Family Members in WWII?

[TravisT]

So I was at my wife's family gathering yesterday for Memorial day and I was sitting next to this elderly man that I really had no clue who he was and we started talking. It happened to be my wife's grandmother's brother-in-law. He is 87 years old. I enjoy history so I started asking him about his passed, in particular what he did in WWII.

He was a Staff Sergeant in a anti-air gunning crew. He was actually in the Battle of the Bulge. For those who aren't familiar, it is the bloodiest battle the Americans ever faced. He says that he was in Belgium and the Germans had already pretty well over-ran the front lines and he was near an airstrip. He says he vividly remembers the dog fighting going on above his head and him and his crew was trying to shoot the germans down. It is absolutely amazing to talk to him and realize what he went through and then look at the situation our country is in now.

I was curious so I asked him how he felt about the war and he said that he felt that from day one that he felt our country was going to fast and that they are fighting a war weakly. He continued to say that when they first went in they shouldh ave went slowly. Progressing as they knew that they had cleared enemies if possible. And as suspected, he said that you can't win a war by drawing a line and saying you can't cross it. He said ify ou want to win a war you have to be willing to do what it takes and our country no longer is willing to do what it takes to win a war.

Without getting into to much politics, here are my questions:

Do you have any family members who participated in World War II?
What was their duty?
Do you happen to know what their opinion is on this war we're in now?

Cliffs:

Family member was a Staff Sergeant above 4 anti-air gun crews who fought in the Battle of the Bulge as an American Soldier.

He thinks that we are not willing to do what it takes to win a war anymore.

I also had a Great Uncle on my dad's side who was actually a tank commander under General Patton. Interesting stuff...

 

[Feldenak]

Originally posted by: TravisT
Do you have any family members who participated in World War II?
What was their duty?
Do you happen to know what their opinion is on this war we're in now?

The only person I had info on was my paternal grandfather

Yes, he was a participant in WWII
He was airborne infantry (82nd Airborne)
He passed away about 6 years ago.

Edit: I never really got much info from him about his time in North Africa & Europe. Like many combat veterans I've spoken to, he was very tightlipped about it.

 

[ThePresence]

Do you have any family members who participated in World War II?

My grandfather, and two of his brothers.

What was their duty?

My grandfather was an Army medic. I actually have his uniform.
My great-uncles were regular grunts. They all survived the war.

Do you happen to know what their opinion is on this war we're in now?

My grandfather passed away before I was born.
My great-uncles are not alive now either, and I was never close enough with them to ask them their opinions about the current war.

 

[Canai]

My maternal grandfather was an MP overseas. He passed half a dozen years ago.

I'm fairly certain he would not support the war today. The troops would have his support, but not the war.

 

[clamum]

Originally posted by: TravisT
He thinks that we are not willing to do what it takes to win a war anymore.

That's what my dad says...

My grandpa (on my dad's side) was in World War II and was in the Battle of the Bulge. I don't really know much more than that. He passed away in the Winter of 2005.

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: TravisT
Do you have any family members who participated in World War II?
What was their duty?
Do you happen to know what their opinion is on this war we're in now?

1) My maternal grandfather
2) Enlisted in the navy in either late '44 or '45 and was shipped out to the Pacific - never saw action
3) Not off-hand, but I suspect it is something along the lines of "This current president is an idiot and the war is not going well."

 

[ThePresence]

He thinks that we are not willing to do what it takes to win a war anymore.

Absolutely true.
War is ugly, and you can't win a war trying to fight nicely.
Sure civillian deaths should be minimized, but you can't try to avoid them completely at the expense of your own troops, especially if the enemy doesn't play by those rules. It's impossible.
In WWII cities were bombed from the air. Thousands unfortunately died. That's war. It's not pretty.

 

[rudder]

My Uncle was a Marine that was in the battle of Iwo Jima. I haven't really discussed this war with him since he is deveral states to the west of me and don't usually get into those types of discussions on the phone.

 

[JC86]

My grandfather was a general under Chiang Kai Shek for China during World War II. When the Mao/Communists took over China, he sent me dad, his siblings, and my ganndma to HK for a year while he was responsible for the transport of all the gold and silver the Nationalists had in their possession to to Taiwan where it was spent on developing the economic infrastructure of Taiwan. He passed away 6 years ago and most of what i know about his experiences in world war II was from my dad.

