Maggie’s And Then There Were None

[powdahound76]

Next Friday in IA I am going to visit my grandpa’s grave.
Been planning on it for a few months and ya’ll have given a major booster pack to that plan with all your stories.

Might have a nip of Dewars (his favorite, not mine) after I listen to the Star Spangled Banner.
Have to hear the one with that little gal who has sang it for the Kentucky basketball games several times singing.

That nip may lead me to finding out if Uber works in a cornfield..... ?

 

[Sean the Nailer]

Have to hear the one with that little gal who has sang it for the Kentucky basketball games several times singing.

Doesn't that essentially culminate what it was all about? I think so.

 

[Threadcutter308]

Onions......on a Friday afternoon, no less.

 

[powdahound76]

This one. Make it through with dry eyes. I dare ya.

 

[tnichols]

It seems almost inadequate to say it in so few words, but they literally saved the world.

Hear hear ?

 

[canman]

This is from 2014. This kid is Swiss. He's about 15 now. He and his Dad have a foundation named Project Vigil. www.projectvigil.com. Last February he was made an Honorary Member of the 506 Infantry at Fort Campbell. His website honors American Service Members from all eras.

 

[S Roche]

This is from 2014. This kid is Swiss. He's about 15 now. He and his Dad have a foundation named Project Vigil. www.projectvigil.com. Last February he was made an Honorary Member of the 506 Infantry at Fort Campbell. His website honors American Service Members from all eras.

Put a lump in my throat.

 

[pmclaine]

My FIL passed away this time last year. He spent one enlistment in USMC than retired from USCG reserve.

USCG did a great job at the ceremony we had just after his passing.

His thing was the ocean and had worked at USCG station Chatham MA - one of the worlds truly beautiful places. He was cremated and it was his wish to have his ashes left at a specific buoy the station would service.

We planned a summer fishing trip for stripers on the boat of a good friend than I asked the CG to render some honors on scene.

The station did a fantastic job honoring their passed Crewman....

The bouy is belled. Its like a Cathedral out there, beautiful.....(sorry about the orientation)



USCG had training in the area we got to watch adding to the show....

 

[JMGlasgow]

My cousin was at the Battle of the Bulge. He was also one of the first through the gate a Dachau.

Wasn't it the 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Division of the US Seventh Army that liberated Dachau

My best friends grandpa was in the 45th

https://www.scrapbookpages.com/dachau/FiringSquad.html

 

[canman]

Dachau was a large complex with many sub camps. There were many units liberating Dachau sub camps. Most G.I.'s just referred to them as Dachau.
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-101st-airborne-division

 

[TripleBull]

My Dad was 101st Airborne, demolition expert. He's going to be 93 this coming spring, still going strong. We often go to visit he and my Mother on Veteran's day but couldn't make it this year due to my job getting in the way, so we're going to make the trip in a week or two.

As a kid, I couldn't understand why he wouldn't talk about WWII or Korea. If you grew up when I did, your family TV got 3 channels on a good day and the boys would always be ready to watch Combat, Rat Patrol or Audie Murphy in To Hell and Back. We wanted to know all of the hero stories and find out what we needed to know to grow up like our fathers.

The decades went by and I'd long given up on trying to get Dad to tell war stories. Then in 1983, I took the lady that would become my wife to meet my parents. On the 3rd day of hanging out, eating too much and telling lies, she told Dad that I'd said he'd fought in WWII and Korea and she asked him a couple of questions. He opened up and told stories for over 4 hours. The family sat there shell-shocked, taking it all in. We heard the good, the bad, and the ugly.

One aspect that still blows me away is the clarity of Dad's memories. He went decades without talking about the war, but when he finally did talk, it was all very clear and immediate. As my sons grew up, he repeated some of the stories again and he still remembers the names of the men he fought beside, how they lived and how they died.

Last summer, a little bird was singing in my ear that I should phone home and see what Dad was up to. He was re-roofing the garage. A 92 year old man was working alone in 90 degree heat. I asked Dad to take a day of rest till I got there. I took time off work, as did my younger son and we tossed tools in the trunk and drove the thousand miles post haste. I tried to get him to take it easy and let us do the work but you know he was not going to hear of that. His generation still holds their ground and expects to do their part, through thick and thin.

