re: Spinoff: Where did your relatives serve in WWII?

My grandfather was a Navy Corpsman attached to the 5th Marines. He landed on Iwo Jima on D+1 and made it all the way through 26 days on the front before being pulled from the line without a scratch. He was 17 years old when he landed on D+1, and didn't turn 18 until June when he was back in Hawaii. Hard man. Went through hell before the age most of us graduated high school. Makes me feel like less of a man just thinking of what he and all of those other men went through.

He never talked about it in detail with anyone except me. Everyone knew he was in the Navy in WWII, but other than that, they didn't ask. I was always so curious, and about 3 months before he passed, I finally got him to talk for about 2 hours about it. I'll never forget him saying "Death has it's own smell. It's not the smell of flesh. It's the smell of the gunpowder, the blood, the dirt, the smoke, the anguish and the pain...and it gets into your bones. For months, every time I ate something, I could still taste it". He stared right through me. He was looking directly at me, but he was staring 70 years into the past. He said to that day, if he closed his eyes, he would go right back there just as vividly as if it had happened yesterday. How he came home, found a wife, ran a business and raised 4 kids after going through that kind of hell will never cease to amaze me. God I miss him.

My grandfather served in the 1st Marine parachute regiment which became (with other groups) the 5th Marine division at Iwo Jima.

Tough old bastard, but as kind of a man as any you would ever meet.

Grandfather was in Army. Landed in Normandy a few days after D-day. Said scariest time of his life was patrolling fruit orchards in France and worrying about Germans hiding in trees

My great uncle died here Dec. 7, 1941
LINK

My grandfather Europe- He made it home

My granddad was in the air force. He never saw action, was a plane mechanic

Moms dad- Navy USS Franklin CV-13
Dads dad- US Army Ranger served under James Earl Rudder @ pointe du Hoc

Grandaddy served in various places and ended up serving in "occupied Japan" along with my Gram and their 4 kids and had a 5th kid while there.

They lived there many years and had many stories of life in japan.

Grandfather served in the 3rd Infantry Division

Africa
Sicily
Anzio
Southern France

He was wounded at Anzio by a German machinegun nest.

Refused to go home or be detached from his company. Served as a Division supply aide handling mail


He spent most of his life with bullet fragments in his knee until it was replaced in 1995.

He served as a volunteer at the VA hospital and was a lifelong member of the DAV.

He's my hero and role model. Not a day goes by that I don't miss him and my grandmother.

Grandfather was 29th infantry division with Normandy, Rhineland, Central Europe campaigns and 2 purple hearts by getting shot in the arms.

Shot once outside Brest, the other I have to get to in the books about his division.

My grandfather served in the Pacific theater, with the Navy. I believe he was an aircraft mechanic, on some of the smaller islands with runways.