WW2

[Chubbo]

Does anyone remember WW2 ? This subject has been discussed in bits and pieces, in several threads, on this forum. I consider it a major part of our national history, and if possible, I’d like to start a thread dedicated to the history ofWW2.

Chubbo

 

[YkcorCal]

My father was a Platoon Sgt. in WWII so I SALUTE all vets of that conflict as they are true HEROS!!!

 

[Chubbo]

On !2/11/1941, Our third-grade teacher brought a small table model radio to our third-grade classroom, and We listened to, Franklin D. Roosevelt, declare war on the axis powers.

Chubbo

 

[NYlakesider]

I (very early boomer) was born mid 40s and lived in a crowded neighborhood on the wrong side of the track. I can clearly remember that many of the adult males had done military service. For years after many wore parts of their uniforms as regular clothes. Shirts, jackets, shoes, boots, rain gear.. Also a few were chewed up a bit from their war time experiences. Missing a arm, a leg, disfigured and/or in a wheel chair!

I most certainly remember WW2.


Spell fix!

 

[30-30remchester]

Many relatives, all gone now, served. My father-in law was a ball turret gunner on a B-17, one uncle was a sub mariner, one a combat engineer, and one survived the Bataan Death March and a 30 day all-expense paid cruise funded by the Japanese government on what was called the hell ship. Instead of champagne, he got to drink his own urine to survive. Tidbit of history and stories are a fascination of mine. Just one for the crowd today. My uncle the combat engineer was sleeping in an old barn near the front line, along with several other men. Because of stomach problems he spent much of the night in the outhouse. On one such trip a German artillery shell hit the barn, killing everyone inside. It blew the outhouse over, but he was basically unhurt.

 

[bummer]

Father, mother and a few uncles on both sides of the family. They have been gone for a long time but not forgotten . When I was in school most of the male teachers were WW2,Korea or Vietnam vets

 

[Rustyt1953]

As I have mentioned before, mom was 9 years old when her family's home was bombed out in Liverpool. In '44 my future dad was a combat mechanic in the ETO. Mom lost her favorite uncle to a sniper's bullet during the taking of Caan.

Mom and dad bore a lot of hatred after the war but finally let it go and found peace.

Because of dad, and now mom, the entire extended family, young and old, has an understanding of the war in Europe.

 

[kwill1911]

Pretty broad topic but I'll take the opportunity to express pride in my father and his four brothers who served.

David (USMC) was killed at Tarawa. Russell was captured on Corregidor, survived the Bataan Death March and was a Japanese PW for 42 months. My father (John) was the only one who went to Europe. He saw the liberation of German concentration camps and came home with tuberculosis.

I had several uncles on the other side of the family also serve.

 

[Chubbo]

Does anyone remember Herrmann’s Royal Lipizzaner War horses, or that, General George S. Patton saved them from destruction at the end of WW2?

Chubbo

 

[Imissedagain]

When Army and Navy played ball, these baby faced Soldiers were on duty.
Never did ask Pop who won.
Rizzuto with Navy.
My Dad with Army.

Snowplow King of the 10th.

 

[vytoland]

my wife remembers when she was 3 years old in England and the sirens went off, she would have to run and hide under the bed during the air raids.

one bomb fell a couple of blocks from her home. the crater it left is still there.

 

[AJ]

Go here as I am putting up cartoons from Bill Mauldin's "Up Front". Seems to go with this thread. Sgt. Mike Viet Nam Humor The "Up Front" cartoons starts on Post#753.

 

[Pig Hunter]

My father was on a mine layer serving in both the ETO and PTO. MY uncle served on a destroyer. FIL was an aircraft mechanic in Italy. Everyone of the guys in my hometown had served from our Drs to the guys that ran the gas stations. Many had seen combat and they all handled it differently some talked some drank too much. Two of our neighbors had served in WWI. I have a Luger one of them had picked up and brought home. I tried to teach our kids about some of the things I learned but maybe I can do more in the future. At least we have firearms I can tel them the stories behind, who used them and where.

 

[SS336]

Being born in 1946 and my father an officer in the USMC I remember it very well. That’s why I joined the Navy in “64.
Here is a photograph of my father on Peleliu in September of 1944.
He made landings on Guadalcanal, Peleliu, and New Britain if my memory serves my correctly. He was quite the man. I could write a book about his life. Proud to be his son.



Here he is, shooting sporting clays at 82, the year before he died

 

[Greyman50]

My Dad was an Aviation Engineer in Italy, finished the war as a Captain. All my Uncles served too. When I was about 8-9 saw Dad’s uniform hanging in the storage room. Got my first hobby going of collecting WWII stuff. Had a huge collection until given to son and sold. A group of us did Living history and re enacted WWII for over 20 years. Is this WWII?

 

[Chubbo]

Another thing comes to mind, WW2 seemed to bring out the best in everyone. Even the criminals and gangsters, were patriotic, generous, and helped the war effort, in any way that they could.

Chubbo

 

[LVSteve]

Another thing comes to mind, WW2 seemed to bring out the best in everyone. Even the criminals and gangsters, were patriotic, generous, and helped the war effort, in any way that they could.

Chubbo

Clearly you never heard the blackmarketeer stories I was told by my grandfather.

