A Few of FR's Finest..Every Day..02-6,7-07..WW2: The War, The Era, The Monument, The FReeper Vets

February 6, 2007 | Dolly Howard

[DollyCali]

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day

Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world.

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in need; and congratulate those deserving. We strive to keep our threads entertaining, fun, and pleasing to look at, and often have guest writers contribute an essay, or a profile of another FReeper.

On Mondays please visit us to see photos of A FEW OF FR'S VETERANS AND ACTIVE MILITARY

If you have a suggestion, or an idea, or if there's a FReeper you would like to see featured, please drop one of us a note in FR mail.

We're having fun and hope you are!
~ Billie, Dutchess, DollyCali, GodBlessUSA, Aquamarine~

World War II (abbreviated WWII), or the Second World War, was a worldwide conflict fought between the Allied Powers and the Axis Powers, from 1939 until 1945. Armed forces from over seventy nations engaged in aerial, naval, and ground-based combat. Spanning much of the globe, World War II resulted in the deaths of over sixty million people, making it the deadliest conflict in human history. The war ended with an Allied victory .

Names & words like Adolf Hitler,Nagasaki, Normandy, the Holocaust, Pearl Harbor, Nazi, Adolph Eichmann, Rudolf Hess Auchwitz, , Iwa Jima, Atomic Bomb all bring sharp memories and often tears to those who lived through the time & bring images of a sad history for those of us who followed. .

Some 63 million people, or 3% of the world population, died in the war (though estimates vary): about 24 million soldiers and 38 million civilians. This total includes the estimated 9 million lives lost in the Holocaust. Of the total deaths in World War II, approximately 80% were on the Allied side and 20% on the Axis side.

Allied forces suffered approximately 17 million military deaths, of which about 11 million were Soviet and 3 million Chinese. Axis forces suffered about 8 million, of which more than 5 million were German. In total, of the military deaths in World War II, approximately 44% were Soviet soldiers, 22% were German, 12% were Chinese, 8% were Japanese, 9% were soldiers of other Allied forces, and 5% were other Axis country soldiers. Some modern estimates double the number of Chinese casualties originally stated. Of the civilian deaths, approximately 90% were Allied (nearly a third of all civilians killed were Soviet citizens, and more than 15% of all civilians killed in the war died in German extermination camps) and 10% were Axis.

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Many civilians died as a result of disease, starvation, massacres, genocide--in particular, the Holocaust--and aerial bombing. One estimate is that 12 million civilians died in Holocaust camps, 1.5 million by bombs, 7 million in Europe from other causes, and 7.5 million in China from other causes.[7] Allied civilian deaths totaled roughly 38 million, including 11.7 million in the Soviet Union, 7 million in China and 5.2 million from Poland. There were around 3 million civilian deaths on the Axis side, including 2 million in Germany and 0.6 million in Japan. The Holocaust refers to the organized state-sponsored murder of 6 million Jews, 1.8-1.9 million non-Jewish Poles, 200,000-800,000 Roma people, 200,000-300,000 people with disabilities, and other groups carried out by the Nazis during the war.

The Soviet Union suffered by far the largest death toll of any nation in the war, over 23 million. The Holocaust was the organized murder of an estimated nine million people, including approximately six million Jews. Originally, the Nazis used killing squads known as Einsatzgruppen to conduct massive open-air killings, shooting as many as 33,000 people in a single massacre, as in the case of Babi Yar. By 1942, the Nazi leadership decided to implement the Final Solution, or Endlösung, the genocide of all Jews in Europe, and to increase the pace of the Holocaust. The Nazis built six extermination camps specifically to kill Jews. Millions of Jews who had been confined to massively overcrowded ghettos were transported to these "Death-camps", in which they were either slaughtered on arrival or put to work until the Nazis could find no more use for them, at which point they were put to death by shooting or mass poisoning in gas chambers. .

In a short presentation such as this no attempt will be made to do a depth study of this war but rather to provide some links for those with an interest to know more.