 

[Jefe's Dope]

Wasn't it the 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Division of the US Seventh Army that liberated Dachau

My best friends grandpa was in the 45th

https://www.scrapbookpages.com/dachau/FiringSquad.html

I don't really know. I'm only repeating what I've been told.

 

[brianf]

funny how all the stories are the "same" from combat to night terrors.
my one grandfather said he used to have the single bullet coming strait for his nose nightmare all the time.
just about every grandparent and granduncle on both sides of my family were either the PTO or ETO.
there were 13 on one side (7 boys, 6 served), and the other was 5 (2 boys both served), some drafted some joined.

one joined the navy got out and then rejoined the army for korea.
surprisingly no flyboys, all grunts, 1 submarine in PTO and 1 on the new jersey.
the ones that came back would tell my brothers and i stories all the time but they wouldnt talk to my other cousins.
we never really knew why but my father was in the army, and taught us respect/would kill us if we did anything wrong especially around older people.
i guess they noticed it, and we would have a knowledgeable respectful (not asking how many men did you shoot type shit) question for them.

one of the aunts got remarried to a german man she met at the old age home in the 90's, he was a german WWII vet on the western front.
we/my father were the first to meet him at a kids party or something small and local.
struck up conversation and started talking to my dad about the war, where did you live, when did you come over etc.

we had a room filled with WWII books, and by that time we wrote the govt and received all the men's units and locations, battles during the war.
that was really incredible, some of the uncles were still alive and would talk about the time line once in a while.
of course they would have it messed up a little after 50 years but i think it was almost therapy they never got back then in a way.

funny part is that when my father started getting info and such, over the next several months we would get letters from the army saying that "X" uncle has a medal that he never received, there were a bunch of CIB's.
my father would of course have it sent to our house but more often than not the old guys didnt even want to see it.
my one uncle john had a silver, bronze, purple heart and a literal cigar box of medals that he never "wanted" and told my dad "dont get those things".
they seemed to all have a deep/hidden hatred for the military because of what it did to them mentally when they got out, yet they were the most patriotic people i have ever met.

anyway, it became time for the german to meet the rest of the family.
my parents werent too sure how it was going to play out, as you could imagine.
this is the same side of the family that one uncle served on the new jersey and would not own a japanese car or be driven in one.
he also used to tell his wife, i loved that ship more than i love you. while pointing at a large model above the fireplace.

not to our surprise (the german was a very nice clean cut educated man) played it cool.
when the conversation eventually came up over the dinner table, he said "i was on the eastern front".
most everybody didnt believe it but respected the manner which he went about moving the conversation away.

greatest generation or not, i cannot imagine a bunch of millennial/metro sexuals doing that today.
is see it with my grandfather inlaw, he was in korea...only person he talks to is me if i bring something up from a tv show or book i have been reading.
rest of the grand kids between 20-30 he wont even acknowledge for serious conversation.

 

[j-huskey]

Medals...
Somebody they were close to died when the "thing" happened that led to the medals, or if it was a purple heart, they got dinged and the memories arent their better ones.
Most of my family thought the dead guys deserved the medals more than them, that "they" my family, were just doing their job, and didnt want a medal for surviving what killed their buddies, medal brought too many memories. Purple hearts and bronze stars, a few with a v for valor, none of my family had big medals.

They really didnt hate the military like it might have looked, it was easier to talk hate the military when what they really hated was what the war took from them, stole from them, and they didnt want to talk about that.

That's what I got from my family and the one veteran who's still with us today, at 93. Couple of days with him last week, were tough, watching him getting closer to leaving.

 

[hankpac]

My dad (in goggles) in the jungle on a pacific Island, WW2. SeaBee radio team, followed Marines onshore, in second wave, set up commo for ship to shore, and for other SeaBees who were repairing Jap air fields or putting in new air fields. Finish up, turn over the station to the relief, follow the Marines to the next island. I have his war album, full of images of island hopping, dead japs and wrecked planes. Later he moved to PBY's as a radioman, flying sub chaser missions and rescues of pilots. Gone now. Lied about his age, joined at 14 or 15, kicked out after a year, waited until he was old enough, and rejoined. Spent 23 years in the Navy and Air Force.
The Air Force picture below is in 1957 or 58, Working with the Engineering team to adapt the B-52 for hauling the X-15. Yellow pads, and slide rules. Room full of guys who did most of the math in their heads.

