer bent down, while pretending to curse and kick him, and slipped some quinine in his pocket. That story helps to keep my faith in human nature burning, though it be at a low ebb.


And to think that a majority of high school students these days don't know what these men did for this country. Ken Burns is doing a service to history with his new documentary. We might not be losing so many of our young people in Iraq if they were educated enough to differentiate between what World War II was about, and the illegal occupation going on in Iraq today. Likewise, unschooled pacificism, accompanied by an assumption that documenting war is glorifying war, serves the world poorly, as well.

[semillama]

189. My great-uncle was on the Bataan Death March too

We have conflicting stories about his experience - for a long time we thought he died on the march from dysentery but there's some evidence he was on a ship transporting POWs to Japan that was torpedoed and sunk. Either way, he didn't come home.

His brother, my great-uncle John, did make it. He was a tanker in Europe and had some great stories, many of which verge on the unbelievable. These include stories about telling Patton to go to hell during a medal pinning ceremony (to which, according to Uncle John, Patton replied "You're the best friend I have in this army. Now get out to the front and get yourself killed."), stories about going into a deserted German bank for souvenirs, closing the door on the way out and triggering the booby traps that blew the building sky high, and sadly, the most believable: going around the side of his tank on christmas eve to eat a meal, leaving his crew on the other side around a fire - and a shell landing there right as he rounded the corner of his tank, killing his whole crew.

He died a few years ago. I still have a piece of German currency he gave me as a kid.

[puebloknot]

220. I guess everyone who came back from the war had war stories to tell.

It was a long time before my father talked about the really distressing experiences -- opening a "mini" concentration camp, a farm where Jews were being kept, in Czechoslovakia. He kept it light, talking about how the cook in their outfit went out and stole some eggs from a local Belgian farm and cooked breakfast for the men on Christmas Day, 1944, in the Ardennes forest.

When we were small and asked about the war, my dad told us the only thing that ever happened to him was that he stuck his head up out of a foxhole, and his helmet fell down and skinned his nose. That was it. Except he did say that Patton personally busted him (reduced his rank) for the insubordination of chewing gum!

Maybe they weren't the "Greatest Generation," but they gave a lot to this country, and I get really pissed when I read ivory tower, armchair criticisms which suggest that films about their contributions, talking about it all, is "glorifying war." It was hardly glorious, and the impact of WWII on the whole country resonates through time to NOW. "Moving on" doesn't mean we should not look back and remember the past. Nations and individuals who fail to do that are -- in the words of someone wiser than I am -- bound to repeat it.

Nice talking with you!

[Thothmes]

168. Family

My father enlisted in the Navy Feb 1941. Was on USS Yorktown as an engineroom machinest mate, tthe time of Pearl Harbor. Remained on her through the battles of Coral Sea and Midway. Transferred to USS West Virginia in drydock at Pearl Harbor. After her rebuild at Bremerton, participated in a lot of shore bombardment missions and the battle of Surigao Strait. Watched the Surrender in Tokyo Bay from the deck of the West Virginia. Mother, grandfather and grandmother all welded in the Kaiser shipyard in Vancouver, Washington.

[malaise]

169. My mother's only brother was in the RAF

He survived the war and then died in a motor cycle accident on Oxford Street in London in 1957.

[spinbaby]

170. My father was in the German army

Eastern front and western front. Eventually he was an American POW. After the war he earned his PhD, got hired by an American company, and became an American citizen.

[Captain Hilts]

171. A friend of mine's dad was German army. A courier on the Eastern front. The ONLY survivor...

of his unit. He had such battle rattle that he was mustered out and then he went to live in Dresden. No kidding. Watching the WTC towers fall revived that memory. It really upset him.

He was thrilled to join the German army in order to have a job. That didn't last long.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

173. Dad's family was stateside, Mom's family lived it

Both my parents were born during the war.

My grandfather from my dad's side wasn't military, but he was civilian support in that he built B-57 bombers during the war for Martin Marietta in Baltimore. He had a brother who was taken prisoner by the Japanese in the Pacific and miracously survived.

