Family Members in WWII?

[Atheus]

I don't think there was an Englishman live at the time who didn't participate in some way. My grandfather didn't actually fight, but he worked 12 hours a day every day in a steel factory, building parts for aircraft and ships. His brother was in a frigate which was sunk by a German U-boat in 1943.

 

[Atheus]

Originally posted by: Mwilding
On a related note. I read in the paper yesterday that there are only 3 known Americans still alive who served in WWI. A slightly larger number of Canadians and Brits remain.

They are amazing aren't they? I saw a British WWI pilot on TV once - he had seen three centuries and actually remembered the invention of the airplane!

At the beginning of the war the Brits did not issue parachutes to pilots because they thought it encouraged cowardace...

 

[GuitarDaddy]

My dad was an army seargent that lead a platoon of 18 men in combat on the island of Okinawa. Of the 19 men 6 of them (including my dad) survived to see the end of the war. They were captured and tortured as POW's for about a month before being freed by other American forces.

He absolutely would not talk about any of his experiences for years and years, it's only been in the last couple of years that he has begun to share his experiences with me. His worst experiences seem to revolve around burning japanese soldiers out of caves with a flame thrower. 🙁 Over sixty years latter and he still hasn't come to terms with the lives that he took in that war.

His thoughts on the current war in Iraq are pretty much the same as mine, that the war was ill concieved and that we shouldn't be there and the sooner we get out the better. He makes frequent trips to a VA hospital to take one of his buddies for treatment, and he can't stand seeing all the young soldiers there maimed and disabled.

 

[jjones]

My father was a sergeant in the Army and fought the Japanese in the islands. That's all I know about it other than that he was shot a couple of times. He doesn't and won't talk about the war, but he's had nightmares over the years that have clued me in to the fact that he was in some heavy fighting. When I was growing up, he'd re-live the war in his dreams sometimes while myself and other family members would hold him down, all the time he's struggling and screaming out orders. Used to really freak me out.

Anyway, he thinks the whole country's gone to hell, but he's held that opinion for some time.

 

[MagicConch]

I have a neighbor who is practically family 😉 He was a fighter pilot on the Hancock and as far as his views on the war now, he's 80 and something of an enigma. He usually points to Thoma Jefferson's writings re: the Barbary pirates and says something like "If people only listened to our forefathers then they would know never to get into a war with certain people" It sounds racist but it doesn't come across that way.

 

[Canun]

My Grandfather was a landing craft operator on DDay. Not the little ones, but the big tank transports. He didn't talk much about it, but said that he didn't move in until the action died down a bit on the beach.

 

[zinfamous]

My Grandfather was a glider pilot who lost his leg. He became alcoholic and severely depressed, although he never showed it around the grandkids. He died when I was pretty young, so I never got the chance to hear any of his war stories. Not sure if he would tell them. His brother was also in the Air Force, and involved in the Berlin Air Lift.

Other grandfather was stationed in Alaska as an NCO due to height/weight I believe. I know that he and his peers, whom I talked with just before the Iraq Invasion, were vehemently opposed to the Iraq War.

 

[heathertre]

Originally posted by: TravisT

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?

My maternal grandfather and his brothers were in WWII.

Grandpa was a Marine and served in Okinawa and possibly in Iwo Jima (can't remember).

Uncle LaVerne was in the Navy (don't know his duties or where he served)

And Uncle Coy was Army Infantry (again...don't know what his duties were or where he served).

Grandpa passed away 6 years ago and he never mentioned anything about politics or current/past wars. It was just enough to get him to talk about WWII with me. He did, however, hate the fact that I drove a Nissan at the time.

Uncle LaVerne passed away 3 years ago and never mentioned wars or politics. Never really got to talk to him about it either. Didn't know him very well.

Uncle Coy passed away when I was a little girl and I never met him.

My paternal great-grandpa served in WWII also. I never met him but my grandmother said he use to fly planes on the East coast of the US looking for foreign ships and subs and things like that. I suppose he could have been a type of Coast Guard. Don't know.

 

[Rastus]

My father joined the Navy in May 1941. He was a radioman/gunner in the Pacific through the whole war on various aircraft. He passed away last New Years Eve. I have all of his uniforms, medals, pins, and pictures. I also have the bomber jacket he wore throughout.

My mother's brother was KIA in Feb. 1942 in the Battle of the Java Sea. He was on the USS Langley, the first aircraft carrier ever built and the first aircraft carrier ever sunk. It was also the first ship to go through the Panama Canal in 1912.