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WW2 time line

WW 2 Europe

WW2 Pacific Timeline

Eyewitness to History WW2

Pacific Naval Battles

Wikipedia – WW2

Mini Biographies of Military & Political Leaders

Best of History Websites

Voices of WW2

The magnificent World War II Memorial Official Site was dedicated on May 29th of 2004, but this wonderful memorial cannot be shared with most WW II Veterans here in Ohio or elsewhere. They are now in their 80s to 90s.

The majority are on limited, fixed incomes, lack help. A twelve-hour bus ride is not an option for these heroes.

According to Veterans Affairs statistics, about 1,200 WW II Veterans die each and every day. The overwhelming majority of them will pass away without ever having an opportunity to visit the memorial they have waited over 60 years to see. We are changing that.

FReeper Warrior Queen works with the Cleveland USO & volunteers now with a remarkable group. Here are some of her comments…. We now fly WW II Veterans, one Saturday a month, in large commercial aircraft to the Washington, DC area. The program is called Honor Flight and the purpose is to fly America’s elderly veterans to visit the memorials dedicated to recognize their service and the sacrifices of their friends.

We are a federal nonprofit (501c3) organization. We are doing everything we can to make this activity FREE for the veterans. Sadly, Honor Flight does not receive any corporate or government sponsorship. We are asking for donations to cover airfare, tour bus services, food, tee shirts, scooter/wheelchair rental, oxygen and operational costs. We’re hoping that, by getting the word out, public support will continue to grow.

The more support we receive, the more veterans finally get to visit their memorial. Over the past two years, we have transported a total of 463 members of “the Greatest Generation.” We are now joined by other programs in North Carolina, Utah, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Illinois. Next year, our combined goal is to fly over 5000 WW II Veterans.

We conduct regular operations out of Dayton and Columbus. We plan to expand to Cleveland in 2007. Round trip, same day flights from Cleveland into Baltimore Washington International (BWI) would cost about $120.00 per seat. We then handle ALL the ground operations/logics from BWI, around Washington DC and back to the airport. We provide a deluxe motor coach, meals, tee shirts, name tags, motorized scooters, oxygen, etc. Our cost is about $50.00 per person.

It is our hope that we will pick up the cost of all ground expenses so that organizations from around the country pay only for their airfare. The cost will be about $120.00 a piece< to make the dreams of hundreds of WWII Veterans from Cleveland come true. Our policy is that the WWII Veterans don't pay a penny. . We will be serving as the "parent" organization to similar programs across the country. Recently we had about 20 people from across the nation that want to learn about how to proceed with an Honor Flight, HonorAir, Hero Flight, etc. program.

An office is opened that is staffed with volunteers to answer the phone, a national toll free number (1 888 FLY-VETS) and a national web site (presently under revision) www.HonorFlight.org. .

Time is NOT on our side. Since early January 2005, thirty-seven World War II veterans on our waiting list have passed away without visiting their memorial. In another 3 to 7 years, almost all WW II Veterans will be gone.

We remain committed to do everything we can to help those surviving veterans view their precious memorial. They are ordinary men and women who collectively and literally saved America and the
world.

If you would like more information or would like to help, please visit our web site at www.HonorFlight.org, email me at HonorFlight@aol.com
or call (937) 864-7261.

Erwin (Earl) Morse, Captain, USAF Retired
Founder of Honor Flight, Inc.
P.O. Box 214
Enon, OH 45323
Phone: 937 864-7261

More Honor Flight Information

Submitted by FReeper Bev ..the Bev in Bevlar; wife of Larry.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1012827/posts He is also registered at: http://www.wwiimemorial.com. The above site is where Freepers paid tribute to him. I cherish this website!!!

Lawrence Fredrick Zacker was born in Carroll Iowa November 4, 1915. He was 26 years old, married with children on December 7, 1941. The ARMY, NAVY AND MARINES wouldn't take him because he had very flat feet. He quit his job as Used Car Manager at a Los Angeles car dealership and went to work at Northrop building the P-61 Black Widow planes. He was doing his part for the war effort but felt he needed to participate as a soldier/sailor. In the summer of 1942, the United States Merchant Marines took him - flat feet and all after he begged the examining doctor to pass him.

