who all here has friends who served in ww2

[kansasdad]

Dental school classmate‘s father was a corpsman for the Navy, and was in the first wave ashore at Iwo Jima.

Most folks have seen this photo


I believe the mountain in the background is Kiribati, where the famous image of the flag raising comes from.

Here is Dick Haw, on the early morning 19 Feb, 1945 Red Beach 2

 

[Beignet]

I don't have many details, but my girlfriend's maternal grandfather had an interesting experience in the war. A Frenchman, he was taken prisoner by the Germans pretty early on and escaped after about a year. Her grandmother had to evade Nazi travel restrictions to get to Marseilles and they both made their way to Morocco. He joined the French Army of Africa which eventually merged with de Gaulle's Free French Forces and fought in numerous campaigns in the Mediterranean theater. He ended up settling in Morocco after the war where my GF's mother was born and spent the early years of her life before later returning to France. I really need to get the whole story next time I see her mother, as it sure doesn't sound boring.

 

[Brandon270]

My Aunt's dad (she married into the family so not blood related) came to the U.S. from Japan with his twin brother and parents when they were kids where they started a citrus farm in Central CA. Years later when we got into ww2 my Aunt's dad enlisted in military while the rest of his family were put in an internment camp.

After training he ended up getting sent to Europe and was part of the famous rescue mission where a Japanese American regiment battled through through France to save a group of surrounded soldiers from Texas. Anyone not familiar with this story should check it out, probably some of the most heroic Americans out there, fighting for a country who was currently at war with their birth country.

When the war was over and the family was able to go back to their farm they learned that the neighboring farmers took care of their orchards while they were interned and all the profits where there waiting for them.

He died in his mid nineties a few years ago, still able to do push-ups every morning. He had the most outgoing personality and when asked about what it was like being in that kind of battle he shrugged it off like it was just part of life.

How a Japanese American Regiment Rescued WWII's 'Lost Battalion'

The Nisei soldiers of the 442nd became the most highly decorated regiment in U.S. military history for its size and length of service.

www.google.com

 

[Wallydeuce]

My father was hit by artillery shrapnel in the early days of the battle of the bulge. It ripped his thigh open and broke his femur. He was shipped back to the US, recovered and was training for the invasion of Japan when the war ended. He didn't talk about it much unless he was campaigning for political office.

Neither did the man I considered my dad. He served on an escort carrier in the pacific and was outside Tokyo Bay on full alert "in case the japs tried something funny" the day Japan formally surrendered. He never saw action, which was fine by him. He married my mom when I was 17. A truly decent and kind man.

 

[tmcdowell]

I used to mow the lawn for a WWII vet when I was about 12. He was an engineer in the Marines in the Pacific theater. He never told me much about the war, but to be fair I rarely asked. One thing he did say that sticks with me is that he was grateful when they dropped the bombs on Japan. The alternative, he said, would have been much more costly to American and Japanese lives - that alternative being Operation Downfall, the canceled invasion of the Japanese islands. I sorely regret not asking him more if he would share his stories. That is something I also regret not asking my grandfather about his time flying jets in Vietnam. There aren't many men and women of WWII left these days, and I worry what will happen when we lose that collective memory.

 

[CorkyM]

Monroe Peters, from North Whitehall Township Pennsylvania and later, Florida, was an FN2 on the Battleship USS Missouri (BB-63)
He was a plank owner and still on her when the Japanese formally surrendered in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. I knew him from North Whitehall even though the paper says Allentown. He passed away in Florida in 2013. I have his model from the Franklin Mint of the Missouri. They were assembled in China in 1999. That is also his lapel pin. Sorry about the double image.

 

[timcaiello]

l grew up with an adopted grandfather who served in the navy in the pacific in ww2, he was a heck of a hunter and the perfect person to help raise my brothers and l. he enlisted in the navy the day after pearl harbor, he was 22 and the oldest in his class. he was stationed on the uss epping forest through the end of the war. l love talking to those old vets who did so much. anyone else grow up knowing these guys...

One of my grandfathers was a paratrooper in the 101st (Screaming Eagles) and jumped over Sicily and was wounded and then jumped over Holland and was wounded again. Lost a leg and had a shrapnel wound in his other knee that never healed for the rest of his life. Freedom isn't free.

My other grandfather was a mortarman in the 82nd Airborne, fought across Belgium after D-Day and was on the front lines near Bastogne during the height of the Battle of the Bulge. He always venerated Gen. Patton (and met him) for breaking through and relieving them. He was in the process of being transferred to the Pacific Theater when the A-bombs dropped and the war ended.

Grew up hearing their stories. Truly the greatest generation.

 

[Benfromalbuquerque]

Both Grandfathers USN. One was E1 on the USS Gauge supply/transport in the Pacific. Other one was O4 in Hastings. Navy in NE, at least back then.

 

[Jbotto]

I’m in awe of some of these stories. Truly the greatest generation!

My grandpa who I never met was in WW2. I don’t know much about his service but believe he had malaria and complications from it for the rest of his life. He had 8 daughters and 2 sons. Only one of his sons married (my dad) and I was the first grandson of his who shared his last name.

