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Message
re: WWII: Would You Choose the Pacific or Europe?
Posted on 7/9/14 at 11:45 am to Henry Jones Jr
Posted on 7/9/14 at 11:45 am to Henry Jones Jr
quote:
My grandfather served in the Pacific and he never went into much detail about the things he saw but some of the stories he did tell me were horrifying.
So did both of my grandfathers. One was a torpedo pilot on the same aircraft carrier as George H.W. Bush. He was hit by a kamikaze and was the only one of his crew to survive, he ended up swimming in the Pacific for a day before being picked up by a Japanese fishing boat and turned over to the Japanese army. He spent two years as a POW over there and hardly talked about it to us besides things he found to be funny while he was there and that he was much luckier than some of the other POW's you would have read about in Flyboys. He has not had any real teeth since he was 21 because of beatings and poor nutrition; he was 6'2" and only weighed 100 pounds when he was released from prison. His first wife before he married my grandmother was a French woman who was captured spying on the Germans, and according to him her stretch as a POW was much more brutal than his; he never specified why, I always assumed it was because she was an attractive woman.
My other grandfather was stationed on an island somewhere near New Zealand. He said their only job was to protect a radio tower, and they spent the majority of their time killing wild pigs and cooking them in pits on the beach.
Posted on 7/9/14 at 11:49 am to Darth_Vader
Yet the top American ace of ww2 flew a P38, vs Zeros.
Posted on 7/9/14 at 11:51 am to Darth_Vader
quote:
The P-38 had the range but it was similar to the BF-110 in that it could not dogfight the smaller more nimble single engine fighters. Had we sent P-38's to Berlin to try and escort our bombers in and out of there, they'd have been slaughtered for no effect. Our higher ups realized this fact and instead of wasting P-38's over Berlin, used them to great effect as front line ground support in the ETO.
P-38s did well in the Pacific and the Pilots loved them because of that 2nd engine...something important when as far as you can see is endless ocean (in case one of your engines went out)
Posted on 7/9/14 at 11:51 am to Spaceman Spiff
My Grandfather, who passed away in 2007, fought with the 2nd Battalion, 309th Infantry Regiment, 78th IN Division (Lightning) through Belgium, Germany and was part of the occupation in both Berlin and Vienna. He never spoke of the war and it wasn't until he passed away, that my father and I were able to look in his foot locker that he kept stashed away in his closet. He was an infantryman with the Battalion and I was able to piece bits of information (called Morning Reports) to his whereabouts in theater each week. Unfortunately, his OMPF (official military personnel file) was destroyed in the St. Louis records branch fire of 1971.
I can understand after all these years why he never spoke of the war. He was an E-6 SSG by the time he was 19. 3/4 of his squadmates were killed or wounded during his tour. A room he was in was hit by a panzerfaust and killed many of his buddies. German artillery caused him many issues in later life as he couldn't deal with loud noises. His hair would eventually turn stark white at the age of 36.
My father and I opened the footlocker and discovered many, MANY photos of German and Austrian girlfriends that he had. And boy, were they some nice lookin' fraus. I have a photo of him framed on my fireplace mantle with his Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) positioned below it. In the picture, he's leaning against the door of his girlfriend's apartment in Berlin in the summer of 1945. He's wearing his "Ike" jacket and bloused boots. Whenever friends come over, they constantly ask if that's a photo of me as we are the spitting image of each other at 20 years old.
I have his dogtags, CIB, Regimental Crest and ribbons from his footlocker along with his SSG stripes and a German Knight's Cross that he looted off a dead German Officer. I just recently have his 78th Infantry Division Yearbook that was published after the surrender and during the occupation.
I'm military myself and have a ton of stuff in my man-room, from 1/18 aircraft models, to tanks, to 1/6 figures and my 1/350 Nimitz that took three years to complete. I'm also a civilian/WWII flight sim nerd
Yeah, I'd take Europe in a heartbeat given the quality of life. Your your time comes, it comes, but damned if I'm not going to do a little bourbon drinking and messin' with the fraulines
I can understand after all these years why he never spoke of the war. He was an E-6 SSG by the time he was 19. 3/4 of his squadmates were killed or wounded during his tour. A room he was in was hit by a panzerfaust and killed many of his buddies. German artillery caused him many issues in later life as he couldn't deal with loud noises. His hair would eventually turn stark white at the age of 36.
My father and I opened the footlocker and discovered many, MANY photos of German and Austrian girlfriends that he had. And boy, were they some nice lookin' fraus. I have a photo of him framed on my fireplace mantle with his Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) positioned below it. In the picture, he's leaning against the door of his girlfriend's apartment in Berlin in the summer of 1945. He's wearing his "Ike" jacket and bloused boots. Whenever friends come over, they constantly ask if that's a photo of me as we are the spitting image of each other at 20 years old.
I have his dogtags, CIB, Regimental Crest and ribbons from his footlocker along with his SSG stripes and a German Knight's Cross that he looted off a dead German Officer. I just recently have his 78th Infantry Division Yearbook that was published after the surrender and during the occupation.
I'm military myself and have a ton of stuff in my man-room, from 1/18 aircraft models, to tanks, to 1/6 figures and my 1/350 Nimitz that took three years to complete. I'm also a civilian/WWII flight sim nerd
Yeah, I'd take Europe in a heartbeat given the quality of life. Your your time comes, it comes, but damned if I'm not going to do a little bourbon drinking and messin' with the fraulines
This post was edited on 7/9/14 at 11:55 am
Posted on 7/9/14 at 11:54 am to Jim Rockford
quote:
Yet the top American ace of ww2 flew a P38, vs Zeros.
