WW II Vets I have known (1 Viewer)

[wadepat]

Gentle Friends,

I had a recent encounter with an older gentleman in a local pharmacy. The gentleman was talking with the Pharmacist and I overheard him say that he had served in the U.S. Airforce during WW II. He further shared with the Pharmacist that he serviced B-17 Bombers in England and he thought the B-17's were far superior to the B-24's, which he said many of the guys called "Flying Coffins."

I had the chance to stop him for a moment as he approached the cashier and I asked him about his views concerning the bombers of the time. He smiled brightly and told me that the B-24's were much easier to bring down than the slow, lumbering B-17's. He provided me with more details about his WW II military experience, for which I was truly grateful. The encounter seemed to me to be a moment of living history and I very pleased that he took the time to visit with me.

One of the experiences he shared with me concerned V-2 rockets. He told me that one evening a V-2 decended on a parallel trajectory to the airstrip on which he was working and that it exploded upon impact at the very end of the runway. He said, "That really got my attention!" He went on to say that he still possessed a piece of that rocket and he kept it in his home.

Unfortunately, my wife and I were on a schedule and we had to leave the store. I left wishing I had more time to visit with this gentleman and hear more about his experiences, which he seemed proud to share.

The encounter with the gentleman reminded me that our WW II vets are rapidly disappearing from this earth and they must have many tales to share. They are much of the living history that remains of World War II and it is a shame if we do not listen to and/or record their personal experiences, for they will otherwise be lost to us.

Therefore, I invite any of you, who know or have known a WW II vet (friend, relative, neighbor, etc.) that has told you interesting stories about the war, to preserve their experience by sharing it on this thread. I think to do so honors these distinguished and noble warriors.

Warm regards,

Pat

 

[vandilay]

Hi
My grand father served in the pacific but i was too young when he passed away too have spoken to him about his experience.But my next door neighbour served in north africa as an officer [captain at the begining of ww2 as well as korea and vietnam later]Unfortunatly he passed away a couple of years ago,but he had recently completed a book about his service in WW2.
Including being taken prisoner in north africa and after escaping from a p.o.w camp spending 9 months hiding out in italy,before being repatriated with his unit when the allies reached italy.

Here is an excert from his book regarding the breakout from minqa qaim
when surrounded by rommels 21 st panzer division .

28 jan 1942
That night under orders from brigadier Inglis,the division a moving quadrangular mass of men,guns and vehicles led by brigadier burrows ,4 brigade attacked.The leading companies charged forward in line abreast,bayonets fixed,grenades at the ready,closely followed by the reserve companies.They overpowered the unsuspecting enemy, carving a path for the vehicles of all descriptions desperate to fight clear.
The guns protected the flanks of the main body as they broke through the surrounding forces in this suprise attack.My E troop was deployed in 'line ahead'' when we hit a tank lager of 21 st panzer division.All hell broke loose with shot and shell and burning trucks transforming the night into a deadly guy fawkes display.
Led by lt col 'gussie'glasgow,the recently appointed commander of 5 field regiment,who is alleged to have given the famous 'right take ground' hand signal of the old horse artillery days.we broke south in some disorder and subsequently turned east again to get clear of the shambles.
Subsequently this attack was was to have some rather unfortunate repocussions as the rumour spread through the ranks of the afrika korps that new zealanders where taking no prisoners and had bayoneted german troops wishing to surrender.Fortunatly brigadier george clifton put this matter in proper perspective when having been taken prisoner he was confronted shortly afterwoods by Rommel himself.

 

[wadepat]

Vandilay,

What an incredible story! Thanks for sharing it.

Is your grandfather's book available for purchase? If so, can you supply the title and the ISBN number? I think it would be extremely interesting to learn more about his experience.

Again, thanks for sharing your grandfather's experience. You have great reason to be proud of him.

Warmest regards,

Pat

 

[vandilay]

HI Pat
The book was written by my Neighbour not grandad,[although i am still proud of my grandfather]
I dont know how widely available the book is, it was released on a ltd basis here and germany and in italy [as the catholic church had helped them in rome to hide at one point]
His wife is still alive ,so i will see if i can get another copy from her,send me a
private message with your address and i,d be more than happy to send you a copy if i can get it.

regards Rob

 

[wadepat]

Rob,

I have sent you a private message with the information you requested. Please let me know if you have received it.

Thanks a million!

Pat

 

[DMNamiot]

Hi Guys,

Please post the info for this book title etc I would love to find one too. I spend a lot of time looking for old out of print books and have had a lot of luck finding the ones I want so let us know the info. Who knows maybe there is someone out there with the ear of a publisher and can convince them its time for a second edition.

