Posted on 09/14/2014 7:41:56 AM PDT by snowtigger
We lost another WW11 vet today.My wife's Dad, August Niemann went to be with the Lord today . He was 94 years old.
He flew as a ball-turret gunner out of England at the end of WW11.
To his dying day he would never talk about the war. When he did, he would only tell us about the food drops at the end of the war. He said the people of Europe were so hungry, they would run out to get food as it was still falling. Sometimes there were so many people on the field, they would have to stop dropping until the field was clear.
In 1961 Augie moved his family to Alaska, where I met my wife while we were in Junior High school.
He worked until retirement on the Alaska Railroad. In retirement he became Associate Pastor in his church until shortly before his death. He is survived by his wife of 70 years, along with three daughters and many Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his only son.
I was watching "Memphis Belle" when the call came. He was a member of what was truly The Greatest Generation.
RIP Augie
RIP. I really miss these guys.
RIP Airman. Thank you.
BTW the Belle is on tour after many years of restoration.
http://www.libertyfoundation.org/schedule.html
God bless him. RIP, sir. We owe your generation more than we can ever repay.
Rest in peace .. to the REAL Generation
RIP Augie. May God welcome him home with trumpets.
What a story! What a life! We are truly blessed to have had such men among us.
Briol was my mother-in-law's cousin.
Should read “was NOT”
From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.
My first thought upon reading this was how much like an abortion his death was.
RIP
I used to know another ball-turret gunner. He was more talkative than Augie. He said "all I wanted to do was get the pilot by the throat and explain to him that those people shooting at us WERE really trying to kill us and it would be better to just turn around and go home". But, they didn't, they flew on into the inferno. I have always wondered where they got the cajone's. The same can be said for those who stormed the beaches.
I try to thank God often for such men. We can not ever let this country ever slip away, it cost them too much. PS I'm 65 years old and missed Viet Nam because of asthma and a heart murmur. I've spent my life regretting it while being thankful at the same time.
RIP sir
My dad was a ww2 vet also. He went to be with the Lord this past Feb 6, 2014. He was 93 years old. I loved him beyond words. Truly they were the Greatest Generation.
My uncle Lloyd probably knew him.
Lloyd was a navigator on a B-17 out of England and later, Benghazi.
As for your father-in-law, it seems they made special men back then. I feel lessened by his death.
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