re: Cool WW2 stories

A family friend was a bomber pilot in Europe. On a bombing mission over Germany, his plane was hit by anti aircraft fire and severely damaged. So the crew bailed out. He landed in a field and was accosted by German civilians armed with axes and pitchforks. The Germans were going to kill him for all the destruction and loss of life the American bombers were causing. At that instant a German Army jeep was speeding across the field toward them, the soldiers on the Jeep firing their guns in the air. The Jeep rolled up and ran the civilians off, and took him prisoner. The German soldiers saved his life.

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thick German accent at a fast pace, co-pilot asked controller to repeat, twice, controller comes back in a harsh tone "Vat's ze matter (company name)? have you never been to Berlin?" Captain grabs the mic and says "I've been here 25 times before, but I never landed here, taxi instructions please!"

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damn that was a witty comeback

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Also, I didn't know the marines were flying bombers in WWII?

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They also flew PBJ's - the Naval designation for the B-25.
Marine B-25 Squadrons of WW 2

My old neighbor was in his 90's. I knew he had served during WW II, but all he ever said was that he was a mail man.
He passed away at 95, and his wife told me the real story.
He was in the 388th Bomber Group and flew 6 missions on B-17's. 4 as a radioman, then switched crews and became a waist gunner. On his 6th mission his plane was hit and the crew was ordered to bail out. He spent the next 18 months in a POW camp.
When he got home, he went to work for the post office and spent 30 years there.

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There is some talk among various Internet sources that the frequency was jammed, but there is no record of the U.S. or Canada being aware of Weather Station Kurt. So it's a bit of a mystery to this day.

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FIL was in the 101st airborne, so many great yet horrible stories of suffering and triumph while sipping bourbon around the winter fire at camp,..

We fought the Japs in Alaska. I don't think most regular Joes know that.

The radio operator on my great-uncle's B-17 crew would take a shite into a box before each mission. He would package it up like a parcel, and put a little homemade parachute on it. He put it into the bomb bay and when the bombs went, so did his own personal present for the krauts.

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funny post WWII story, a B-747 Captain for our company (was a WWII vet,) when we began to fly into Berlin, after his initial landing they were given taxi instructions towards the ramp, thick German accent at a fast pace, co-pilot asked controller to repeat, twice, controller comes back in a harsh tone "Vat's ze matter (company name)? have you never been to Berlin?" Captain grabs the mic and says "I've been here 25 times before, but I never landed here, taxi instructions please!"

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My great-uncle, the same mentioned above, was a B-17 pilot and had something like this similar happen to him. After he retired from the military, he taught at the University of Oregon for a short time in the 1970's. He was at some kind of education conference in Seattle that had teachers from all over the world attending. He got into a conversation with a guy from Germany who asked my great-uncle if he had ever visited Krautland. My great-uncle responded something along the lines of "Yes, I've been there about a dozen times, but didn't see much of the country because we were too busy bombing it." German guy fricked off.

Mr. Hemphill?