Here's a big shout out and a sincere thank you to all those young men who stepped off those landing craft and into harms way 67 years ago today on D-Day! [clap] [bow_down] [beer] [thumbsup] And also those who went in before them behind enemy lines and the pilots and sailors involved in the landings! My late father in law was one of them and he had two more to go after he survived that one. [bang] I'll have to ask my brother in law which specifically they were, I can't remember. One in Italy and one in Sicily... I believe. He didn't like to talk about it.
Not many WWII vets left. If you know one shake their hand and tell them thank you. [thumbsup] And my thanks also extends to all those who have served, those currently serving and to those who will do so in the future. Including my great nephew who just washed out of Ranger training. He's a tough little SOB so that tells me how damn hard that was! [bang]
Come on peeps. Surely someone out there has a Dad or uncle, etc. who made that bullet infested walk through the surf and lived that day or perhaps they didn't? OK, maybe not. Still, today means something special to me. [thumbsup]
My grandfather served in the Navy in WWII and is still alive. He never talked about it until a year or two ago. I found out he was one ship over in the harbor watching the official Japanese surrender that was taking place on the Missouri on 9-2-1945.
D-Day? Good men brought together for a good cause. I can't imagine the hell they suffered through.
My family's fight was in Asia. We lost everything when the Japanese invaded Hong Kong. My grandfather and great uncles fought with the British (after proving they weren't spies) or were Japanese POWs. My pregnant grandmother fled overland to India with a toddler on her hip.
They are indeed the Greatest Generation...Americans and Allies both.
[clap]
Quote from: fastwin on June 06, 2011, 04:50:42 PM
Not many WWII vets left. If you know one shake their hand and tell them thank you. [thumbsup] And my thanks also extends to all those who have served, those currently serving and to those who will do so in the future.
+11tyb
[beer] [thumbsup]
My Grandfather and his five brothers were all in the war..
The youngest was sent home after it came out that his five older brothers were serving.
Gramps was in the Pacific in Guam and on Guadalcanal. He was a Sergeant in the Army Corps of Engineers. He built runways and airstrips. He used to tell us stories about how our planes would take off, then the Japanese would come in and bomb the tarmac so our guys couldn't land again. He would be out there with a bulldozer and some asphalt repairing the runway while getting shot at by enemy aircraft! :o
My uncle Vic was a tailgunner in a Flying Fortress. Apparently, he was so good, they pulled him out of combat and made him an instructor. He was the last one left after my grampa and the rest past away over the years... He finally moved on from this life last month at the age of 91. He looked like he was 75 still...
Only one out of the five brothers didn't make it back. He was MIA in North Africa.
I'm proud of my family... [thumbsup]
[bacon]
To the people who serve
then and now
[bow_down]
Amazing family story Junkie! Sad about the one brother..... and all the others....
Quote from: AJ on June 06, 2011, 07:16:04 PM
My family's fight was in Asia. We lost everything when the Japanese invaded Hong Kong. My grandfather and great uncles fought with the British (after proving they weren't spies) or were Japanese POWs. My pregnant grandmother fled overland to India with a toddler on her hip.
The are indeed the Greatest Generation...Americans and Allies both.
[clap]
Damn right, not everyone in that fight was a US soldier! Same thank yous go out to all countrys that kicked in and and lost good souls. It was a World War after all.
My Dad was an instructor in the Army Air Corp but never saw any fighting. Father in law was on the sharp end of the stick at Normandy and then some. Lost most of his friends and made sure lots of German soldiers did the same. With all due respect to my German DMF friends. [thumbsup] It was a different time and place and we had nothing to do with it. Just history not worth repeating. [thumbsup]
Anyway, again, thank you to all who fought that day and beyond. I know you don't like the hero brand but to me that's what you all are. Bless you one and all. [bow_down]
Greatest generation indeed! Wish all of our kids had that same horsepower and drive. What a world it would be if they did! [thumbsup]
My Grandfather was a trench officer in WWI and received the Iron Cross on 3rd of May 1917 for services to his country. He was a Jew. He escaped Germany and got to England in 1939. On D Day he went back to fight against the Nazis in the British Army. I am proud of him.He died in 1964 weighing just 60 lbs from stomach cancer .His wife and two sons ( my Daddy,Uncle Bobby and Grandmother) were the only ones to survive . The rest of the family were starved to death at Belsen Concentration Camp. These brave men and women of The Greatest Generation were exactly that , Brave and from a Generation of people that said NO we will not allow this to happen anymore. Thank you so very much for all of you who made this world a better place. BGB.
My father just went on his honor flight to DC a month ago [thumbsup] He was a heavy artillery trainer - was almost deaf by age 50 from it.
mitt
Keep up the posts! I love reading them. [thumbsup]
(http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z178/dog142g/247059_10150215556909040_500079039_7080529_1718907_n.jpg)
Had a brew for all my Toccoa brothers
Quote from: fastwin on June 07, 2011, 08:17:04 AM
Keep up the posts! I love reading them. [thumbsup]
My dad's brother was in serious fighting in Italy - never talked about it - he lived to be almost 90.
My dad's brother-in-law was at Iwo Jima at the same time and within a stones throw of the historic flag photo. He also lived to be about 90 and never talked about it.
mitt
I just spent the week in Normandy meeting these heroes. Amazing men AND women.