 

[S Roche]

While not a member of the Greatest Generation I thought this may be appreciated. The local paper has a section called Days Gone By of which this clip came from. My Father's Best friend, Government trapper, Game warden, WW1 Soldier (41st Div. 116th Field Artillery Brigade) and tough SOB. I knew he had been wounded of which the details were foggy. In the 80's I would stop by his home just to talk although his hearing was almost gone. The best memory I have is when he and my father were shooting coyotes from my Father's J3. I was sitting between his legs in the back seat when Dad turned to give him a shot, I was squirming around and he said " sit still boy, It'll be over soon. A man I truly respected and still miss. Truly a good man, 1896 -1993.

 

[TheBigCountry]

I know I had a great-Uncle who served in WW2 I never got to meet before he passed. How would I go about finding his records of what he did? I think he was Army...

 

[Lapuapalooza]

I don’t have any great stories of my family members during WWII, but I was lucky enough to have had four (or have been in theirs) in my life. My dad’s uncle was a BAR gunner in the Philippines. He passed when I was about two, so I don’t remember him. My dad used to tell me stories passed down from Uncle John that when his platoon/squad ran up against a Jap Sniper they would call Uncle John and his BAR up front to thin out the palm trees. Apparently, Uncle John said the BAR could strip a palm tree in nothing flat. Supposedly he would Bury the butt of the rifle in his hip and rotate 90 degrees to use the recoil in a “sweep” pattern. He also said that the British were “Some fighting sons of bitches, right up to tea time. “

My Grandad served in the Navy on a tugboat in San Diego. I have a photograph of him and his fellow sailors... I can dig it out and post it up for you guys. He also passed before I was 2.

My dad’s mother had a second husband who was also in the South Pacific. He never talked about his time during the war. Shortly before he passed away he was on a doctor appointment for his heart when the nurse asked him, “Bob, what happened that you have that scar on your shoulder?” His reply to her was, “I got shot by a damned Jap in Mindanao!”

My mom’s dad served in the Army in the Philippines. I asked him twice what he did in the Army. When I was about 8-10, his response was that he was a cook. His second response to me in my mid teen years was that he was a foot soldier. It wasn’t until he passed in 1992 that I found out he received a bronze star, but never knew what had happened for the accommodation.

After my grandma passed away we cleaned up the property and found some old war memories he had stashed away in a shed, along with his military ribbons.

I still miss him as I type this. He was the one that tought me about guns, hunting, fishing, camping, gardening, and just good demeanor as a human. My friend, My Grandpa and My closest connection to the greatest generation. What a wonderful gift to the world all of those people were.

 

[GUN NUT in IA]

A very good friend of mine, "Bud" was a Battle of the Bulge First Sergeant at the age of 19.

When his wife passed, he moved to a Care Center. He could not have his Jeep there - so he gave it to me. Since then I have spent a kabillion dollars on it "restoring" it (still more work to do) and "displaying" it as often as I can. That was the deal.

Bud's funeral was last Saturday. His family asked for his Jeep to be present. It was.

So was I.

 

[powdahound76]

where in IA gun nut? I was raised in Page County in the SW corner.

Thats great to have his Jeep out there. Bet it was driven back then in the same weather.....

 

[Caveman0101]

My Grandfather fought at the Battle of the Bulge, he never spoke about his time in the war except for a few stories he told my uncle, who was his youngest son, on overnight fox hunting trips. His entire squad was killed and he was wounded, he survived by hiding in a barn in France. The French farmer snuck food and bandages to him a few times, he was there for some time with German soldiers all around him until the Allied forces finally pushed through the area and found him. He was patched up and fought at the Bulge sometime later. All he ever told me was he walked from Normandy to Germany and it was a long walk. He was a good man and I miss him every hunting season the most. He's been gone since '95, but I remember his lessons in the hunting woods. When I was a kid in Mississippi we were not allowed to shoot a doe, my Grandfather would always tell me "shoot every doe you see, hell boy you can't eat the horns". That probably came from living through the Great Depression when he was poor to start with and had to hunt to live.

 

[GUN NUT in IA]

where in IA gun nut? I was raised in Page County in the SW corner.

Thats great to have his Jeep out there. Bet it was driven back then in the same weather.....