My mom's family was living the horrors of the war in Europe first hand. My mom was born in Ukraine in late 1943 while it was being torn apart by both the Germans and the Soviets. My grandfather on my mom's side had already been made an enemy of the state by the Soviets, so they had no choice but to flee. All accounts I've heard was that it was some very scary stuff. They had to deal with constant bombings, hide out in ditches when coming across the Soviet army, and ultimately escape out from East Berlin to West Berlin while hiding in the back of an ambulance, before emigrating to the United States.

[AllegroRondo]

174. Both grandfathers were in it

My dad's father was in the Navy, and died somewhere in the Pacific.

My mom's father was in the Army Air Corps, and worked with repairing radio and radar equipment on planes in the Pacific theater. He never saw direct combat, but had lots of stories about planes that barely made it back, and the miracle repairs they could do on them in very short time.

[Sweet Freedom]

175. My grandfather

and three of his brothers fought in WWII (army). My grandfather -- a lifelong democrat -- marched in the D-Day parade in Normandy.

[likesmountains 52]

176. Last year my 80 year old dad pulled out all of his letters home from his WW II service

it was a really incredible afternoon. His mom and sister had saved every letter he wrote home during those years..

[Skidmore]

177. All of my uncles (7 total) in both sides of the family served

in all branches of the service. My dad sustained a head would that altered his personality and he became very abusive as a result. Most of my uncles never talked about their experiences save one who started sharing his experiences when he was in his eighties.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

178. My Dad worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard where he was a welder.

While he was working there, he had a spark fly in his ear, burning his ear drum affecting his hearing. When called up for the draft he was 4F. He did continue to work at the Navy Yard until the end of the war.

[me b zola]

179. My father was a ball & turret gunner/belly gunner in a B-24 Liberator

He was first deployed to Northern Africa, then Italy. Dad flew in many sensitive missions, his squadron was featured in the book, Mediterranean Sweep. When my father passed in 1991 we found out that he had more citations then we had known about: 2 silver stars, 5 bronze stars with three gold leaf cloves, and 3 purple hearts.

Three weeks (to the day) before my father passed I got to meet one of his crew members, Earl. He came for my parents 50th wedding anniversary. Not only did I finally got to hear some wonderful tales about my father, but mom got to hear some details that Dad never would have bragged on himself. My father really was a wonderful, loyal, and courageous man.


My Dad's younger brother was a Marine and died in an accident oversees after he had received his discharge papers, he was on his way home. It was especially tragic because that same year my father's mother had lost a baby daughter, her husband, and then Uncle Tommy. I cannot begin to imagine that pain.


If I ever get a scanner, I would love to post pics.
















I miss you, Mom & Dad.

[donsu]

192. that was a really tough job - talk about stress

nt

[cgrindley]

180. Well... other than Moseley's Blackshirts, it's all sort of average

My mother's father was in Moseley's Blackshirts and had to join the army or go to prison. He chose the royal engineers and rose to the rank of colonel. He was later demoted in Burma to major for disobeying orders--to shoot Japanese prisoners. He never worked a day in his life after leaving the services, and spent his time drinking and gambling. He was a bookie. He lived well into his 90's, a fat, drunk, violent Andy Capp. Somehow, he managed to obtain a chestful of medals.

My father's father was a motorcycle courier and after a rousing game of motorcycle football, ended up in Normandy on D-Day with only one tooth in his head. One of his first actions in France was to pull out his last tooth and loot a denturist's office. He was the only man in his group of couriers to survive the war. He was mentioned in 8 dispatches to the King. A dour and taciturn Glasgwegian, he used his demobilization money to open up a corner shop. He smoked three packs of cigarettes a day--the inside of his palm permanently scortched from the wartime habit of holding the cigarette with the coal inwards, and died of throat cancer in 1972. He believed in keeping his mouth shut and working hard.

My mother was packed off to the home counties during the war. Her brothers were used as virtual slave labor on the surrounding farms.

My father got to stay in his home during the war and had a very John Boorman Land of Hope and Glory childhood, watching the dogfights, playing in the bombed out buildings, seeing the bodies wash up on the shore and so on. He claims he was once shot at by a randomly passing ME109 when he was out riding his bike and I see no reason to disbelieve him. The northern English city he lived in was practically erased from the map.

My wife's grandmother's brother was an engineer who died at Arnhem in the whole Bridge Too Far thingy. Fancy that, eh?

[Javaman]

181. Uncles and Aunt...

My moms brothers were in Europe and the South Pacific. both in the army. her sister was a nurse in europe.

