re: When you were 19 (1st OT post) Vietnam

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Last night at a business dinner in a restaurant here in Nashville, the 4 of us were fortunate to have a 92 yr. old WWII vet come in and dine at the table next to us. He's wearing his vet ball cap and he's with his daughter (legit OT 7.5-8). We wanted to pay for their meal but someone had beat us, so we offered him a fine dessert cordial (he chose 18 yr Glenlivet and later after he learned it was us getting it for him jokingly said he should've got the Louis the 13th ) and was treated to 45 mins of conversation with him. Okinowa, Guam, Tokyo. Wow! A wonderful soul with so much life led and more to come. It was a great, great moment in our blessed lives to hear him speak and to honor his service with the little we did. These guys are special.

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If he is 92 then he was fairly young during the war. He definitely lied about his age to get in if he was at the battle of Guam because he was only 16.

Actually, I take that back. If he was at the second battle of Guam he would have been at least 18.


There is a gentleman at our previous church who was an airman in WW2. Was a radio operator on B-25's and B-26's early in the war. When he first shipped out he was supposed to be on a B-17, but said he couldn't stand the pilot's arrogance so he requested a transfer to a different crew, which was granted. The next week the B-17 crew went on its first, and only, bombing mission.

Later in the war he was on B-29's, and was in squadron that dropped the final bombs on Japan. He was also on the last combat flight in the war. They were in the air headed back to Japan to drop bombs on...I think Tokyo, but the Japanese surrendered before they got to their target.

Edit: Forgot this relevant part. He lied about his age to get in. Said he was 6 months older than he was. So for the rest of his life he celebrated for his military birthday and his civilian birthday.

Hot take is sizzling

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beerJeep

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GFY hippie

If your Dad is still around, shake his hand and thank him for me.

Thanks for that OP.

My dad and all my uncles that served in WWII are gone. They had a tough time talking about it and no pictures. I salute your dad and all who served.

To the haters. You truly live sorry little lives.

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Last night at a business dinner in a restaurant here in Nashville, the 4 of us were fortunate to have a 92 yr. old WWII vet come in and dine at the table next to us. He's wearing his vet ball cap and he's with his daughter (legit OT 7.5-8). We wanted to pay for their meal but someone had beat us, so we offered him a fine dessert cordial (he chose 18 yr Glenlivet and later after he learned it was us getting it for him jokingly said he should've got the Louis the 13th ) and was treated to 45 mins of conversation with him. Okinowa, Guam, Tokyo. Wow! A wonderful soul with so much life led and more to come. It was a great, great moment in our blessed lives to hear him speak and to honor his service with the little we did. These guys are special.

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Cool story.

So he's 92 with a daughter that is a legit OT 7.5-8? Either his daughter is someone like Ann-Margret or he was making kids into his 60s. Either way...

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So he's 92 with a daughter that is a legit OT 7.5-8? Either his daughter is someone like Ann-Margret or he was making kids into his 60s. Either way...

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After I posted this I was wondering which one of you bright, intelligent, and wise ones would ask about this. Conversation did include reference to his divorced wife that was 25 years younger than him! The daughter said obvious age differences was a problem for their marriage.

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GFY hippie

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I posted that before he was able to get the pictures or link to the pictures up baw. Took him 3-4 edits to get it up. Calm your tits

Up vote

My dad was there too (66-67) in the 1st Cavalry. I have a shitload of pictures just like in the OP, as well as a bunch of letters he wrote home to his mom.

'Nam fricked with my dad's head pretty hard and he never got over it, really. He without a doubt had PTSD, but back then it wasn't treated and no one talked about it.

I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that most of the guys were so young when they got in country compared to today. You're taking guys straight from HS who have never been out of their hometown and throwing them into a meat grinder in the jungle.