I'd like to think that Asus, DFI, etc . . . are thriving today in part of what my grandfather did.

 

[theknight571]

I have two "great-uncles" on my mom's side (They're my mom's uncles) that served in WWII.

One was a CB (Construction Batallion) and served in the Pacific. He told me several stories about him and his fellow CB's leading charges while seated on their dozers... using their blades to help provide cover.

The other served in the war, but is a grand story teller, and we're not real sure what exactly he did. LOL

Other than that...

A couple of my wife's uncles served in Vietnam... neither talk about it much, other than to acknowledge their service.

One of my wife's cousins served in the Air Force, and spent time in Iraq, the first time around.

My uncle served, but I don't think he ever saw duty overseas...

 

[ThePresence]

The other served in the war, but is a grand story teller, and we're not real sure what exactly he did.

ROFL
:laugh:

 

[SampSon]

My grandfather was. He's dead now.

 

[SampSon]

My grandfather was. He's dead now.

 

[K1052]

Grandfathers and all their brothers (with one exception) served.

My paternal grandfather (now passed) was an artillery officer in the Army.
My maternal grandfather was a radio tech in the Army. He has never voiced an opinion on the war to me.

Everyone came back except for my paternal grandfather's oldest brother. He was a doctor on a USN destroyer that was torpedoed by a U-boat in the Atlantic while on anti-submarine operations.

 

[waggy]

my grandmother on my fathers side was in the 101st airborn. My grandfather on my mothers side was a German soldier.

My wifes Grandfather was in WWII where he was wounded and got to knowa German nurse. after the war they came back and had a big family heh

both died years ago.

 

[EagleKeeper]

My father was in infantry sharpshooter who was captured at the Bulge.

He never forgave the officer that surrendered his unit.

He was inside a cattle car at the railyards in Dresden (being taken to a POW camp) when that city was bombed.

He escaped and eventually made it back to the Allied lines.

I could never get him to talk about his experiences; he did state the the Bulge movie was fairly accurate.

He did make friends with some of the guards and eventually contacted them after the war.

We never talked about the current conflicts.
He was proud when I was commissioned and of my son when he enlisted in the Coast Guard.

 

[CycloWizard]

Dad's dad was the chief inspector for B-17 bombers. He was an engineer and did his job on this side of the pond. He later went on to design nuclear missile silos. He died in 1979, a year before I was born.

Mom's dad was in the army infantry in Europe, not sure which unit because he doesn't talk about the war at all. He was also in the Battle of the Bulge. Not sure what he thinks of Iraq. He'll turn 88 in a couple months.

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: TravisT
So I was at my wife's family gathering yesterday for Memorial day and I was sitting next to this elderly man that I really had no clue who he was and we started talking. It happened to be my wife's grandmother's brother-in-law. He is 87 years old. I enjoy history so I started asking him about his passed, in particular what he did in WWII.

He was a Staff Sergeant in a anti-air gunning crew. He was actually in the Battle of the Bulge. For those who aren't familiar, it is the bloodiest battle the Americans ever faced. He says that he was in Belgium and the Germans had already pretty well over-ran the front lines and he was near an airstrip. He says he vividly remembers the dog fighting going on above his head and him and his crew was trying to shoot the germans down. It is absolutely amazing to talk to him and realize what he went through and then look at the situation our country is in now.

I was curious so I asked him how he felt about the war and he said that he felt that from day one that he felt our country was going to fast and that they are fighting a war weakly. He continued to say that when they first went in they shouldh ave went slowly. Progressing as they knew that they had cleared enemies if possible. And as suspected, he said that you can't win a war by drawing a line and saying you can't cross it. He said ify ou want to win a war you have to be willing to do what it takes and our country no longer is willing to do what it takes to win a war.

Without getting into to much politics, here are my questions:

Do you have any family members who participated in World War II?
What was their duty?
Do you happen to know what their opinion is on this war we're in now?

Cliffs:

Family member was a Staff Sergeant above 4 anti-air gun crews who fought in the Battle of the Bulge as an American Soldier.