My dads bother was a flight trainer in San Diego. His first cousin, (my second cousin), was in europe. All came back alive. :)

a few purple hearts but no permanent damage. (physically that is). a few bronze stars and a couple of silver stars.

Both my mom and dad lost many friends to various battles in both theaters. Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Bataan death march, invasion of normandy, battle of the bulge, and several in navel battles.

They were from Brooklyn, NY. Brooklyn, oddly enough had more men in battle than any other city of it's size per capita. Also had the most Italian Americans serve from a city it's size, per capita.

[AngryAmish]

183. Safely in Ireland, cheering on the Germans

[donsu]

185. search lights over D.C. every night, looking for enemy planes

lots of search lights. back and forth they would sweep across the Washington, D.C. sky.

we lived in the Md. burbs. my father was an air raid warden. every one had to have black cloth hung at windows and doors. no light could show the enemy were to attack. as a warden he and another man would walk up and down our street and others to see if any light could be seen.

[onenote]

186. my uncle served in the Pacific with MacArthur and William Kunstler

Yep, you read that correctly (speaking to the old time progressives who remember William Kunstler).

My uncle was an Army cryptographer deployed to the Pacific war zone in WWII. He coded/decoded messages for MacArthur and worked directly under Kunstler, who was a Major. He still carries his ID with its clearance, signed by Kunstler, in his wallet.

[onenote]

187. and my mother worked for the Weather Bureau in DC -- D-Day connection

A lot of women entered the workforce during WWII to take positions vacated by men going off to serve overseas. My mom got a job at the Weather Bureau. Her group helped analyze the weather forecasts leading up to the decision as to when to launch the D-Day invasion.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

188. Lost my big brother.

Guadalcanal.

[goodgd_yall]

206. What a terrible battle that was

Burns' documentary focused on what happened there last night. I'm sorry for your loss.

[donsu]

190. my uncle by marriage was a Navy Officer, was aboard ship the whole war

he went to war with dark hair. when he came home it was white. I asked him what his job on the ship was and he said "I told them when to fire".

[auburngrad82]

191. My Uncle Lee is buried in St Avold Cemetary in France

My grandfather was in the Navy during WWII. Pacific Theater. I have uncles who fought in WWII and Korea and my father was an Infantry platoon leader (Manchu Charlie) in Vietnam. He was awarded two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts. Fuck anyone who wore a Purple Bandaid in 2004.

I was in the Navy. A cousin was in the first Iraq conflict. My Great Grandfather fought in the Civil War.

It pisses me off when someone says Liberals aren't patriotic.



Liberal bumper stickers

[Breeze54]

193. My uncle joined the Navy and my Dad was 4-F due to a hearing loss.

So, instead of serving in the military, my father joined the civil service Army and his job
was to receive caskets and do a body count. It was a horrible job, from what little he told
us. I guess he traveled all over New England, during that time, and was absent from home a
lot. He told us many stories of his getting orders, in the middle of the night, and the "Commander"
would send a car to pick him up. He delayed getting married, until my uncle came back.

[makhno]

194. Great Patriotic War

One grandfather died during the siege of Leningrad, driving trucks over the frozen Ladoga Lake. The other finished the war in Vienna, a voenkom (commissar).

All five of my mother's uncles died in the war. One, according to family lore, died in Berlin in May 1945.

Most male family, friends and neighbors on both parents' sides did not come back.

My mother remembers the German POWs from Paulus' 6th Army working in the forests around her village in the early 50s. There were almost no Russian men left.

The only war I have ever heard people of my grandparents' and parents' generation defend was one against a foreign occupation. Their pacifism never ceases to amaze me.

[JuniperLea]

195. Great uncle survived Bataan death march, POW...

He was put on a ship headed for home... the ship was sunk... by US planes that didn't get the communique.

All of his brothers were serving in other parts of the world... and one of his brother-in-laws missed the ship he was on, and survived... never to be able to forgive himself.

[sabra]

196. "I thought a piece of cheese was ham"

I'll always remember my grandfather's story very well. Coming through Coney Island as a young teenager, they gave them cheese sandwiches and bananas, my grandfather never saw a banana before.

His parents promised that he and his seven older brothers and sisters would be back together some day. He lost his whole extended family and a small Polish village to the Nazis.

