WWII veterans remembrance

Axe · Post by **Axe** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 11:18 pm

As you probably know today marks the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings. WWII was without a doubt the most spectacular war of all time. Millions of people payed the ultimate sacrifice so we can chill here today. It's sad to think most of this generation doesn't understand what our elders had to go through. I'd love to hear any stories you have about the WWII veterans in your family.

This is my grandfather. He enlisted as an engineer in the US Army at age 35 and served as a Master Sergent in WWII from 1944-1946. He spent time in Belgium, Germany, France, and the Netherlands. There's some pictures of him in the Netherlands during the war, but unfortunatly I couldn't find them fot this post. At one point during the war he was shot in the stomach. Luckily, he recovered quickly and returned to service. I really wish I knew more about his life, but sadly I never got to meet him and the few details I do know come from my mother. My grandfather died of cancer on September 11, 1972 at age 63.

Eventhough he died over a decade before I was born, I think he was a pretty cool guy. The people who left their lives to go and fight for a greater cause are amazing individuals and deserve the utmost respect.

Michael-Corleone · Post by **Michael-Corleone** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 12:19 am

Nice thread idea. I don't have any vets in my family though.

MikeJ · Post by **MikeJ** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 12:26 am

My grandpa was a vet too, served in Italy mostly. No pics on the net. He died of cancer too in the 80s or early 90s.

Cancer is the real nazi.

dubey · Post by **dubey** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 12:35 am

My grandpa fought for Italy he died of cancer too ;_;

MikeJ · Post by **MikeJ** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 12:36 am

My grandpa fought for Italy he died of cancer too ;_;

my grandpa shot at your grandpa but they had bad aim :o

dubey · Post by **dubey** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 12:43 am

o wow o-)

big_tex · Post by **big_tex** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 1:04 am

One of my grandpas was a marine and he fought in Iwo Jima, sadly he died of cancer when my dad was 3 years old. My other grandpa served in Hawaii as a supply type guy, he died of old age last Novemember. We have pictures of both them but I have no scanner. The coolest is this book by grandpa got following his units conquests in the Pacific, it is real old and has lots of badass pictures with pretty cool stories(only reading I ever enjoyed lol). It is like a US military produced book I don't who all got them but I don't think you could ever pick one up at a bookstore.

Kungfubar · Post by **Kungfubar** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 1:17 am

My grandma served as a Radio Technician in the South East Pacific during the war from 1941-1945

w00t

ps: He's still alive and has the same birthday as me :eek:

l0bstar · Post by **l0bstar** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 2:11 am

i have a grandpa story and a story from one of his friends

anyway, my grandpa was a mechanic and gunner on a b-29 superfortress. he was a staff sergeant with marksman awards with his colt 1911 and m1 garand, which i think is pretty common but still cool. he was in the air with the groups that dropped both atomic bombs, and he took pictures of both. one picture still survives but it was ripped where it told the city. he had some spectacular stories about bombing in the pacific. during one of his missions his plane was the only one in his group to return, out of 4 or 5 b-29s i think. they were based out of davis monthan field in tucson, arizona. he passed away in 1996 of cancer.

also, the former reverend at my church was in the army too. i don't know anything about his rank or anything like that, but he did land at normandy during the initial landings. when they got the soldiers together to move out they didn't have any idea where they were going and what they were doing until they were in the LCI. he said that when they were told that they were landing on normandy that one soldier turned to him and asked, "which part of norway is that?" he was on the second run that their LCI driver was making, during the beginning of the invasion (after the paratroopers were sent in). in case you didn't know, a lot of paratroopers and gliders were killed because of wires and other things set up by the germans t destroy gliders. anyway, when the guy driving opened up the front of the LCI and told them to go overboard they were in water about up to their necks... keep in mind that they were being shot at and had to run through this water at the same time. everything they had on them was wet and that was a lot of water to run through while you're being shot at. they were trying to clear the beaches so that they could establish land-based artillery. during that time they were still utilizing the battleships to bombard stuff. he said it was the most terrifying thing he had ever encountered, but he didn't have any choice but to push forward. the germans were trying to push them back into the water and their only choice was to push. i believe he also said that this was probably one of the only, if not THE only battle where the wounded were carried forward and not backward on the battlefield.

i have tremendous respect for anybody that fought in WWII, especially under circumstances like this. i didn't learn until recently that he participated in that invasion. i guess it's fitting to post this story since the thread was sparked by the d-day anniversary BIGGEST NAVAL MANEUVER EVER.

l0bstar · Post by **l0bstar** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 3:37 am

also, my grandmother technically isn't a veteran but she did help. i'm sure many people had grandmothers that worked. my grandmother worked in a shell factory here in charlotte. they manufactured artillery shells and packed the powder and stuff in before they were shipped off.. although it isn't combat, this kind of work was still vital to the effort and dangerous nonetheless. grandma nearly lost her arm in one piece of machinery. it pulled her left arm in and pressed down on it with a lot of force. you can still see the line on her arm from when they stopped the machine.