I’ve met, talked to, and more importantly listened to a few of these wonderful people who were there. The one I remember the most was a customer at a store I worked. He came in with a bit of a gimp and I helped him find what he was looking for. Noticed his WW2 Vet hat and thanked him and shook his hand. He struck up a conversation and told me about his service. Told me where he got wounded and where he was. He left the store that day and I silently prayed for him and others like him. About a half hour later he was back in the store talking to my manager, pointing at me when I came out of an aisle. He walked up to me excitedly this time and told him that he brought something to show me since he knew from talking to me that I’d appreciate it. He took out a little jar from his pocket and told me to touch the sand inside. I did as instructed and he welled up when he told me that it was from Normandy Beach when he went back on a Veterans Trip. He told me what it meant to him for me to listen to him that day. I was in awe to be able to truly touch holy ground, still am to this day. We shook hands again and I walked him to his car, tears in both our eyes now. Never saw him again.

I can’t even type this story, much less tell it, with dry eyes.

 

[Ozarkshunter95]

FIL was in WWII. Friend of the family was on Pearl when it was bombed. My dad was in for 30 days then the let him go. Doctor said he wouldn't live to see 25. It bothered him until they day he passed. I bet he out lived the doctor. I told him not to feel bad. He may have missed raising the family and never having all that he had. Dad lived to 86. I'm glad they let him go he may have never lived long being in the war.

It was a big thing back then if you didn't go a neighbor of mine didn't go his dad was a ww1 vet and didn't want his son to see war and his dad got him out of the draft on the grounds he couldn't run the farm without him some years after my neighbor passed my grandpa told me most people his age wouldn't speak to him and he was called a coward among other things because he didn't serve.

 

[Ozarkshunter95]

3 great grandfather's served 2 navy one marine had a 4th cousin killed at pearl harbor a neighbor who was with Paton when he rescued the 101

 

[Benfromalbuquerque]

@Ozarkshunter95 well ain’t that something? Nowadays born spur deferments a commander in chief makes.

 

[JCS]

Both of my grandfathers and all of their brothers served in some capacity in the big war. My dads dad, served in the army from 1943 to the end. He landed on D-day plus 3 and ended up in germany. He received the bronze star during the battle of the bulge. He never talked about anything unless his brothers were around and then you had to listen.....

A friend of the family was in the pacific for the war. He showed us pictures of jap kamikaze planes at okinawa. He said he was a stupid 20 years old watching off the deck and taking pictures. RIP

 

[gouch]

A friend of the family was in the pacific for the war. He showed us pictures of jap kamikaze planes at okinawa. He said he was a stupid 20 years old watching off the deck and taking pictures. RIP

And that was before he even had social media to post it on.

 

[Ozarkshunter95]

@Ozarkshunter95 well ain’t that something? Nowadays born spur deferments a commander in chief makes.

Two different wars in a lot of ways

 

[338win]

From my earliest memories to 08 my family was friends with an old guy from east KY. Born 1925 in a shack on Indian creek. Grew up during the depression. Drafted during the war. Landed at Normandy. Survived the western front. Came back and moved north with the factories. I got a few stories out of him but he died before I was smart enough to document further. I have a mauser that he brought back and sporterized that I will eventually rebarrel.

One of the things I thought was funny was when they were staging in England to come home. His buddy was shooting rabbits and a Brit said those are the queens rabbits. His friend said #*^@#* the queen. He also got knocked out at a bar after lifting a Scot’s kilt.

 

[LukeDuke]

Grandpa Bill was a B17 pilot during WWII. I’m actually named after his co-pilot. When I was in college they did a special ceremony in Lewistown MT and he gave a speech for the 4th of July. They had a B17 there that you could go up in for a quick ride. We asked grandpa if he wanted to go and he said, “hell no”…lol. He said they took a bullet or flak in nearly every mission. He died in 09 at the age of 93 and my brothers and I were fortunate enough to purchase his MT ranch a few yrs ago. Such great memories. I can’t imagine the level of bravery. Simply humbled to even think about what all of those folks went through.

 

[Cousin Basil]

My great uncle was in the 32nd "Red Arrow" division. He was drafted in 1942 and was given rudimentary training and quickly sent to New Guinea to prevent the invasion of Australia.
Things that he told is kids:
He remembered laying on the ground watching the fighter planes dog fighting overhead.

He never knew how me made it out alive as he noted when running up a hill, the guys right beside him were cut down and he couldn't believe he was unscathed.

He contracted malaria. They took his rifle and pointed the direction where the rear area hospitals where. He walked himself as there weren't enough men to carry him back.

He was in a mortar squad and issued an M1 Carbine. Evidently a Jap jumped in between his marching line and his Carbine was ineffective but finally got the job done. He threw it away after that and got a Garand.

He loved the Garand - he said sometime he shot it and mud would fly out of it but it keep on shooting!

During the Leyte invasion, he was assigned topside watch on his troop transport. He said the Jap torpedo bombers would fly right over dropping torpedoes so big they looked like telephone poles. The navy guys at his post told him to leave but he refused, saying he wasn't relieved by his commander so he stayed. I don't think he wanted to go below!

He was wounded by artillery concussion several times. He was on his way home on leave when the war ended. He was overseas almost 3 full years.

My grandmother (his sister) glossed things over by saying "he got sick laying in the water hiding from people." I guess she couldn't say "Japs." She also said when he came home he had to sleep alone (large family) as he might hurt one of his brothers if he had a nightmare.

He was a small, quiet, soft spoken man who did his duty for his country under unspeakable hardship.

Salute! Uncle Saul RIP

 

[Hem]

Thank you all of you. The above accounts of family history are amazing. Read from start to finish.
My grandfather was military, but I'm pretty certain he didn't go overseas.
He was a Captain, and his last name was Marvel.
He was a good man, and I am the only member of the family since him that lives hunting and fishing.
But I am so appreciative of those who fought.
You all should be deservedly proud.

 

[Tradewind]

had. they're all gone