He served in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters during the war years and was "bosun" on a ship off the coast of Normandy June 6, 1994. His service to his country did not go unnoticed and at the end of the war, he was contacted by the US Navy and given the opportunity to enter the Navy as an Ensign. He declined and returned to civilian life but often regretted his decision. He was a true flag waving patriot!!

After returning to civilian life, Larry became a Realtor and lived in Sana Diego for many years. In 1973, he retired and we moved to the mountains of N CA to the little town of Fall River Mills. We received an offer we couldn't refuse - Columbia Helicopters needed a watchman and we would be paid while we literally vacationed in our motor home. All we had to do was look after the helicopter during the evening hours. We traveled with Columbia for 4 years and had the time of our lives. In 1979, we decided to settle down once and for all. We bought a small acreage on the river - just a mile from the ocean on the beautiful north coast of Oregon.

In 1994, he received a special invitation, including a seating badge, to attend the 50 year remembrance of the Normandy invasion. He refused to attend because the draft dodging Bill Clinton was going to be there to strut around.

Larry will always be my hero because I knew his heart. I was Blessed to be his wife. He served his country with pride and honor. Larry died 10/31/03.

MY WAR
by William Barrows

Submitted by FReeper Wheelbarrow. A short excerpt presented here from the essay

FOUND HERE

"…..we pulled into what I thought was Liverpool (but later documents said it was Grenock, Scotland). En route we fought off and sank a German submarine that Hitler had boasted sank us, so when a British search plane came out to find us (or the remains) it was a jubilant dockside welcome that greeted us on arrival.

In England our troop train took us to a camp near North-witch for about a week, then again we were put on a train and taken to Southampton and loaded on assault ships to take us to Utah Beach in France where, like the guys who took the beach head, we had to climb the cliffs to get to the trucks that would take us to the combat area.

In France we traveled on mostly country roads (the German Air Force was still something to worry about, and there was a big German submarine post back behind at St. Nazzaire). We bypassed Paris and eventually wound up near Nancy (the last city of any size we’d encounter), the HQ. of General Patton’s Third Army and my 26th Division. Soon after to the east we were dropped from the trucks and began the march to the “front lines” some 20 miles away….."

1-09-07 ~ Hall of Fame #18

THIS WEEK'S THREADS 2-05-07 Military Monday

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' Every Thursday at the Finest The guy's good, folks!

[DollyCali]

70 degrees... ah that is like a wonderful dream... Here in ohio we get excited when it finally gets to high 30s.. it seems balmy in compaison. 50 degree is T-shirt & shorts weather & "lets work in the yard" mentality.

But I recall my years of living in Texas,Florida & NC.. you do get spoiled very easily

[DollyCali]

I am so OUT OF knowing the new/in roses. It was over 15 years since I lived in NC. I miss the orchids more than I missed the roses however. My ex was the orchid person but I loved them & shared his enthusiasm, if NOT the heavy duty amount of work involved in their culture/breeding

[GodBlessUSA]

I have to call my parents. My father served in Army after the war. I know with all the relatives we have someone has served in WWII. I know of the closer generations and their service. I really need to see who I missed that served in WWII. I'll check and let you know. Very interesting and I can't believe I have not asked them sooner.

[DollyCali]

Thanks jaycee.. here at FR we have so much more of an awareness & appreciation of the historical relevance of the wars,, they aren't just part of a history book & lesson but ARE the reason we are here at all..

[GodBlessUSA]

You still are a rosarian. The names change but they are the same plants. :) Orchids, how interesting Dolly.I'd love to hear about them some time. Sounds like a huge amount of work.

[DollyCali]

How I wish my dad were here to ask.

Please ask them & post a pix of dad also(recent one is okay).

For FReeper Wheelbarrow, he did not have (or wasn't able to locate) a pix in uniform. If he should ever find one, I can include it in the opening in the jpeg heading his offering.

[GodBlessUSA]

My Dad looked very handsome in his uniform. :) I will let you know. I love your post to Jaycee. How so very true.
Thanks Dolly.

[DollyCali]

Hi Beachy, cute table.. and I LOVE GREEN..

