[tlarkin]

Quote:       Originally Posted by White Rook

If I'm not mistaken Esienhower never saw any Combat in his Army Career. You can look it up on Wikipedia.

I am going off of hearsay here. Maybe he was just in Esienhower's unit? Either way he was at Normady I think and I think his brother was a bomber pilot who was flying over the same mission/area carpet bombing the place for the troops.

This is just what my co-worker told me about his gramps. I am going to try to go interview him in the near future and get some great stories about what really happened you can't find in books and what they don't teach you in the schools.

[White Rook]

That would be really cool to sit down and hear some of their stories first hand. We have so very few WWII Veterans left. They earned a great place in our Nations History.

[tlarkin]

You were right it seems he never saw battle, he was a pencil pusher in the military it seems. I could not remember had not bothered to look it up until you forced me to fact check.

Maybe I misunderstood my co-worker and maybe his gramps fought in WWII under Eisenhower's command?

Either way, I need to go spend a few days with the old timer and get some great stories. I love the small details people remember that aren't in books and isn't taught in schools. Like how something smelled, or tasted, or how something looked. Perhaps some food they found, or how you really feel in the heat of battle and what goes on in your mind?

[jerry]

[dman24]

That was touching. Iron Colonel we have a schloraship like that at my school. It is in honor of the only man that graduated from the school to die in Vietnam. My daddy is currently in Iraq and he doesn't like the attention either, thinks it is just a job. I remember one night we went into wal-mart and the greeter told him thanks for what he did. Daddy said thanks, but you could tell it kinda bothered him. I was in the only military history this year at my school, the first in 10 years. We went to the VFW and interviewed vets. One guy I interviewed was a pilot in WW2, he told us all about the plane he flew, how many Japs he shot down and it was very interesting.

[troy2000]

Quote:       Originally Posted by dman24

That was touching. Iron Colonel we have a schloraship like that at my school. It is in honor of the only man that graduated from the school to die in Vietnam. My daddy is currently in Iraq and he doesn't like the attention either, thinks it is just a job. I remember one night we went into wal-mart and the greeter told him thanks for what he did. Daddy said thanks, but you could tell it kinda bothered him. I was in the only military history this year at my school, the first in 10 years. We went to the VFW and interviewed vets. One guy I interviewed was a pilot in WW2, he told us all about the plane he flew, how many Japs he shot down and it was very interesting.

I understand your dad's discomfort. Lately it seems like it's become politically incorrect to see someone in uniform, or talk to a veteran, without solemnly reciting, "thank you for your service to our country."

I hate to sound ungracious, but I've heard that the last three or four years until I want to scream. Yes, I was in the service and saw combat. And I was lucky enough to come out of it more or less in one piece. But it's just one of the things I've done in my lifetime.

It's been thirty five years since I hung up my uniform, and there are a whole lot of other things I've done since that I'm proud of. Compliment me on my sons; tell me how livable a house I drew and built is; celebrate with me because none of the umpteen foster kids my wife and I raised have ever wound up in jail or O.D.'d.

[Iron_Colonel]

Some people don't like to talk about it, but to me, stories from the war are absolutely fascinating. I can totally understand why people wouldn't want to talk about it either. Some bad stuff happens in war. I wish I would have talked more to my uncle about his time as a Marine in Korea and Vietnam, but he has Parkinsons and its getting very bad. He can't walk anymore, and it is very hard to understand him speak.

I had a great uncle that was in the airborne, and I think he was also in both Korea and Vietnam with the army, or one or the other I'd have to check. He passed to cancer about a year and a half ago unfortunately. One of the greatest men I had ever known. He didn't talk much about it and I'm sure he was in some bad stuff.

I have another great uncle who was in WWII in capacity as serving in Greenland right as the war was wrapping up. He told me he wrecked the front end of a deuce and a half once on an airstrip there going in to a ditch or something like that... He said they weren't supposed to be out there with them.

[rl69]

my wife did home heath care one of he clients Tommy Mott was army core of engineers. he was one of the first groups to hit the beaches in the south Pacific. he didnt talk much about the war. i know he loved and hated the B.A.R. he said they saved a bunch of lives. my wife got all of his military stuff that wasn't worth any money papers newspaper articles pictures. he loved squirrels i would bring him all i could i told him that was for preparing the beach for my grandfather a WW2 Marine
sorry for my spelling and rambling ww2 vets have a special place in my heart because of my grandfather

[twtalbot]

Quote:       Originally Posted by tlarkin

...Maybe he was just in Esienhower's unit?...

There's a good chance of that. Eisenhower was the Supreme Allied Commander. Everybody was in his unit.

It's striking how humble and soft-spoken so many of these old warriors are. I remember a friend's father (he started his family in his forties) who was a mortarman in Normandy. I remember another one from when I used to work in a department store that was run by a German Jewish family that escaped just before Hitler banned travel for Jews. This old man had known the owners for years and went to work for them part time after her retired from his main job. He'd fought in Normandy too (Airborne, I think)

My Grandfather was a Warrant Officer in the Navy, assigned to the USS Saratoga on Dec 7, 1941. I have a Copy of the Dec. 8 issue of the San Diego Union that he bought just before the ship left for Pearl Harbor. He said the fires were still burning when they got there. I forgot to ask how long it takes to get from San Diego to Oahu by ship. After the war, he was a survival instructor for aviators. I have his copies of Knights Modern Seamanship, Naval Officer's Guide, and How to Survive on Land and Sea-all complete with his handwritten footnotes, newspaper clippings, and even an old budget.

My other Grandfather had a "strategic occupation"-tugboat engineer on the Mississippi river and served by keeping the oil supply flowing across home waters.

BTW, I finally figured out why Naval pilots like to be called "aviators" instead of "pilots". It's because boats have pilots, too. They want to be distiguished from boat pilots so they use the word "aviator".

[big boomer]

What a great story. My uncle was given a silver star by Gen Clark in WW-2. He kicked in a door and captured 5 Germans.

[thatdogwonthunt]

it upsets me to hear this on an internet forum and all we hear about on the tv is the death of an aledged child molster

[troy2000]

Quote:       Originally Posted by thatdogwonthunt

it upsets me to hear this on an internet forum and all we hear about on the tv is the death of an aledged child molster

That's why it's called 'news.' WWII was sixty or seventy years ago, and Michael Jackson's death was a few days ago.

The difference is that sixty or seventy years from now, people will still remember what our fathers and grandfathers did in WWII. How much time do you think they'll be spending on Michael Jackson?

[Kemosabe]

I was named after an Uncle (NO! Not Uncle Kemosabe!) who was killed in Belgium or Holland in February '45 (buried in Henri Chapelle Cemetery). He'd been thru campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, Italy - only to be killed with 3 months left in the War. I guess it really doesn't matter if you're the 1st, last, or anywhere in between.

I have the "We regret to inform you" telegram that my Grandmother got as notification.

My Dad was in the Merchant Marine - starting I think, in the late 1920s up to the late '40's. After Mom died a few years ago, I found letters from Dad to Mom - one was dated like, June 10, 1944. He was on a ship, just off the Beach. He talked about how the "Doodlebugs", V1 "buzzbombs" had just hit the ship tied up next to his!! He NEVER mentioned any of this to me or my brother!