Born in Elmo, MO.

Raised in Braddyville.

Currently (probably forever?) in Atlantic (Cass county).


Yes, it was cold out, but we kept thinking about Bud - and his feet, which were severely damaged during the War - and decided it wasn't bad at all.

My wife and I were at the retirement home helping with their Christmas Walk this past weekend. I was also managing the Salvation Army Bell Ringing. Every hour on Friday and every hour and a half on Saturday I had to "go pick up the buckets". It was a beautiful day Saturday - not so much the Saturday before.

Every time I came back to the facility I would pass Bud's room and thought I should stop and visit him "just one more time". I wonder how long that feeling will last?

 

[powdahound76]

I know Elmo.
My mom was born and raised in Clarinda. Used to go down to Braddyville for dinner with my Grandma when i would stay with her in Clarinda.
My dad’s folks are buried at Workman’s Chapel out in the countryside near Clearmont MO.
My folks still live in Page County, pretty close to you.

As for when that feeling passes, I’m not sure.
My grandma passed 13 years ago and I still want to call her when I have a good joke or want to tell her about stuff. We were tight and I could do no wrong in her eyes. She loved to feed me fried chicken and watch John Wayne movies together.

 

[j-huskey]

I dont think the feeling will ever go away, for the same reason pop had bad dreams from 1945... memories live as long as you do.

 

[j-huskey]

Bump...

 

[canman]

Thank you this is the best thread on "the hide"
I just finished a great book " First to Jump" by Jerome Preisler. WWII Airborne Pathfinders. These guy's got very little credit for a tough job well done among tough jobs.

 

[MK20]

I knew a man named Bill Paty. Jumped into Normandy as commander of A Co 501st. Got rolled up somewhere in there and missed Holland because he was a POW. Tried to escape and made it on the third try. Got back just in time for the Bulge.

I have a much younger friend that has 3 Bronze stars, 2 with V. One of those should have been a Silver Star by all accounts. That one was for killing a hadji during an insider attack with his damn pistol. Hadj came around the corner with a drawn pistol to shoot him while he was working on an injured guy because it looked like the threat had passed. My friend beat this dude by drawing his pistol and shooting him 4 times before the shithead could get off a shot. He said that as soon as his sights cane level with the guy’s crotch he started pulling the trigger because time was short. I don’t drink but when he passes I will damn sure wish I did because I am going to need it.

 

[lightman]

Awesome stories guys!

My FIL was in WW2 and would never talk about it. My Wife remembers being woke up a few times at night by his dreams. He won a few medals and received a military funeral. I picked up the fired blank cases after the funeral and each of the Grandchildren got one of them.
I had an Uncle that I never met that went through WW2 on a submarine. He was killed in a car wreck 2 weeks after the war ended.
The little town where I live now had its share of WW2 vets but sadly most of them have passed on. It seems as though most of them were air crewmen. A couple were pilots, one was a navigator, one was a fighter pilot. He flew P-47's and claimed to have over 2000 hours just flying over water.

Yes, they truly were the greatest generation!

 

[lightman]

Awesome stories guys!

My FIL was in WW2 and would never talk about it. My Wife remembers being woke up a few times at night by his dreams. He won a few medals and received a military funeral. I picked up the fired blank cases after the funeral and each of the Grandchildren got one of them.
I had an Uncle that I never met that went through WW2 on a submarine. He was killed in a car wreck 2 weeks after the war ended.
The little town where I live now had its share of WW2 vets but sadly most of them have passed on. It seems as though most of them were air crewmen. A couple were pilots, one was a navigator, one was a fighter pilot. He flew P-47's and claimed to have over 2000 hours just flying over water.

Yes, they truly were the greatest generation!

Just an update;
I talked with my Wife about what she remembers about this. The medal/medals were lost in a house fire before she was born. This makes since as I've never seen anything in the house except for the Flag that was presented to my MIL and some pictures. One medal was a Bronz Star with 2 Oak leaves. The citation mentioned sneaking up on and neutralizing a machine gun bunker that had his squad pinned down. She does not remember what the Oak Leaves were for. This was in the Aleutian Islands. He got out of the Army after the war and soon after joined the Air Force where he retired. He was once a Crew Chief for one of the planes displayed at the gate entering the base at Jacksonville Ar.