He thinks that we are not willing to do what it takes to win a war anymore.
I also had a Great Uncle on my dad's side who was actually a tank commander under General Patton. Interesting stuff...

yes my dad, he served as a Navy Sea Bee in the pacific, then served on a tug boat during the korean war. he was with the hornet and wasp battle group. one night all the destroyers, cruisers and i think a battleship did a barage. scared the hell out of him. i guess a pilot saw a north korean convoy and opened up on it.

My uncle (by marriage) landed at omaha beach. he talked about it once when i was about 15 to my dad. the horror that man experienced is beyond words. he made it all the way to the buldge then got wounded. at that point i opened my big mouth and asked where he got wounded. i meant where in belgium but he thought i meant on him and stopped telling the story.

for the bolded part. he is right. i dont want to turn this into a antiy iraq war thread but we turned over control back to iraqis way to soon. for as bad as shape that country is we should have had military rule like we did in Japan and Germany until all infrastructure was rebuilt and the people felt they had a future. WWII was the last war to be run by generals. Politics has micromanaged every conflict since WWII and there has been some disaterous results.

as far as how my dad would feel about this war? i dont think he would be for it. i do remember as a kid and the news showed the vietnam protesters and he would become very angry and call them cowards and a bunch of other names. that was WWII generation talking. when the country called you came and you didnt protest. but i think what got him to open his mind was when i depoloyed for the invasion of Panama and the first gulf war. his only son got sent to combat for what? when he served it was for the absolute protection of our country, but when i served i was just part of the presidents muscle. sorry for the bleak outlook but in my opinion since WWII there has been no justifiable reason to send our troops into combat.

 

[Gibsons]

My dad was a pilot in WWII. He never saw combat, but was a ferry pilot. Flew a lot of really shot up B-17s, had to land on one engine once, on two engines several times. He passed away in 1996.

I suspect he wouldn't be in favor of the current administration, but who knows.

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
My father was in infantry sharpshooter who was captured at the Bulge.

He never forgave the officer that surrendered his unit.

He was inside a cattle car at the railyards in Dresden (being taken to a POW camp) when that city was bombed.

He escaped and eventually made it back to the Allied lines.

I could never get him to talk about his experiences; he did state the the Bulge movie was fairly accurate.

He did make friends with some of the guards and eventually contacted them after the war.

We never talked about the current conflicts.
He was proud when I was commissioned and of my son when he enlisted in the Coast Guard.

Your father was an exceptionally lucky guy. The Dresden rail yards were the primary target and hit repeatedly with HE and incendiaries.

 

[SuperNaruto]

Grandma was a prisoner of Japan during the war.. she past about 8 years ago.. she didn't talk much about it but they were forced to learn japanese... my dad spoke a little japanese too..

 

[imported_Cameron]

Yea, I had a couple of family members that were in WWII.
My grandma's brother drove a Sherman for most of the war. He was KIA, however, when a German tank scored a direct hit
My grandpa's brother was also in the war, but I'm not really sure what he did. From what I'm told he was a rifleman.
On the other side of the family, I had a great uncle who was in one of the Infantry units that landed in Normandy. He always told us the story about taking a Luger and a set of Binoculars from a dead German officer in one of the bunkers. He had the Luger and the Binoculars to prove it, too. He passed away last year

 

[MrWizzard]

Great grandfather was on the Philippines when it fell to the Japanese. He did the Batain Death march. Sat the rest of the war out as a POW until the Philippines were taken back. Due to the abuse by the Japanese in the camp he was sick the rest of his life. He ended up a Lt. Commander when he left the service. I think he was a chief during the POW thing. There is actually a news photo of him and a bunch of POWs

My Dad once asked him about his war experience and he and my great grandma started screaming each other whenever he tried to tell them. She would pull my dad aside and tell him never to ask him that again. She said she was the one who had to sleep with him and by asking him about the stories during the day caused him to relive them in his nightmares at night. He died many years ago.

I am pretty sure he would have supported what we are doing in Iraq. From what I know he was the type who would do something because it was right thing to do not just because it involved America.

 

[jdini76]

Originally posted by: TravisT


He thinks that we are not willing to do what it takes to win a war anymore.

What would it take to win a war today?


It took a nuclear bomb to win WWII Pac Front. Do you think we should do that today?

 

[KMFJD]

I have an Aunt who was in a Japanese concentration camp in Indonesia, both sets of grandparents had to hide from the Nazi's in Holland during the war.