re: Do any of you have war stories shared by your parents or grandparents?

Uncle was in Vietnam but never talks about it. Has severe PTSD. What I know is from him having flashbacks in his nightmares. Apparently they were at a cafe's and someone rode by on a bike and sprayed the whole cafe.

An alumni of my fraternity was there when McArthur came back on the island (and the reenactment). Told us a story of him feeding the .30 cal with his best friend pulling the trigger. They got hit with a mortar and it blew the top of his friend's head off killing him. He still picked up his body and ran to find a medic.

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My father (Army) was one of the more than 15 million.

He was in Guam during the summer of 1945. U.S. soldiers there were preparing to attack Japan. They were expecting the worst. "The Japanese said they would fight for a thousand years," my father said.

Then they heard the report that Hiroshima had been destroyed. They could not believe there was a bomb that powerful. The war ended soon afterward. My father made it back to the states without combat.

"Harry Truman saved my life," he would often say.

About Guam: Terribly hot. Home of the worst rain storms he ever saw.

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My grandfather was stationed in Florida. He said a few guys thought they spotted a German sub one night and referred to it as "the Battle of Miami Beach".

My old man would be 100 years old next month if he was still alive. He joined the marines in 38 during his junior year at LSU because some girl broke his heart. Didn’t find that out until I ran across someone who he was just in school with shared it with me after he died.
He was in the marines and went to Nicaragua and Guantanamo bay.
He was a drill instructor at Paris Island when Pearl Harbor was bombed. The military had to get real big real fast so he was sent to Quanico for OCS.
Got married to my mother on the way to Camp Pendleton where they were training for amphibious war. He was in the 1st Marine division and landed on Guadalcanal. 1st lieutenant in artillery with 75mm howitzers. He got chosen for OCS because he could type and write and do math.
From there it gets fuzzy about where he was and what he did until he got to Australia. He always talked about how beautiful it was.
He climbed the ranks until he was a captain on a transport in the pacific when Truman dropped the bomb. After the surrender he was part of the occupation and marched thru One of the towns that got obliterated by nuclear blast.
Retired a colonel and had an offer to go to the Naval academy which he did not do
He never talked about the war and when I did he gave me books to read like the books that they used to base the HBO series “the Pacific “ on.
When I think about it now I wish I had pressed him on it and got him to talk about things like that. So many questions I’ll never get any answers to.

Grandfather was one of 6 brothers. Five were old enough to enlist.

He had a heart condition which barred him from service. He enlisted with every branch and was rejected for this condition.

Finally the army took him for work at the port of embarkation in New Orleans. He was promoted consistently until a captain made a comment about him taking the easy route and staying home while the real men went to war.

My grandfather made a comment about the captain saying hello to God when he met him... In a few weeks.

Was demoted

Gained his rank back before leaving the service. All of his brothers saw action in Europe.

When he was 60 years old he went in to the doctor because he had chest pains while working. Doctor saw previous diagnosis and made him quit smoking.

15 years later a cardiovascular specialist did a full work up, he had never had a heart defect. Stress test showed him in perfect health.

Every time he had tried to enlist the doctors had lied about his health to try to keep him out. Just a coincidence that they all chose him.

I'm very likely alive today because 4 separate physicians each lied voluntarily and independently.

While he was a great man, I'm not sure he would have been fit for combat. He was kind. Far kinder than I could ever hope to be.

And as I get older I've realized that this very large man who was always a pillar of physical strength... his real strength was always having a smile, always having a kind word, and while uneducated... Being highly intelligent.

Funny how life works.

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He is from west monroe and there's another Vietnam story that i won't tell because it would pinpoint exactly who i am to anyone ive told

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I used to work at the (then) Texaco in West Monroe, across from the golf course. He used to bundle his papers in the parking lot, and I would BS with him if I wasn't busy.
He told me that same story.

My grandfather was stationed in a bunker during the Korean War. He was part of the covert comms team relaying important messages between various American troops and South Korean companies.

On Christmas morning, he got an incoming message which said “Merry Christmas, George Hurst”




.....sent by North Korea.

He said it kept him up for days

Great Uncle survived Iwo.
Said dog tags had notches in them.
When a dead Marine was found, the notch in the tag was placed between his front teeth. A good kick in the chin and the tag was pushed up to the gum.
The dead Marine was then ready for graves and registration.

My grandpa flew over Nagasaki two months after it was bombed, said it was the biggest hole he’d ever seen. He died when I was young so I didn’t get to ask him all the questions I would have wanted to. My paw paw didn’t talk about the war at all.

My great uncle was a paratrooping sniper in Vietnam and did three tours. He would be dropped off in a remote location with a list and had to kill his way back to the rendezvous point. He’s told my dad lots of stuff and sworn him to secrecy until he dies.

My grandfather who was alive during WW2 was too old to serve. He was too young for WW1. The fact that he didn’t take part in either really bothered him.

The most amazing WW2 story I have is that the military asked civilians to send in any binoculars they had so the military could use them for training or whatever. My aunt sent in a pair sh owned. A few months after the war ended, a package showed up from some Naval office. It was her binoculars!

I had two great uncles, my grandfather’s two brothers, who served in military intelligence (of some kind) in WWII in Europe. Their houses were full of cool stuff from the war. Sadly they never told stories and didn’t write anything down.