I always told him he should write a book; about his experiences, living in the Bronx, selling hot dogs at Yankee stadium, meeting Babe Ruth. Unfortunately he left us 9 years ago, at the age of 90.

[MattSh]

197. My father's service.

His story, when he talked about it (rarely) was that he was drafted after the war and served in Greece in '46 and '47. It sounded plausible.

After he died, my mother described it differently. He served during the war in Europe (Army), then got orders to be a part of the Japanese invasion force. Mid-Pacific, the ship turned around without explanation, then Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I do know his version is not true. I've confirmed that he enlisted or was drafted in July of 1942.

[KiraBS]

199. Grandfather fought The Battle Of Britain and worked

for RAF on the ground after D-Day, he travelled by motorbike through Europe, he was with the British Forces that liberated Belsen which I doubt he ever recovered from. When he died, my Gran showed us a swastika badge from the helmet for a German he shot.

My step- Grandfather was in the Army and told us about the Normandy Landings, it was 40 years before he ever talked about it.

My actual Grandfather was a marine engineer so he stayed in England working on the docks.

[Roon]

207. My Grandfather and his unit stole a motorbike

they used to pack it up in the truck whenever they were deployed. It was a toy to them.

[Javaman]

202. Other things come to mind...

A good friend of mine Irina is from the Ukraine. Her grandfather was killed via Stalin during the purges in the 1930's he was a general in the red army.

She had an aunt fight at Stalingrad.

Her parents were down to eating grass to survive during the war when the germans over ran their area.

My step aunt, if you will, was born and raised in austria. She had a brother who was a ski instructor. He was drafted into the german army, where he became a fighter pilot. He was shot down and lost a leg.

[Parche]

203. USS Quincy

WOW, 8August 1942, along with the USS Vincennes, Astoria, and Canbera
As a Pacific WWII history buff, that is my specialty.
He has my utmost respect.

The Japanese were the best in night fighting, and they also had the best torpedoes
during the war , the 'Long Lance'

It was one of the worst defeats of the US Navy ever up till that time.
\
:hi:

[OzarkDem]

219. He is still on the ship

In the #1 turret, at the bottom of Iron Bottom Sound.

Robert Ballard explored and photographed the wrecks of the ships back in the mid 1990's. I bought the video and showed it to my grandmother and gr uncle (his brother and sister). It was the first time they saw where he was, a very emotional moment for them.

Back then, families didn't hear about the deaths until months later. Around the time Floyd was killed on the Quincy, his mother had a nightmare in which she saw Japanese soldiers coming down the hill behind their farm house. She awoke so frightened that she made grandad turn on all the lights and close the windows. They learned of his death in October, and she recalled that nightmare and believed it was probably when he died.

http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Ships-Guadalcanal-Exploring-Pacific/dp/0446516368

[slackmaster]

204. Grandfather served as a Phamacist's Mate, stepfather was a Radioman

My grandfather got out early due to a non-combat injury.

My stepfather was in the USS Chicago in the battle of Savo Island.

We didn't lose anyone in either World War, Korea, Vietnam, or any war since.

[hatrack]

208. We had people directly involved on both sides of my family

Dad was in the Army Air Corps. He had been working at the Rock Island Arsenal as a machinist for a few years and had been deferred as a result. He got his "Greeting:" early in 1944 and went in for his physical exam.

Anyway, he was standing in line for the physical when a couple of officers standing beside the line of inductees asked "Anybody want to try out for the Air Corps?" So, thinking "Ah, why not?" he stepped out of line and did a couple of tests - picking different colored threads out of a big pile of fabric, manipulating a sort of multi-wheeled machine in a box to keep an indicator over a given point and such.

A momentous test - he passed and just as well. This was in (probably) February of 44, meaning that ending up in the Air Corps meant NOT going into the infantry and fighting across France into Germany. He ended up down in Texas flying on B-26s and never shipped out. By that late in the war, they had a lot of aircrews that they didn't quite know what to do with, and he mustered out shortly after VJ Day.

My uncle (actually my step-uncle - the son of my maternal grandfather's second wife) was a JG on board the USS Golet, a submarine which went down in the Sea of Japan in late 1944. We never knew him, but we have his Purple Heart.

[onethatcares]

209. my dad was a radio man on a flying boat, he doesn't talk about

his service except for the times in Hawaii. Someone once told me those that saw the worst things put them away forever. They have no desire to relive them.