My Uncle that I never met was killed in a car wreck 2 weeks after he got home, not 2 weeks after the war ended. My bad.

 

[Unknown]

I was honored to be a pall bearer at my late friend Mike Jones' funeral. He was a Marine during WWII and went through the pacific theater. He enlisted in the Marines when he was 16, and lied about his age. The Marines didn't discover the lie until about a year later and he got tossed out. By then he was 17 and was able to get his families permission to enlist. He got recycled through boot camp a second time, and ended up in the Pacific theatre going through many of the iconic Marine battles there.

Mike continued to shoot practical rifle with us until his health gave out in his 70's, and there is an annual classic battle rifle/practical rifle match named in his honor in Sherwood, Or.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

As I reread this, my Wife is binge watching MASH. I tend to get testy when it's on, and I'm not going to explain that to anyone.

Greg

 

[canman]

WWII Vet Ralph Heap Aerial Gunner 722 Squadron 450 Bomb Group pinning Tier 2 Grads. April Jump School WWII ADT Frederick Ok.

 

[canman]

This is one Hell of a Guy. He'll make you laugh till you cry too.

 

[Flint62a1]

Thank you all for sharing these stories. I had an uncle that was wounded at the Bulge, and sent home. None of never knew anything of his history. My Mother told me he spoke only once about his experience, and never said a word about it again.
I would love to have known more but that's lost

 

[j-huskey]

Thank you all for sharing these stories. I had an uncle that was wounded at the Bulge, and sent home. None of never knew anything of his history. My Mother told me he spoke only once about his experience, and never said a word about it again.
I would love to have known more but that's lost

See if u can find his dd214 or at least his unit/division, anything, we might find something for you.

 

[canman]

https://www.news-leader.com/story/n...d-councilman-ralph-manley-dies-95/1123727001/

 

[atomic41]

https://www.news-leader.com/story/n...d-councilman-ralph-manley-dies-95/1123727001/
View attachment 7073435

Thanks for sharing. I wonder if my grandpa (who I posted about earlier in this thread) knew him, they were both in Springfield. If so, there's a chance I met this man when I was young. I spent a lot of summers there working with my grandpa. I loved going to the donut shop and cafe with him where we would hang out with a bunch of his buddies, many were WWII vets. I was always in awe of these men who were all war heroes to me.
You just took me back to very fond memories of my youth, I appreciate it.

RIP Mr.Manley

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Mom built engine mounts for J2F Ducks at Columbia Aircraft in LI. Just about all of them, two every night.

Dad tried to enlist in the Marines but they turned him down. He wasn't an American Citizen (Swedish), he was too old, and he was an engraver for the Bureau of Engraving doing scroll work on the US $20 bill.

Didn't now about the enlistment story until his funeral, where my Elder Brothers told me. The three of us were all draftees. They were Army, post-Korea; I was Marines, Vietnam.

Bill, the eldest, was 101st A/B, broke a leg in a training jump and ended up in Ft Sill, running the Radar that tracked the live nuke rounds for the Atomic Cannon. He was, by definition, an Atomic Veteran; one of the ones marched across Ground Zero.

Bob, a year younger (ten older than I), went to Ft. McClellan and ran the apparatus for training exercises at the HQ, US Army Chemical Corps. He was heavily exposed to AO, and has the same illnesses and conditions as I do from AO In Vietnam.

The VA still refuses to this day to acknowledge any obligations toward him. This is mainly because Congress has been sitting on the authorizing legislation for roughly a decade. Waiting for an Army to Die.

He is now 83 and not doing very well at all. His three boys watch over him.

The Korea Vets are next, and many of my own generation are already gone.

When I go, it will be due to complications from AO exposure.

I love my country. I have no regrets about my service, and consider whatever I have experienced as a result of it to be a reasonable price to pay for living in such a great Nation.

I grieves me greatly to see what those who came after us have done to it.

LEGOWI. Don't wait, do it now; I want to at least see that great work get started.

Greg (Legion of the Silver Rose Recipient, 2018. I was one of the lucky ones, I was alive to receive it.)

 

[bigdaddydmd]

Just lost one of the good ones and man is my office dusty today. RIP "Doc". Elred was 93. A corpsman in the Navy and was on Iwo Jima with my grandfather. I made it a point to always give him a hug and sit and have lunch with him when he came in. He was very reserved and quiet, but he would always open up to me about it since my grandfather was there and he knew I was an Infantryman.

