90 yo WWII vet talks about an amazing experience

[TheAdvocate]

So much better than I expected.

Truly inspiring.

 

[zinfamous]

awesome.

 

[Train]

wow.

And he was no pog either, just at a glance it looks like he has a silver star and a legion of merit.

 

[DaTT]

;thumbsup:

 

[Vonkhan]

No wonder Germany lost the war

 

[GuitarDaddy]

My father and my uncle are men of such stock, both WWII hero's and recipeints of the purple heart and many other medals that don't do them justice. Both in amazingly good health for their ages, Dad is 86 and my uncle turned 91 last month. I don't think they make men that tough anymore

 

[Mide]

Great story.

 

[edro]

Here's my WWII vet grandpa, aged 85, cutting up a tree as if he were 20.
Of course when he was 20, he didn't have chain saws.
http://imgur.com/D91YY.jpg

They truly are the greatest, toughest, unspoiled generation.

 

[thegimp03]

That's awesome. Made my day.

 

[Evadman]

Cool

 

[joesmoke]

wow, just wow. its great remembering a time when men had to make tougher choices than "which smartphone plan do i want" or "which method should i use to skip out on most of my debt".

 

[OCNewbie]

It's because of their sacrifices we're allowed to live comfortably as relative wussies to the men that lived in that time. Easy to forget what they've afforded us, unfortunately.

 

[OutHouse]

http://www.standard.net/topics/features/2010/03/05/telling-world-war-iis-untold-stories

sounds like the same guy.

Jack Leroy Tueller was a World War II fighter pilot, flying a thousand feet above German tanks he and his fellow pilots were sent to blow up, when he spotted the patches of bright red, blue and yellow atop the drab gray-green tank that was his target.

"It was a French mother, trying to use her body to cover her three children," Tueller, of Bountiful, recalls more than six decades later. "They were dressed in bright colors, so we would see them. They were human shields. The Germans knew American boys would not fire on innocents. There were mothers and children secured on every tank. There were 16 of us, and none of us fired."

Tueller and his men pulled away, and he radioed the situation to his superiors. The gut-wrenching reply crackled back: Destroying the tanks was paramount, his superior said. The civilians were expendable.

Hearts pounding, the men followed orders.

"I've lived with that for 65 years, what 50-caliber machine guns did to those civilians," said Tueller, 89, his voice cracking. "I grew up that day. I realized that in every war, innocent civilians are sacrificed by both sides. In killing evil, sometimes the innocents go down with the guilty. Wars are that way. In Afghanistan today, where I have a son serving, mothers are teaching children to carry bombs on their backs. War is like that."

Tueller and other Utah World War II veterans share their memories in "Untold Stories," the fifth and final episode of KUED Channel 7's series "Utah World War II Stories."

This episode wasn't part of the PBS station's original plans, KUED spokeswoman Mary Dickson said

 

[Kreon]

holy shit, that's terrible (above post)

 

[epidemis]

Awesome. The greatest generation for sure.

generacist

 

[dfuze]

Good story

 

[JD50]

Awesome

 

[theprodigalrebel]

holy shit, that's terrible (above post)

Yeah, that's got to mess up a man real good.

 

[db]

tftp

 

[DanTMWTMP]

I'm really loving this thread. We should always appreciate what we have now, give our elders their respect, and do our very damn best everyday.