More direct war stories came from him and my father. Grandad served as RAF Bomber Command ground crew and dad was 6 when the war started. As dad lived on the Eastern edge of London, he came closer to getting killed than grandad.

 

[AJ]

There are stories about the Mafia helping the U.S. Government during WW II in the Sicily and Italian Campaigns. There was probably more take on the Mafia side then we know about. Nothing like the gangsters in Disney's "The Rocketeer".

 

[ameridaddy]

My grandfather (US Army, armor, medical corps), father (USAAF, C-54, B-24 mechanic), uncle (USMC), uncle (US Navy, torpedoman, USS Jenkins), uncle (US Army, combat engineer) got us a 5 star flag in the window. Mom and I lived with my grandmother, and one of my earliest memories is looking out through an old-fashioned wooden screen door, the cross bar in the middle just above my head, and seeing my father coming home from his service, in his tans and bomber jacket walk up the sidewalk. To save money, he'd hitch-hiked home from an airbase in Massachusetts. That was April, 1946.
I recall too that my grandmother rented out a couple rooms upstairs to two aeronautical engineers. She told me one of them designed the nose of the B-29.

I've told the story here before of my uncle's being on the Jenkins when she struck a mine in a Jap held harbor, sunk bow resting on the bottom, and the rest of the squadron left her alone overnight.
And I've also related the story of my godfather's being shot down and KIA on his squadron's next-to-last mission of the war, staying at the controls to buy his crew time to get out of the flaming B-24.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

My uncles in a large family on both sides served all over. Pearl harbor, Guadalcanal, Okinawa, Pacific carriers (one disabled wounded pilot) and destroyers (one badly damaged the day after my uncle transferred off), the Philippines, B-25 gunner in China, Burma, India, the Bulge, Hurtgen, and finally the Berghof. All gone now.

 

[Rudi]

WWII was the largest single event in world history.

 

[ZGrand]

My father loved planes from the time he was a little boy. When the U.S. got into WWII, he volunteered for the Army Air Corps. He went completely through flight school to become a pilot, but failed his final psych evaluation because he had a slight stammer. Heart broken, he decided if he couldn't fly 'em, he'd fix 'em. He became an aircraft mechanic, stationed on Saipan and Tinian.

He maintained and repaired the fighters and bombers stationed on the islands, including one rather famous one. Here are a couple of photos he brought back. He is the man in the pilot's seat of the #54 Avenger.

 

[gunship]

My Dad was in the Navy on a refrigerator ship and my Uncle stormed the beach at Normandy.
I was in an Assault Helicopter Co in Vietnam. We were all lucky enough to come home having served our Country.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

My old man was Quartermaster Corps, my mother said he was in Italy. But he and I never talked. In my mother's family no WWII veterans, wrong birth years. My uncle by marriage had a cousin who enlisted at 17, trained to be a ball turret gunner, he grew so much that by the time he was 18 and eligible for deployment he outgrew the turret.
I got bits from my mother about the home front, the rationing, the shortages, the blackout.She told me how they managed to get hold of some canned apricots, kept them as a treat for the old man when he came home on leave. Then they found at the base he was stationed at
apricots were the only fruit they got.
I knew 2 Coast Guard veterans, one was on the USS Menges when it was torpedoed.

 

[StrawHat]

I have a familia connection with WWII, Pop was in the Merchant Fleet, 6 ships blow out under him. He was involved in ALL of the invasions of Europe and North Africa. Mom was U S Navy, so both of my parents were WWII veterans. I heard stories about Pop from his brothers, my Uncles. On Mother’s side, I had an Uncle who would say “…I fought with MacAurthur…”, and he meant it. He was not a ground pounder but on MacAurther’s staff and played Devils Advocate to the Generals plans. He was called back into Service in Korea with a telegram, “I need you. Doug”.

Kevin

 

[Old 44 Guy]

I was 10 YO in 1941. Remember Pearl Harbor attack very well. Dad was too old to serve. No one in my family served in WW2. I was just right for Korea & served 9 years in the National Guard.

 

[MRB1]

Last war we fought to win.

 

[Golddollar]

I was born 7 years after WWII was over and my dad was only 16 years old when WWII was over. One of my uncles (Mom's brother) served in Europe but I never heard him talk about anything. He brought back a Mauser rifle and I bought it at his estate sale.

As I was growing up, most of the former servicemen I ran into were World War II veterans. To this day, if somebody generically mentions "the war" I still automatically think of World War II.

 

[SMSgt]

My father loved planes from the time he was a little boy. When the U.S. got into WWII, he volunteered for the Army Air Corps. He went completely through flight school to become a pilot, but failed his final psych evaluation because he had a slight stammer. Heart broken, he decided if he couldn't fly 'em, he'd fix 'em. He became an aircraft mechanic, stationed on Saipan and Tinian.

He maintained and repaired the fighters and bombers stationed on the islands, including one rather famous one. Here are a couple of photos he brought back. He is the man in the pilot's seat of the #54 Avenger.

My dad was a Seabee and served on Saipan and Tinian also. He was a carpenter's mate, and his primary duty was surveying. I did not learn until a few years before he passed that he surveyed the sited for the ramps and pits used to load the atomic bombs at Tinian. He had a photo of the Enola Gay also, but it's lost. I have most of the letters he wrote home during the war as well as his photos and other Seabee stuff. I plan on donating it to the Seabee Museum.

 

[Rustyt1953]