Dave

 

[vandilay]

Hi Guys,

Please post the info for this book title etc I would love to find one too. I spend a lot of time looking for old out of print books and have had a lot of luck finding the ones I want so let us know the info. Who knows maybe there is someone out there with the ear of a publisher and can convince them its time for a second edition.

Dave

Hi Dave
If you would like to forward your address via a private message I will
try to obtain a copy for you also,my wife is going to pop around in the next couple of days and see if their are still any available.

regards Rob

 

[DMNamiot]

I will do that. How are things in New Zealand? Are you on the North or South Island? My wife and I honeymooned there amoung other places in the South Pacific I would love to go back again.

Dave

 

[vandilay]

Hi Dave
I,m from Wellington [bottom of the north island ].Things are good here
weve had one of our best summers for a few years,which always helps.
The New zealand currency has hit the skids against the US in recent months,
[Kiwis spending to much on imports apparently] so it might make your next trip here a little cheaper if you manage to make it back at some point.
We Hope to make our next big trip to the States as i,ve only ever used it as a stop over in the past [not even that last time we went to europe, as because of the high security taxes in the US now it is far cheaper to fly via asia now].I,ll let you know how i get on with the book.

Regards Rob

 

[sceic2]

It's not a heroic war story, but my grandfather was a metallurgical engineer working for the Homestake Mining Company when WWII started. He was, because of his job, classified as a war critical worker and did not serve in the military. He was reassigned to work for the US government and traveled throughout the Western U.S. and Northern Mexico searching for uranium that was then enriched to use in the first atomic bombs. Although he was not wounded or did not directly kill the enemy, without his group of metallurgical and mining engineers, General Graves and Dr. Oppenheimer would not have had their bombs. He was also one of the engineers that worked with the German U-235 that was taken off a surrendered U-boat in May 1945, a major source of fissionable material for the Little Boy bomb. I think he was special (well he was my grandfather, of course he was special) and that he contributed his share to winning the war. Michael

 

[DMNamiot]

I bet he spent some time in the hills around Grand Junction Colorado I am told they found a lot of urainium there by my father in law who grew up there.

My Grand Dad was classified war essential too because of the job he had at the Cloth Mill my uncle however was in the Merchant Marine and told a few hair raising stories. Unarmed ships in the early phase of the war must have been the reason for his snow white hair! My other grand father was Dr and spent the entire time in the states doing work on returning vets mainly in Arizona but else where too I am still trying to put together his service info his side of the family was russian and was very closed mouthed about everything. Makes me crazy sometimes especially when you are trying to put together some info for the family record.

Dave

 

[ucla1967]

My dad did not serve in the Armed Forces per se during World War II, however, he was a crash crew fireman at Pendleton (Oregon) Field during the war. Some of General Mitchell's "30 Seconds Over Tokyo" B25s trained there, although it was primarily a P38 fighter base.

I also had two Uncle Joes who served in the U.S. Army during the war. One in the Aleutians and the other in the Pacific Theater, as an infantryman, where he was wounded and spend some time after the war recuperating in a VA hospital from his wounds.

 

[OzDigger]

My father served in the RAAF and RAF dropping bombs on Germany, and during much of my youth I believed most Aussies were in the European Theatre during WWII. He was a Navigator-Observer in Lancaster bombers but didn't get around to putting his memories in print before his death at 74. However I can recall when I was a child that he never enjoyed 'Cracker Night' nearly as much as us kids. I guess flying through flak during the night over Germany left him with less than found memories of near misses. Btw 'Cracker Night' is the Aussie version of Great Britains 'Guy Fawkes' Fireworks Night which was banned in Australia in the 1970's for PC and 'danger' reasons, not to mention all those poor letter boxes that were critically injured. Dad said that in his position in the fuselage he couldn't see outside the aircraft but could hear everything, flak splinters sounding like gravel being thrown against a tin fence. He said the best way for him to cope was to feel he was in his own little world where nothing could hurt him.

He wasn't a overly superstitious or religious person but one particular event made him wonder. Apparently his radio set wasn't working properly at one stage over Germany and he went forward to use another for a minute or so and when he returned he discovered flak had punched a hole right thru his seat, he said he would have certainly been killed if he was sitting there at the time as he wouldn't have lasted the long trip back to base. He rarely moved from his seat during an operation and the spooky thing was that when he tried his set again it worked perfectly (insert Twilight Zone theme here ). The other 'amusing' thing that although he often said he wasn't a superstitious person he always carried several 'good-luck' items with him on Ops - just in case they did work

He mentioned that the main (wing) spar in the Lancaster was noted for bashing your legs when encountered in the dark. But apparently this was its only vice as he was quick to defend the Lanc against any opposition mentioned on tv etc. His main 'target' was the B-17 which he dismissed as carrying only the same bomb load as the two engined Mosquito.

