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.

my ggrandfather died at auschwitz
got drunk one night and fell out of a gun tower...

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“Oh no, he didn’t do any of that. He had a bad back and they sent him to work in a pharmacy in Colorado for most of the war.”

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my Mom's dad was in the Navy but got drafted late in the war and served his time in Norman Oklahoma studying to be a male nurse/orderly on a hospital ship. Never saw the ocean once.

My uncle Shelby killed a bunch of Japanese fellers.

Grandfather silver star Iwo Jima.

My grandfather was part of Operation Varsity that jumped over the Rhein in the Battle of the Bulge. I have all his patches and pins from his service. He served in the 17th Airborne and was a paratrooper. He also took a few souvenirs off Nazi soldiers. I have those saved up. I get chills every time I read any history or anyone who posts stuff like this. My grandfather’s generation was the epitome of bad arse!

My dad served in the 4th Armored Division and then in the 14th Armored Division as a Master Sergeant from the beginning of the landings in southern France in October, 1944 until the end of the war. Participated in Rhineland and Central Europe Campaigns, Strasbourg, Colmar, Bavaria. Liberated satellite camps of Dachau.

One grandfather served in the navy during world war 2 and another was in the army and the O.S.S. Which is now the cia. He fought in Aletts Pass which he received the Purple Heart. They were tasked with blowing up a bridge while the Germans were crossing which turned into a battle. He parachuted in behind enemy lines and fought with the resistance due to his ability to speak Cajun French. Pretty much caused havoc behind enemy lines. There’s a book written about it and actually a memorial where this took place.

my father was on Okinawa, after taking it, when we dropped the Nukes.

Like someone else said, "Thanks Harry"

An Uncle fought in Europe. After receiving very accurate mortar fire on their encampment he let his troops "liberate" the castle. Mortar fire stopped.

I've mentioned him before on here,
but my grandfather fought in Europe with the 30th Division "Old Hickory", as a Forward Observer in the 197th Field Artillery. He was about to be on his way to the Pacific when Japan surrendered and was discharged at Camp Shelby, MS with the rank of a Sargent.

He was a Louisiana boy, grew up in the woods between Lafayette and Breaux Bridge, used to tell stories of hunting gators as a teen in the lakes near the current day Lafayette airport.

His division landed at Normandy after D-Day and fought their way through France, Belgium and Germany. He fought at the Battle of Mortain, the Battle of the Bulge and was at the Elbe River when U.S. forces made contact with the Russian troops.

He received the Bronze Star and was up for a Purple Heart after getting wounded but refused it because, as he put it, "I wasn't taking a medal for getting a piece of shrapnel in the butt." Anyway, he was a tough old guy and I loved talking with him about his time in the war.




My PawPaw's on the left.


With my mom while on leave from Camp Blanding in Starke, FL, where the 30th trained before heading to Europe.


PawPaw years later having a beer with Dizzy Dean.