Posted on 06/06/2018 10:57:18 AM PDT by Leaning Right
A onetime co-workers dad drove a Higgins boat on D Day. Omaha beach I believe.
The old man said when they dropped the ramp the Germans unleashed hell on the opening. Said he returned to the ship with half the men dead or knocking on deaths door.
By the end of the day they were scooping the dead out of the water by lowering the ramp and skimming the water.
I can’t imagine the type of carnage he witnessed.
Guadalcanal was to the Japanese what Stalingrad was to the Germans ...
Same with my Dad.
He would never talk about it.
I only asked once,something told Me once was enough by the look on His face-it wasn’t a mean or scared look. Just a Blank look like I’ve never seen before or after- like He was trying to forget it all.
Wasn’t till after His death I found Discharge Paperwork and a few other things. Did figure out He flew in Europe but not in a Combat role.
Mom wouldn’t tell Me either.
Still I must Thank The Greatest Generation for saving Us from the nazis/japs. Job well done.
Also, as the "WWII + 70 Years" threads showed us here, much of the news coming out of the Pacific was heavily filtered and/or delayed. IIRC, the full extent of the damage done and the complete death toll from the Pearl Harbor attack wasn't disclosed to the public until after the Battle of Midway.
BTW, there's a good multi-part documentary about the Pacific war (saw it on Amazon). "Eagle Against the Sun" is the title, I believe. It does a good job of explaining the Japanese strategy and goals, as well as gathering up most of the far-flung puzzle pieces of that conflict.
My great uncle on his first mission as a B-24 pilot, took off from England and was shot down into the Channel by British Coastal batteries. The crew was rescued by the British Coast Guard, rushed back to their base, and re-assigned to a different bomb group/squadron, rechristened and painted the B-24 with the crashed one`s name.... They took off, flew to Germany, bombed Hamm, returned to England at night and were shot down while landing by a German nightfighter who was shot down the next night.
Shot down twice in one day in 2 different planes by 2 different countries:
it must be a record of some sort.
Those were their first and last missions.
His son was 5 yrs old at the time.
He took his family over for the events in 84.
Very memorable.
my uncle jumped over Sainte-Mère-Église on his 17th birthday
Years ago when first stationed in Germany I had a neighbor who was a German soldier in Normandy on D Day. He was at one of the British beaches. Like the scene where the German officer looks out from his bunker, he told me that he saw a solid wall of ships from one end of the horizon to another coming straight for him. He also talked about how scared he was. Didn’t really say much else. Two weeks later he was a prisoner of the British, where he learned to speak English.
In other words, he was a Nazi...
I never met my only uncle. His first mission was his last. He never made it out of the tail of the 24 he was in. A couple weeks before D-day.
After meeting my future wife, I was introduced to her dad. Having learned that he was a waist gunner in a 24, based in England, I thought I would ask him about his service. He politely talked of training, and shenanigans they tried to get away with.
He only went as far as to say that the crews that were there before him had it a lot worse. The p51 escorts were just starting to be deployed in good numbers when he got to England. He completed his tour a few weeks before my uncle got there. I told him about my uncle, and his face got almost pale. He quickly closed the subject, offering sympathy and saying that my uncle did a lot more than he did. Over the next 24 years I knew him, he rarely talked about the war. IIRC he received a bronze star w/oak leaf clusters and the DFC. (Whenever his wife would mention that, he would just blow it off, saying, “everybody got that”.)
After his passing in 2003, a letter from his fellow waist gunner told us of “Pops” almost superhuman aim with that .50, saying, he was surely an “ace”.
My adoptive Dad was on Omaha, he was an EOD specialist. He just told me the first week was really busy for him before a mine took him out of action.
It’s easier to visit Normandy.
Not necessarily.
One of the Germans I knew over there was the son of a Kriegsmarine officer. Among his (the son’s) prized possessions were his father’s military memorabilia *and* his letter from the denazification (court? agency? whatever) declaring that the officer had not been a party member and had lost promotion opportunities as a result.
This thread is about honoring our heroes.
God be with them all
I will be talking Henry Ford and his warnings somewhere else.
Right after the wall came down in the early 90’s, Germany was fun as all hell.
A lt D-day casualty took his son to the 84 commemoration?
Odd the world did not learn of that!
Yep. ‘92-’95.
Couple of guys in my Bn were part of a Trabant club. BOught them for cheeeeeep from easterners who wanted beemers and benzes. They used to run road rallies all over the place. One I knew for sure kept a spare engine!! in the trunk.
I think you misread that.
Just sayin’.
My grandfather attempted to drive his Sherman to Omaha, but a mortar floundered the transport boat on disembark. He said he had a front row seat to the whole day; floating in the frigid water. He never elaborated.
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