WWII Veterans

[Josef]

I read in a VA Statistic sheet that we have 600,000 WWII
Veterans alive and that they are dying at the rate of 444
a day which I am very sure will do nothing but accelerate.
Being highly noted as a mathematician when in the 1st
grade, I cypher out less than 4 years. Every time I see a
WWII Veteran, I spend as much time as he/she wants
reminiscing.

 

[David Page]

They were all hero's that faced the biggest war we ever saw. Its would be nice if more would listen to them. Had my father and 7 uncles in it. They don't teach about this anymore.

 

[Daren Todd]

My grandfather is a WWII veteran. Still kicking at 95, but unfortunately not much reminiscing is done anymore. Alzheimer's has kicked in big time and it's about like having a conversation with a 2yo.

He had some great stories. He also had a photographer hooked to his unit for a bit. Later on he was able to track the photographer down and was able to get duplicates of all his photos taken during the war. Made for a really interesting scrap book.

 

[skeets]

Your right, every once in a while I will see someone with a cap saying WW II vet and I thank him shake his hand. One old timer asked why I would do such a thing. I said my Dad served in the islands during the war, and were it not for you and him and the people like you guys, our life today would be surely different and I just waned to say thank you. Sometimes they have a stunned look other times you can see a little tear start.

 

[Yooper]

My father's generation was from that era. Just in the neighborhood where I grew up, one took a bullet in the chest at Normandy and survived, three doors down from him was one that survived the Bataan death march, and another at the other end of the block survived a B17 crash into the English channel. If there is one characteristic I've noticed about WWII vets, is they would never talk about their experiences. Can't blame them though. Why would you want to relive the hell?

 

[Josef]

I had an uncle who was infantry in WWI, he was gassed and suffered from it his whole life. He never had much to say about anything.

 

[Kurtee]

My father was WW2 and some uncles also. They did not open up is exactly correct. I had the opportunity to talk to some others and get their stories. My neighbor in a former town was in the unit called the Wildcats. They had a wildcat in a cage that went with them. His unit saw action in the south pacific routing the Japanese out of caves and such. They were shipboard bound for a Japan invasion when the bombs were dropped and ended up as occupation troops there. He had a book on his unit that he let me read. I have included a link that might interest some here.

https://wpt.org/Wisconsin-War-Stories/Explore

 

[car compulsive]

... If there is one characteristic I've noticed about WWII vets, is they would never talk about their experiences. Can't blame them though. Why would you want to relive the hell?

My dad and most of my uncles were in WWII and one uncle was in Korea. They never spoke much about their experiences. Same with my Marine vet son who served in Iraq. My ex-wife's father was in the German army in WWII, and the only thing we ever learned was that he did something with motorcycles.

My dad was in both the Army Air Corps and Navy. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps and in the mid-30s, but was sent home halfway through boot camp - when they discovered he was only 15. After graduating from trade school, he worked in military industry and had a deferment until near the end of the war. He enlisted in the Navy instead of being drafted into the Army, went to sub school, and made only about 2 trips down the east coast before he was mustered out at the end of the war. I always felt that dad didn't care for the military after that - which is probably why my brother enlisted in the Navy the day after he graduated from high school.

My current wife's father was a Seebee and went ashore at Okinawa.

 

[RCW]

My Father-in-law was 101st Airborne. Volunteered at 17 or so, with some forgeries....

He was not at D-day, but was deployed for Battle of the Bulge, and later action moving east.

Never said anything about it, other than mentioning the few modest souvenirs he brought back.

 

[bearskinner]

My dad was a tail gunner on a TBM, and airplane mechanic, in the Pacific theatre. He was on an escort carrier heading towards Japan, on what would have been the initial invasion, when the bombs were dropped ending the war. I can’t imagine being a 17 year old kid, doing all that. Because of that generation, todays 17 year olds don’t have a care in the world.

 

[mickeyd]

My father was in WWII and was sent to Italy. His unit was required to enter a hospital to clean out several German snipers that were hiding there.

Every man that survived came down with spinal meningitis which back then was deadly. The doctors offered my father and the others the chance to use an experimental drug that might help but they didn't know what side effects it would have. They agreed as it was certain death otherwise. He and 1 other man lived even though they had problems for many years afterward.

 

[Lil Foot]

I had an uncle who was the luckiest person on the planet, apparently. He joined the navy in 1940 at 17. He became a cook's helper on the battleship Arizona. The morning of the attack, he was on the other side of the island picking up a load of fresh fruit. On the way back, he was ordered to hump ammo for an anti-aircraft gun, then fight fires. By the time he got back to the harbor, it was all over.
He had various assignments through the war, and eventually got leave to go home for a week. On the way back for his next assignment, the train he was riding broke down, making him a day late, so he missed the sailing of his next ship, the cruiser Indianapolis, taking the bomb to Tinian.
He also never spoke of the war other than these two incidents.
My father was in Korea, and he almost never spoke of his experiences.

 

[CaveCreekRay]

My father, Ray Raymond Stark, CPO USN/Ret. Buried along with my mom in Ft Barrancas National Cemetary in Pensacola.
20 years active and ten years inactive reserve. Spent WWII hopping from island to island behind the front processing recon photos and repairing the recce cameras. Note the camera in his sleeve rank.

 

[johnjk]

My father was USN in WWII. He was a Gunners Mate on the USS Lejeune in the Atlantic. I was blessed that he spoke about his time in the war and doubly so that I was able to get involved with their ship's reunions and run the website. I have boxes of photos, and countless stories from him and other crew members. One of the most notable was that his ship was a captured German luxury liner called the Windhuk. He was on the crew that brought it back from Brazil and helped with the retrofit in the US. After a few convoy trips across the Atlantic the ship was pulled in for an overhaul on the engines and propulsion systems. When they removed the bearing cap off one of the prop shafts, they found a radio transmitter that was built in to the bearing. The officer overseeing the overhaul told the mechanics to just reassemble the prop shaft and not change a thing. It was later found out through declassified documents that this transmitter was broadcasting the name of the ship in German and that the German U-Boats were able to pick this up and not target their own ship. Never once during a crossing were they shot at by German subs.

The other story was from my wife's uncle who was US Army and in the Battle of the Bulge. He spoke very little of it and when asked, he would get a far away look in his eyes and just say "it was cold, so very cold".

My Father's brother was on the USS Lexington in the Pacific and to this day will not speak about his time in the service.

God Bless them all.

 

[CaveCreekRay]

Some never told their story. Others told it for them.

https://vimeo.com/198357872