re: Relatives that served in World War 2

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My pawpaw was a few weeks past his 17th birthday when Pearl Harbor happened. A few days later he lied about his age and joined the army and became a paratrooper.

He was 19 when he dropped into Normandy on DDay. He would tell me stories if I pressed him but in general he didn’t like to talk about it. Greatest man I’ve known.

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I have a great uncle who was 16 when Japan attacked and snuck off to Mobile from Anniston to join the Navy. They told him he was too young. He found an older man near the recruiting office and talked him into pretending to be his father. It worked. He went home just before heading to Europe on a merchant ship and his Mama was sad but accepted it...his Dad, a WW1 veteran, wouldnt speak to him. He spent the war escorting ships across the North Atlantic and when the war was over went to work for Texaco as a radio man on tankers....traveled all over the world and made a helluva good living.