I can only hope I'm as mentally sharp as he was if I even make it that long. This man was all there and sharp as a tack and one of those guys that just makes you happy when he enters the room. He would tell me how he watched the Marines hitting the beaches thru the binos on the ship and just cried watching the men fall because he wasn't in the sand with them trying to save them. How this man didn't glow I have no idea. He did occupation in Nagasaki after the bomb and then was assigned to bikini atoll after the war. His job was to go onto the atolls and collect specimen slides from goats that had been staked to test the fallout of atomic bombs.

I felt the need to post up about my friend, Doc. May he Rest in Peace.

 

[Soulezoo]

My dad flew -24's from N. Africa. One uncle was a sub XO in the Pacific. Another was with the Marine 1st division and made a couple of first day beach landings. He refused to have anything to do with anything Japanese made until he died. I recall his old Zenith TV... all he could get that was US made. A customer of mine was with Pattons 3rd Army and was with the armor detachment that liberated Bastonge. Says he met Patton twice and described his voice as "like a girls-- high pitched and funny".
They are all gone now. The only one I know personally still alive is Bud Anderson (P-51 Old Crow) who lives near me but honestly I haven't seen him in a few years. Met Chuck Yeager once (also lives relatively near) but he's on his last legs from what I hear.

 

[hankpac]

I have my Dad's war book, absolutely full of photos. He was a radio man, and for the first part of the war was assigned to a SeaBee unit. They were second and third wave following the Marines onshore from island to island. The Seabees would repair or establish Air Fields, and his section would set up shore-ship commo, after digging out their fox holes. The top photo is My dad, and his Dad, serving during WW2. The second photo is Dad in the goggles in the jungle on one of the Islands, digging in. He's got photos of Iwo, Kwajelene, Bougainville, and all of the other crummy islands. He hated Bougainvillea plants.
This book is a treasure, as it has early family photos in it too, from when he took leave, or was in Hawaii (which was still a primitive south pacific type place at the time). He got out of the Navy during the Korea era, and went into the new Air Force, to work on the X-15 project.

 

[MangoFett]

My grandfather who is 95 now I'd love to be able to talk about the war and all he saw in wwii, from what I've gathered he went to Germany at the end of the war and I know he was a sergeant. He can't remember much of anything anymore and each time I see him it's a nearly identical conversation since he usually forgets what we last spoke of. His one brother was in the Navy, and another was at the battle of the bulge. He's the last of his brothers so also unfortunately no others to talk to. My uncle did go to Vietnam but doesn't speak of it, I only know he cleared areas for aircraft to land.

The only story my grandpa tells that goes that far back is how he met my grandma only once before he deployed, she sent him letters and photos and they wrote each other while he was in Germany and when he got back they got married. Built up a farm, built a small business which turned into a huge family business and how they raised 6 kids all the while and all the horse riding trips they took across the country and all the good people they met on the trails out west and in Mexico.

 

[87stang]

hankpac, I spent a lot of time on Kwajalein where your father served. There where some pretty intense battles there.

I was on Kwajalein for the 60th anniversary of the Makin Raid. Leading up to it CILHI was on island searching for remains. It has long been rumored that the Makin Marines that ended up MIA from that mission where captured had been brought to Kwajalein and later executed there. Unfortunately the remains where not found. Towards the end of the CILHI dig, in remembrance of the Makin Raid the Army hosted all the surviving MaKin Marines on Kwajalein. Many of us acted as sponsors for them. It was one of the most humbling experiences of my life. I basically spent everyday for a week escorting a veteran around and making sure he had everything he needed. Spent every night that week hanging out at the VFW with the whole group of them.

The stories those guy told were absolutely incredible! What was even more incredible was their resilience and liveliness. They were all in their 70s at the time but boy where they all still so full of life. All of them came home from war, put their nose to the grind stone and had pretty impressive lives after the war. Sadly, the last I heard, there was only a few of them still living.

 

[canman]

This thread has been dormant for too long. Next month I get to spend another week with them. Oddly enough their stories make me feel young again.