Of course later in life I discovered most Aussie servicemen fought closer to home. I have spoken to a number of WWII returned servicemen (Aussie term for vets) over the years. Most serving in the Pacific theatre especially PPG and many were captured by the Japanese in Singapore when Great Britain surrendered in that theatre. The prisoners of the Japanese had a hard time and rarely said much about what they had to endure.

 

[vandilay]

Hi ozdigger
My grandmas brother also served in the RAF,I believe he flew in Wellingtons.
Like a lot of kiwis [and Aussies too i would imagine] ,as soon as war broke out he enlisted and was shippied of to canada for training before heading to England.He was killed in the early years of the war, but my mother still has the letters he wrote home to grandma which gives you a good insight into their lives.
The mortality rate for bomber crews was terrible especialy in the early years of the war,its amazing any of them lived to tell the tale.

 

[Louis Badolato]

My Uncles John, Joe and Jack all served in the 8th Airforce (the Mighty 8th) in B17's over Germany. Jack was the only one who made it home, and he wouldn't talk about it when I was a kid. Before she died, my grandmother gave me one of my uncle's wings, Purple Heart, and burial flag.

 

[wadepat]

Gentle Friends,

And, then there was Dale...

Dale was my next door neighbor for a number of years. In addition to being a good neighbor and friend, he was a WW II vet. He told me only a little of his experience. He shared that he was a Tank Commander in the Pacific Theater. He also once said that, on some nights, he could hear the Japanese soldiers talking among themselves, which, he said, "...was spooky!"

Dale, and his wife, Betty, were wonderful friends. They took great interest in our two children and treated them as their own grandchildren. One of my fondest memories of Dale resulted from the fact that he enjoyed playing practical jokes and pranks on us. For example, one Saturday morning, he knew that my wife and I planned to sleep late as we had been working long hours all week. At about 5:00 a.m., there was a loud pounding on our back door. Being startled from our sleep, we jumped up and threw on some jeans. We progressed to the back door to find Dale standing outside with a most concerned expression on his face. We knew Betty had some serious health problems and we feared the worst. We quickly opened the back door for him. He marched into our home without saying a word to us and he continued to look alarmed. He walked into our kitchen, picked up our phone, and dialed his home phone number. After a couple of rings, Dale spoke loudly into the receiver so that we would clearly hear him. The following are his exact words: "Betty? There are up! And, you ought to see her in the morning!" He hung up our phone and marched out our back door, again, never saying a word to us. Needless to say, once his prank soaked into our sleepy brains, we fell on the floor laughing.

Oh, how I miss this wonderful man. He was a great neighbor and a superior friend. Unfortunately, like so many WW II vets, he no longer walks the face of this earth. However, I am certain that wherever he now resides, angels are rolling on the clouds with laughter!

Warm regards,

Pat

 

[Louis Badolato]

The gentleman from whom I bought my house was a Pacific Theater WWII vet. He was a navy officer who ran a supply base on one of the islands. Afterwards he became a naval architect. He said that he, fortunately for him and his family, was lucky enough to have avoided combat, but I am sure that the supplies he provided to the troops doing the fighting were important to the war effort just the same.

 

[Firebat]

This is a incredible and long story, but the short of it is I became friends with "Wild Bill" from Band of Brothers. I speak to him by phone, and we are pen pals. He put me in touch with other members of Easy who I also periodically correspond with. Bill is the head of the 101st Airborne Society, and one day, in the mail, I get an Honorary Member of the 101st Airborne Certificate, signed by all of the surviving members. Bill stated he gave me the honor because of my support of Veterans, and my service as a Firefighter at ground Zero. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I also know Leonard Lomell 2nd Rangers Pointe DuHoc Normandy, he lives in nearby Toms River, He is a Lawyer there. This is another long story, I got to meet Father Bradley Navy Chaplan Iwo Jima, he blessed me with the same equiptment he used to annoint the dead and wounded on Iwo. He died shortly after I met him.

 

[wadepat]

Firebat,

Those are great stories! If you ever have the time and/or inclination, I would love to hear the long versions.

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

 

[lenswerks]

A bit about my father on my WEB site http://home.cfl.rr.com/lenswerks/ then go Aperture | 460th BOMBARDMENT GROUP H.

Thirty-five missions, many 7 and 8 hours in the air - Amazing.

He passed away shortly after his 80th birthday two years ago.

Donnie