Spinoff: Where did your relatives serve in WWII?

My grandfather was in the navy

Fought on the eastern front. He jetted to Argentina after the war.

Navy: USS Albert W Grant (DD 649)

He was a gunner on the above Destroyer and fought in the battle of Leyte Gulf. The Grant lead a torpedo attack on a Japanese task force where she was hit 22 times (by both the Japanese and American Battleships).

She nearly sank there and was dead in the water. The crew managed to get her running again and she limped to safer waters in the Gulf.

She was scrapped in 1971.

My dad's dad got a medical discharge during basic training. My mom's dad landed in Japan after the bombs but never saw action.

My grandmother's first husband was a bombardier. He got killed in a car wreck in Italy. He had 3 other brothers in the war. 1 was killed, another was in the Navy, and the other was in the Bataan Death March and survived.

Posted an interview of him the other day.

Here it is

LINK

My closest family elders were a little too young for WWII, but my grandpa had an uncle that was shot down twice over New Guinea, captured and escaped from the Japanese twice. He had an exhibit at the Kidd museum dedicated to him years back. Below is the story of his ordeals. Stuff of movies.

Lt. Leonard T. Duval

Father, Army Airborne, Europe.
Uncle, something a little hush hush, not sure.
Uncle, guessing Africa since he got bit by a Tsetse fly.

Grandfather 1 was a doctor with the Army in Italy

Grandfather 2 didn't turn 18 until 1946 but served in the occupation in China

Both my grandfathers were a little older and had families when the war started so they didn't serve.

Had a much older cousin on the USS Essex. He had a lot of experiences, including being hit by a kamikaze, but he said the scariest thing he went through was riding out Halsey's typhoons at sea.

One uncle served with Patton, don't know too much about what he did.

Another uncle was stationed in India and flew the Hump into China. His most memorable experience was being kidnapped by Communist guerillas for a few minutes. Once they realized he was American, they let him go. They were only fighting the British at the time.

The most poignant WWII story I have: My dad was a youngin, and his father was the principal of a rural school during the Louisiana maneuvers. A National Guard unit from PA bivouaced on the school grounds for a while, and my dad's family got to know some of them pretty well. They corresponded for a while after they shipped out-to the Phillipines. After the war started, they never heard from any of them again. I imagine most, if not all, died in the siege and later captivity.

Dad - Navy in the Pacific.
Three Uncles - 2 in Europe, the other never left the States.

quote:

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My late great uncle fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Don't know if true or not but he said they were building a bridge one day when General Patton rode up in a motorcycle sidecar. He said Patton got out - pissed in the river - then loudly said "I hope that winds up in Hitler's drinking glass."

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Patton urinates in the Rhine