re: Relatives that served in World War 2

A great uncle of mine was in the Battle of the Bulge. He lost an eye. He never talked about the war with us, but I was told he killed a German with a knife and stole his coat.

My maternal grandfather was turned down for service because he had asthma and a heart issue. He wound up serving in the Merchant Marines.

Father served in the Pacific in WWII. Joined 6/19/41 and was finally discharged in July of 45.
He had three brothers also in the Pacific at the same time and we have a picture of all four of them together in Australia when the somehow found each other while on R&R.
All four came home.
A fifth brother served in Korea and made it home.

Uncle on my mothers side was in the 101st and dropped over Normanday and Market Garden. He came home before the 101st went into Bastogne and was part of a war bond drive. He and 4 other soldiers went to several cities across the US and displayed Goering's car, The Blue Goose. That's him behind the wheel.

I went back and checked. He was in the Battle of Bastogne and the captured this car after that.

My grandfather went in on one of the later, less-intense waves on Utah Beach. He was a lieutenant and then captain of a mortar whatever (sorry, I don't know the proper lingo. Battalion? Company?). He fought across France, then through Belgium, and then on in to Germany. He stuck around for a year in Germany after the war. He was a hell of a man. I share his name as the III'd. It's an honor to have his name. Not just for the war, but for many reasons.

I remember he would drink the worlds hottest coffee right off the pot because he said he learned to do it on those cold, Belgian nights.

His photo album is haunting. He documented and photographed the atrocities of the Holocaust when he was part of a small squad that stumbled upon a work camp that the Germans had just abandoned. I imagine it similar to the Band of Brothers scene when they find the camp.

Granddad is the one on the left. Here's to you, old man. He'd be 103.

Crazy to think how the Americans and Japanese are close allies now. I can understand older Americans still holding a grudge against the Japanese.

Hell, I'm still pissed at Bears fans for the way they treated Saints fans after Katrina.

My grandfather was at Pearl Harbor - he was on the Utah which sunk on his birthday - swam for it and made it - he finished as a gunner on a destroyer - truly the greatest generation

Dad was a career Marine pilot, a veteran of WWII, Korea and Vietnam.

He mostly flew the Marines' version of the B-24, the Privateer. They would do things such as photograph Japanese Islands.

He was 19 when he became a co-pilot. He had lived in a small Texas town and had never been farther than Dallas. On his first combat flight, he commented to the pilot "those are some odd cloud formations" and the pilot (who was 20) said "that is flak." As the war was closing out, they converted one of the Privateers to a "VIP Plane." HE was selected as the pilot. He got to fly all the Marine generals and Navy admirals back from the war (including part of Admiral Nimitz' return trip from the surrender). He had "short snorters" (a roll of cash with autographs) signed by a lot of high level officers who were passengers in the plan, including Chesty Puller. Unfortunately, some dreg lifted most of them from the Marine room over the years.

He also was the first graduate of the Marines' first helicopter school and the only Marine to drop a nuke test weapon.

Dad in 1943 in the cockpit of some fighter (probably a Grumman Wildcat):



Dad (left) in Baton Rouge next to a Corsair F4U - he flew them but his flight log does not show any flight to Baton Rouge.

My uncle was a waist gunner on a B-17 that was shot down over Holland during a bombing run to Emden. He was wounded but continued to fire at German planes downing at least one before his B-17 was fatally hit. He is buried at the U.S. Military cemetery in Margraten, Netherlands. One of my bucket list items is to pay him a visit.

Grandfather was in the Navy in WW2. On the USS San Francisco. He was at Pearl, Guadalcanal and a couple other good ones. I wish 10yr old me asked more questions. Pawpaw was in the Marines and probably would have been in the Japanese invasion if it got that far.

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.

Dad joined the Marines as soon as he turned 18. He went to the first level of flight school in Oklahoma. He was the first one in his class to clear all the "checks". He was bored on day, and buzzed the tower. He was punished by having to spend the day in the tower (which he had wanted to do anyway).

New CO comes in and wants to ship Dad off to a Navy seaman training facility. But, because Dad has been "punished" for buzzing the tower, the CO's CO told him that they could not punish Dad twice. Because of the delay, he went to Pensacola for his next training phase (which was a better place than where his classmates went).

He ended up in the only group getting trained for four engine planes (the Privateer, the Marine version of the B-24). The Marines would disband the group several times, only to reinstate them.

At the last disbanding, Dad was told to get on a ship to go to Guam for a fighter detail. Dad said he was "ecstatic" because he had been a long time to go out in the Pacific. He's on the ship and a group of MP's comes on board and hauls him off, saying that he was wanted for desertion (even though he was on a Navy ship). He said was a really nervous until the Col. came down and said "he isn't here for desertion, we pulled him off the ship because we are staring a four engine squadron and he's going to be one of the pilots."