You have a good point. Suppose it goes back to tactics. He always avoided turning dogfights and instead used the superior ceiling, speed, and ability to absorb damage when facing Zeros.
And speaking of odd coincidences, the Zero did not have the most kills against the Americans despite the fact it was the most numerous fighter aircraft the Japs had. Instead the Jap fighter that scored the most kills against us was the Nakajima Ki-43 "Oscar".
Posted on 7/9/14 at 11:57 am to Darth_Vader
quote:
You have a good point. Suppose it goes back to tactics. He always avoided turning dogfights and instead used the superior ceiling, speed, and ability to absorb damage when facing Zeros.
That can't be said of McGuire who decided to pancake himself in. Damned if he shouldn't have known better.
Posted on 7/9/14 at 11:58 am to NWarty
quote:
NWarty
This is something that might interest you then....
I'd be cool if you could find a full version and hang it up somewhere.
Here's a link that shows it blown up so you can read the details better....
LINK
(click on the image after it opens and it will expand further)
BTW.. .which unit crest looks like your Grandfathers?
This post was edited on 7/9/14 at 11:59 am
Posted on 7/9/14 at 11:59 am to Darth_Vader
Top left, the 309th.
Thanks Vader
Thanks Vader
Posted on 7/9/14 at 12:04 pm to NWarty
quote:
Top left, the 309th.
Thanks Vade
no problem. Anything I can do to help honor and remeber what men like your GF did is my pleasure.
BTW.. A quick Google search shows me there is a 309th Facebook page you may want to check out and I also found this...
LINK
That's a pdf file copy of a history of the 309th.
Enjoy
Posted on 7/9/14 at 12:04 pm to Darth_Vader
quote:
You have a good point. Suppose it goes back to tactics. He always avoided turning dogfights and instead used the superior ceiling, speed, and ability to absorb damage when facing Zeros.
That tactic was perfected by Chennault's AVG in the P-40s.
Posted on 7/9/14 at 12:06 pm to Spaceman Spiff
The good ole "Boom and Zoom" baby
Posted on 7/9/14 at 12:07 pm to Darth_Vader
Vader,
I'll try and post some pics tonight but can't get to photobucket at work.
Thanks again for the links
And I do have that pdf on my work computer already
I'll try and post some pics tonight but can't get to photobucket at work.
Thanks again for the links
And I do have that pdf on my work computer already
This post was edited on 7/9/14 at 12:08 pm
Posted on 7/9/14 at 12:10 pm to NWarty
quote:
I'll try and post some pics tonight but can't get to photobucket at work.
I'd love to see them.
Posted on 7/9/14 at 12:12 pm to Darth_Vader
quote:
NWarty
This is something that might interest you then....
Nice find, Darth (my son would be nuts at that name because he is a Star Wars fan). Technical question - can it be blown up and printed from the picture?
Posted on 7/9/14 at 12:19 pm to Spaceman Spiff
quote:
Nice find, Darth (my son would be nuts at that name because he is a Star Wars fan). Technical question - can it be blown up and printed from the picture?
I imagine it would be just a matter of saving it to your computer and then scaling it accordingly. Past that it's a matter of printer quality.
BTW, that map I posted was a pretty common thing for divisions that fought in WWII. Here are some more examples...
Posted on 7/9/14 at 12:33 pm to Darth_Vader
Now that's pretty cool. Where are you finding those?
Posted on 7/9/14 at 12:37 pm to Spaceman Spiff
quote:
Now that's pretty cool. Where are you finding those?
Just Google them. For example type in "2nd Division war map". Like i said, they were pretty common at the end of the war. Some divisions had elaborate ones while others were not quite as fancy. I have to say the one I found for the 78th Infantry Division looks to be about the coolest one I've run across.
Posted on 7/9/14 at 12:48 pm to Darth_Vader
I met Neal McDonough the other day in the TSA Line in Vegas (played First Lieutenant Lynn "Buck" Compton in Band of Bros)
Nice guy. I told him how much I loved Band of Bros and he was very appreciative.
Nice guy. I told him how much I loved Band of Bros and he was very appreciative.
Posted on 7/9/14 at 12:57 pm to Darth_Vader
quote:
Just Google them. For example type in "2nd Division war map". Like i said, they were pretty common at the end of the war. Some divisions had elaborate ones while others were not quite as fancy. I have to say the one I found for the 78th Infantry Division looks to be about the coolest one I've run across.
Added to my to-do list. I have done a lot of searching for info on my Grandfather's B-29 squadron...finally came across a site (40th BG) that had tons of stories, pictures, etc., from their time in the CBI to the Mariannas. Interesting the stuff one can find - but also have to wade through a bunch of crap!
Posted on 7/9/14 at 1:03 pm to Spaceman Spiff
quote:
Added to my to-do list. I have done a lot of searching for info on my Grandfather's B-29 squadron...finally came across a site (40th BG) that had tons of stories, pictures, etc., from their time in the CBI to the Mariannas. Interesting the stuff one can find - but also have to wade through a bunch of crap!
Wow. I'll bet that was cool, for it's day the B-29 was high tech for sure.
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