One man was a Combat Medic who jumped into St Mere Eglise and served in what is known as one of the toughest battles in WWII. The battle for the La Fiere bridge.
Another was a glider trooper from the 101st.
THEN the sweetest toughtest little ladies every, nurses who also were sisters, 91 and 94, served in the combat hospitals soon after the invasion...
Amazing people each and every one of them.
FOr my family, my grandfather was on the USS Missouri.
I've read about the fight in St. Mere Eglise and I believe I have also heard about the La Fiere bridge battle. Had to look it up to read some more.
http://www.normandy-1944.com/LaFiere.html (http://www.normandy-1944.com/LaFiere.html)
Must have been really cool to be there and visit with those vets.
Every spring there is a small fly in at the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field here in Dallas. There is a B-17, B-24, B-25 and a P-51. You can pay to go up in rides in the 17 and 24. It's pretty cool because I live just east of Love Field and they make a straight east, u-turn and back west run on their flights. Luckily I live on a street they must fly over in both directions! So I get to listen to that awesome multi radial engine music for several days every April!! [thumbsup]
But the really cool part is I like to go the FoF Museum and see the planes and get to talk to the WWII vets that also come to see the big birds. Many of them flew those same planes and have some incredible stories about bombing runs, getting the shit shot out of them and limping them home and sometimes having to bail out of torn up, burning wrecks. One nice gentleman in a wheel chair looking at the B-17 pointed to a large inspection type plate (not a door) right next to the prop on the left inside motor. He said he had to pop open that plate and bail out of his burning B-17 right next to the spinning prop... not once but he had to do it twice!! I told him I was glad he avoided that whole "third time's the charm" thing. He just laughed and said "Damn right!" and how he was lucky to be alive. No kidding! [thumbsup] [clap]
My grandfather was 82nd Airborne, dropped on D-day, and fought in the battle at La Fiere Bridge. He stayed in Europe till the war ended, fighting through the Battle of the Bulge all the way into Berlin. Even took a piece of shrapnel in the side in Belgium. He said it was so cold that night he didn't even know he got hit till he pulled his hand out of his pocket and it was soaked in blood. The stay in the Army hospital ended up leaving him with a collapsed lung after he contracted TB there, and the doctors solution to keep TB from spreading even more there was to collapse the infected lungs. He didn't talk much about the war either, except for the funny stories, like knowing the guy who's chute got stuck on the steeple of the church in St. Mere Eglise., or the time he and another soldier stole a German motorcycle and crashed it into a tree. He died in 2006 essentially from complications from the dormant TB in his one collapsed lung. I can't express the respect I have for him and men like him. They really were the Greatest Generation.
Incredible story! [thumbsup] They don't make 'em like that anymore. Tough SOBs who didn't have the word quit in their vocabulary. I guess the Depression did have a good side. It forged that generation into steel.
Quote from: mitt on June 07, 2011, 10:18:01 AM
My dad's brother-in-law was at Iwo Jima at the same time and within a stones throw of the historic flag photo. He also lived to be about 90 and never talked about it.
My Grandfather was a Marine that was one of the first on the shore at Iwo Jima. Their expected survival time was around 30 seconds. Navy was bombarding the shoreline, and they were prime targets because of the type of gun they were carrying.
JM
Isn't it strange they never want to talk about it. I probably wouldn't either. My father in law would talk a little to me but not his kids... my wife and brother in law. We got into a nice talk once abount Garands and 1903A3s and their knock down power. He pregnant doged several times about the Air Force staffing his outfit like they were the Germans and wanting to shoot at the planes. Can't blame him there. [bang]
Quote from: fastwin on June 07, 2011, 08:51:38 PM
Isn't it strange they never want to talk about it. I probably wouldn't either.
+1
My Dad never spoke of his two years in Vietnam. Not even to Mom. Whatever secrets he held died with him.
for some,speaking about what they have done or seen is simply too much and if they have it buried it is best to remain buried. My grandfather ( mothers father) was a foreman for the gas board in the UK during the war.He lived near North Weald Airodrome. During an air raid the womens air raid shelter recieved a direct hit. My grandad pulled out the remains of 53 women air force personel from what was left of that shelter. My grandma said he came home that day he was covered in blood and his own vomit was shaking and was changed forever.War is never hollywood or pretty.
my grandfather went ashore at Normandy, although in the artillery rather than a ground pounder.......so not the first wave. he was also at Bastogne.
growing up, he always said that he spent the war stateside, but after he passed away, my grandmother gave me his Ike jacket, and told me a little bit (what she knew.) I also researched his service ribbons, which was pretty interesting/difficult.
I suppose like many combat veterans you spend the rest of your life trying to forget some of the things you saw or did. Therefore chatting folks up about it years or even decades later probably makes you rehash or think about all the things you tried so hard to forget. Just a guess.
As kids, my brother and I learned early on not to touch Dad to wake him if he was napping. Talking to him was OK (could take a few tries) but if you touched him he'd wake up as if in terror, swinging wildly until he was with it enough to know it was you. I wonder to this day if this wasn't related to his service days.
I shudder to think. :-\
My grandfather Miller was an only child and a farmer, so he spent the war on his farm in West Bend WI. Since most of the able bodied farm help was half a world away, he worked with the German P.O.W.s who were doled out to the farms in the area as farm hands.
My Grandpa Smith worked double shifts at a munitons factory for the war.