 

[Long Range 338]

At our monthly Liars Club breakfast (as I call it) this morning I had the privilege of meeting a local survivor of the Battle of the Bulge. A member who’s a friend of his brought him along and introduced him. He didn’t talk about it and we didn’t ask. Although my buddy whispered to me that he was highly decorated and still carries shrapnel in his legs.
During the meal and chatter I couldn’t help but to sneak a look at him and the deep lines in that tough weathered face that gave a smile every time he looked up at someone. I tried to imagine what he has seen and knows about war and fighting. As we broke up I went over to meet him and thank him and was pleasantly surprised at the strength of his grip as we shook hands.
As I was driving home I realized that all of my friends and family and everyone I knew who served in WWII are gone and just how special this morning was.

Awesome thoughts to start the day and give me some perspective. Thanks

 

[Badfinger]

My Uncle Ben Moyers ran a water distillery for the Navy on Kwajalein, Tarawa, and several other islands during the war. He passed on Dec 5th 2012.

 

[DaveinCO]

I have only known a few of these men in my life, but I hold them in the highest regard. We are less as a country and as a society for their passing.
My grandfather joined the navy as soon as his citizenship papers allowed. After WWII he joined the Air Force, and retired after 22 years.

He was a great role model to me and we were very close, but no matter how much we talked he never said one word about the war or what he did in it.
He was the proudest that he was an american citizen, of all the things I learned from him, his pride at being an American Citizen by choice and dedication stands out above everything else.
He is greatly missed. I feel like a shadow of the man that he was, and also the best of my generation.
We are surely less without these men.

RIP Randolph Lanosga

 

[Strykervet]

These guys aren't hard to find, just stop in at the VFW. Those places are dying because my generation and basically every generation following Vietnam just don't go. But that's where they'll really open up.

Also the only place where the answer to "what's on the menu" is "oh, we fucking make all kinds of shit!" How they sell beer for $1.03 is beyond me though, that's cheaper than cost. Plus you get to roll dice for two free ones and there's always the coin game...

And as much as you like to hear their stories, they like to see the younger generation come and take over, be part of it. Hell, the other day WE were the celebrities because being in our 40's, we're "the young crowd"! They said they just don't see that.

I had family in WW2 but one grandfather was too old and the other too young... One was on the occupation force starting in '48 I think, he was in Germany and spent a few years there IIRC, sat with Elvis at lunch in a DFAC. My mother and her sisters thought he was a hero just for that! She went on to serve in WAC during Vietnam, a Tech-5 or 6.

Got to hear all kinds of stories at VA though, once a guy had a whole crowd at the pharmacy line. Turned out he was one of the guys in "Band of Brothers" and he had a lot of details that show left out. And I've sat in the waiting room with everybody from Buffalo Soldiers to 442nd to guys that brought the heat for Hiroshima. They're all brothers the way I look at it and it's how I treat 'em. That talking slow and treating 'em like children doesn't fucking fly with me, neither does leaving 'em out like potted plants.

Last time I was admitted one came in with a stroke, stroke patients can be combative and the guy trying to draw blood was getting upset. He reminded me of that guy in "Born on Fourth of July" and I flew into his ass. I told him if he didn't treat that guy with respect I was gonna cave his skull in with my IV pump. I think I got his ass fired, I hope so. Asshole didn't expect me on the other side of the curtain.

 

[Deleted member 10043]

Here is a gem as well. Mr. Martinez is 97 now. I always make a point to say hello to him after Mass. Why do the little guys get the BAR? He survived the entire battle with no wounds. I sort of think he is blessed in some mysterious way.

Redirect Notice

 

[pmclaine]

Why do the little guys get the BAR?

We used to have a gentleman come buy the barracks wearing his WWII Vet hat with the Purple Heart emblem on it.

He stopped in to ask if it would be okay to stop and give coffees to Tprs working on the side of the highway.

I advised against it but told him his thoughts were greatly appreciated, really we should be buying coffee for him.

I asked about his service and he said he got to Europe in February of 45.

No nothings might think "Feb of 45? The war ended in May. What could you have done?"

At that point the war was as grim as could be.

The US was considering drafting 16 year olds.

Europe was freezing. Germany showed no sign of surrender and Iwo Jima was kicking off.

He related he was given the BAR as he was the smallest guy in the platoon. He said he liked it though because it really put the lead down range.