• Hello there guest and Welcome to The #1 Classic Mustang forum!
    To gain full access you must Register. Registration is free and it takes only a few moments to complete.
    Already a member? Login here then!

Greatest Generation

3175375

3175375

Well-Known Member
all,

The men and women who served the military during WWII are passing.

I'd like to post this to capture the stories of your relatives, friends n acquaintances you know.

My great Uncle Ted Ven served and fought in the mountains of Italy. He never spoke of it.

My Father in Law's Uncle servived the Bataan Death March. I was just in awe to shake his hand and share a cool pop with him.

My next door neighbor growing up was a stenographer at Potsdam and his claim to fame was he warmed the toilet for Winston Churchill.

Share your stories.....
 
My best friend's dad was 82nd Airborne and parachuted in on D-Day. He never talked about it. Another friend of Deb and I was in the Battle of the Bulge. Both are no longer with us. Both were great men!
 
My father (RAF ground grunt) was to meet my mother for a date (prior to marriage, she was 19yo) and on the way walking through London he came upon an unexploded incendiary bomb. Well his training was to cover it with sand bags and then call authorities. Well while he was doing this the bomb exploded. My mother waited at their meeting place and when he didn't show up she went to his parents place. Then they knew something was wrong. After a long search through authorities they found him in hospital looking like the Mummy. Only had a tube to his mouth and nose. He had sand burns but recovered. Although they did not remove a piece of shrapnel still lodged in his face/cheek. He recovered. Had a rough looking face for a while and always had the scared lip where his lip was torn up.
Well in the 1990s while retired in California the inside of his mouth started to bother him. And after some pain something came out inside his mouth...yep. That piece of shrapnel, after 50+ years. He threatened to send it back to the Germans.
My Dad, I miss him.
 
Thats a beautiful story , Mike.( if beautiful is on his place here )
I have no stories to tell cause my parents where to young in WWII and both my granddads passed away at a young age .Both were in their forties.
A couple of years ago , I went to Bastonge where the Battle of the Bulge occurred. Its about 80 mls from my place.
Its a place where the war hit very hard.
Just like Passendaele in WWI. Also a place where the first world war was hard. Its about 140 mls from where I live.
So , Belgium is some place when it comes to WW.
 
KBMWRS said:
My father (RAF ground grunt) was to meet my mother for a date (prior to marriage, she was 19yo) and on the way walking through London he came upon an unexploded incendiary bomb. Well his training was to cover it with sand bags and then call authorities. Well while he was doing this the bomb exploded. My mother waited at their meeting place and when he didn't show up she went to his parents place. Then they knew something was wrong. After a long search through authorities they found him in hospital looking like the Mummy. Only had a tube to his mouth and nose. He had sand burns but recovered. Although they did not remove a piece of shrapnel still lodged in his face/cheek. He recovered. Had a rough looking face for a while and always had the scared lip where his lip was torn up.
Well in the 1990s while retired in California the inside of his mouth started to bother him. And after some pain something came out inside his mouth...yep. That piece of shrapnel, after 50+ years. He threatened to send it back to the Germans.
My Dad, I miss him.
Click to expand...
Neat story, Mikey. May your Dad RIP.
 
My Grandfather, moms dad, served in germany. Grandpa spoke german, so he did some translating duties. Grandpa's younger brother was killed during the war.

fd
 
My Dad was a corporal in the Army Air Corps. He was trained as an electrician and served on a small tropical island in the Pacific. In their spare time they would go diving for shells and make necklaces- he sent one home to my Mom. He didn't talk much about it but did tell me the name- it was Tinian. I found out years later that both atomic bombs were flown from that island. I doubt that he ever knew.
My mother's brother served as a PFC and helped in the invasion of Germany. Mom's folks were German and came over here after the first World War. Uncle Les acted as an interpreter for his platoon.
My stepson's Grandfather was a B29 pilot in the Pacific. He passed before I could meet him.
My Father-in-Law was an EN1 in the Navy on an LSM (Landing Ship Medium). They went through a big typhoon that grounded the ship on a reef. The Navy used two of it's biggest tugs to pull it off the reef. They worked welding the bottom up all the way home to LA Harbor and barely kept it afloat. He was from North Dakota put was discharged in LA, and liked the weather so much that he stayed. He married my Mother-in-Law and had one child, who later became my wife. My wife passed away 14 years ago. My Mother-in-Law also had a child from her first husband. He was also in the Navy and died when the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed after delivering the Bomb to Tinian.
 
Keep the stories coming - this is all very important for us to capture this history. I love it!

I'll never forget my trip to Omaha Beach on June 2. While prior to D-day anniversary, there were still a lot of jeeps, trucks and planes around all of them in period correct uniforms. the National Memorial there was eye watering.
 
My Dad did his bit even though he was not in the military. He worked in a munitions plant in the Brooklyn Navy Yard that produced cannons.
 
3175375 said:
Keep the stories coming - this is all very important for us to capture this history. I love it!

I'll never forget my trip to Omaha Beach on June 2. While prior to D-day anniversary, there were still a lot of jeeps, trucks and planes around all of them in period correct uniforms. the National Memorial there was eye watering.
Click to expand...

I so want to make the trip to Normandy.
 
My wife's uncle was a bomber door gunner in the Pacific. Her grandfather fought in Bastogne. Said he'd never be cold again after that, so every night in winter, he would sit next to the fireplace. Neither ever really talked about the war though. Don't blame them.
There's a few more stories that she knows.
 
My Dad served in the Army Air Corps based in Okinawa. The funny thing is that he was really into planes as a kid and tried to enlist in the Army Air Corps but was turned away due to bad eyesight. A couple of weeks later he was drafted and ended up in the Army Corps! Gotta love that "Military Intelligence". Never really talked about WWII.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top