[4dsc]

210. Nazi's killed my grandfathers family in Poland

as my grandfather told it, the Nazi's killed his family.. 4 brothers and a sister..

[lumberjack_jeff]

211. Dad, shot in the forehead in Belgium (battle of the bulge)

He died in 1993. I have his purple heart and bronze star hanging here on my office wall.

[Auggie]

212. Cousin was on a Destroyer at Pearl Harbor -- incredible story

On December 7th 1941, minutes before the air attack, a seaman on his Destroyer accidentally pulled the control to sound the general alarm rather than "quarters to muster."

Even though the sailors suspected the alarm was a mistake, they did what they were trained to do -- rushed to their battle stations. Minutes later a plane flew low over the ship carrying a torpedo. Some thought it was U.S. aviators practicing until they saw the rising sun emblem painted on the under side of the airplane wing. Then they knew it was a Japanese attack. General quarters was sounded again and the order was given to man battle stations.

Because of the error, the Henley was the first Destroyer at Pearl to fire on Japanese planes and the second ship to be under steam, heading out to sea.

My cousin survived the war despite having this ship sunk by an enemy submarine nearly two years later. He wouldn't talk about his experiences and I had to get this information second-hand.

War is absolute hell. I will never understand war hawks.

[tabasco]

214. My Dad was an MP during the war, attached to infantry divisions.

He was in Czechoslavakia when the war ended. At first he was stateside, escorting trainloads of POWs to Texas. He didn't like that and requested duty in Europe and got it.

My Uncle got a Silver Star but lost a leg during a mortar attack.

[Raine]

215. My father was drafted into

the Army during WWII and was in the Philipines and New Guina during the as part of the the signal core. After the war he was with Macarthur for the occupation in Japan. I don't know anything more because when I was going to ask him one time my mother said "don't ever ask him about the war". I guess his experiences were pretty bad so I took my mother's advice and never said anything again.

In grade school some of the other kids brought pix of their father's service during the war. I didn't since this was a taboo family subject. My father to this day is a pacisfist so I guess that is how deeply the whole experience effected him.

[TZ]

216. I had family living in Poland/Germany at that time....

Considering my family is Jewish they are all gone now..(Auschewitz and Treblinka I think)

[bluestateguy]

217. Another one; My step-grandfather was an optometrist

He got his optometry degree in 1940, and enlisted shortly afterward where he practiced his trade in the Army. He remained stateside during the whole war, giving eye exams to the men and and fitting soldiers with eyeglasses.

He was always a dear family friend, and married my grandmother in 1990. He is now 90 years old, physically frail, but still mentally very sharp.

[THUNDER HANDS]

218. my grandfathers both served, one in German, one in Italy

the one in Italy got shot in the groin through the keyhole of a door. He used to tell stories all the time about what he did there.

The other got his kneecap blown off. That was my dad's dad. He came home from the war and got addicted to heroin. He also lived in Brooklyn, right underneath the flight pattern from JFK airport. The sounds of the planes flying overhead bothered him so much that he had to sleep on the floor or else he'd freak out and knock himself off the bed every night. He never talked about his experience in the war.

[Solly Mack]

221. 2 Uncles, both went bat-shit crazy because of the war

Both came home and tried to kill their wives and/or kids. One managed to cause his son to be deaf in one ear by holding the boy down and pouring hot oil into his ear... and the other chased the kids around the house with an ax - until he could be subdued.

One beat his wife so badly she was hospitalized for weeks.

Both women left their husbands.

Both women were forever changed. Neither for the good.

Nothing noble about war...any war. People have been known to remember their humanity and commit nobel acts...but those acts didn't make the wars themselves noble.

War is ugly and brutal - a failure of people and countries.

My maternal grandparents had 9 daughters - all were either married with children of their own or still young. My maternal grandparents were born in the late 1800's

I grew up around survivors of the Holocaust and learned at a very tender age about the brutality of people..of nations.

My father was a young Marine who lied about his age to join...he spent the tail end of the war in DC.
My mother was 16 when the war ended. She and her single sisters would hit the rail station and see the troops off...waves, kisses, care boxes....

Years later, Vietnam spared few of the sons of those 9 daughters.

Oh, they all came alive...but not whole.