I love the Memorial. I have been there three times, the most recent(and where the pix I posted came from) was this past December.

The first time I was there was shortly after the dedication ceremony, It was hot & the fountain was loaded with children, adults & pets, cooling off & laughing & enjoying each other & the day. *the one pix I have on this thread of the vet in wheelchair is from that first visit, He had tears in his eyes recounting the war & was so thrilled to be threre,)

I could not help but sit on the edge of the pool & take it all in.. here were the symbols all around the circular display of the battles, people & events that let us here many years later live in the security & protection that they provided in that war.

It was as if they were looking over & approving.

I had my pup Oliver who also had a ball & like the other pets there cooled off in the pool.

The times of varing sun locations makes for interesting effects.

I have never been there at night yet.

I love the FDR memorial at night and am guessing that this memorial is also awesome with the spotlights & water sprays & falls around the display

[fatima]

My Father was a Sargeant in WW11,he was wounded twice but I'm not sure if they were from the Korean or not.I know he had awards and a Purple Heart and my son Joe has all the awards in a special glass case for them.I was born when he was away in 44.When I was six we lived in Georgia on the base and when we came back I talked so fast no-one could understand me:)

[luvie]

You're spackling? How much FUN! Not! LOL!

Have a great day. Maybe we'll talk when I get home tonight...at 9:30--10:30 your time. Drink tea! LOL!

(((hugs))))

[DollyCali]

thanks for stopping by & your comments and OH YES, a big thumbs up from me for the idea of taking dad ASAP,

The three times I have been there I make it a LONG visit. I walk around & talk to people. There are the "toursists" and also younsters who "walk & casually "look".

THEN THERE ARE THE VETS.. Often with children pushing wheelchairs, or helping them w/canes & walkers. Now & then with spouses.

I talk with them & the kids are very quiet & in awe. It is as if it is sacred grounds.. and to a degree it is. A memorial is for MEMORY.. and MEMORY is made up of memories which to me are sacred & precious.

Many say their dads have NEVER been willing/able to share re: the war, but by being there it opens a floodgate for many & the whole family is boo hoo-ing.

I can't help but think it becomes one of the most poignant interactions of the life of the children/vets. You can normally tell it has happened as eyes are red & women have these black splotches under their eyes ( like foot ball players), where mascara, liner, eyeshadow have melted onto their faces from emotion released

[Aquamarine]

Thank you Aqua and thanks for the info on your family. Do you have a pix of your dad & maybe do a little write up about him?

His picture is in the Military Monday collage. I've talked about it here so most everyone already knows that he was stationed at different ports along the east coast, worked in the gunnery and not involved in any fighting. He did meet my mother while stationed in Jacksonville, Florida.

Did you see the movie Blood Diamond? VERY graphic movie/violence but a story that needs to be out there.

Yes, I did see it and as you say it was very violent. It probably was an agenda movie but did not make me feel responsible for they're sorry behavior.

[Aquamarine]

This is a dreadful disease. It can be heart aching. I'll be saying prayers for you DIL. I also wanted to say, God Bless your Dad for his service! :)

You're so correct, it is a dreadful disease.
Thanks for all your consideration.

[Lady Jag]

Heroes

Heroes come in different forms, Some, never known, Some, remembered forever. One who looks forward to a fresh days start, One to trust and respect. A hero will laugh, a hero will cry, Through rain, ice, hail or snow, A hero will be there. Dani Aronovitz

[beachn4fun]

Good afternoon, Dolly

They allowed people in the fountain? I wouldn't have guessed.

There are some new memorials that I have yet to see. Maybe, once the weather gets a little warmer, but before tourist season, I'll get Hubby to take me up so we can visit a few of them.

I agree with you. I bet that memorial is beautiful at night.

[luvie]

Yes, I am spoiled. Having been in OK over the weekend and freezing my kiester off...I am glad for the warm sun! LOL!

[Grammy]

Good morning DollyCali. You have started me thinking about my dad, step dad and FIL.

My dad, Ray, was in Panama running radar during the war. It wasn't really bad duty, as my mom and older sister were allowed to go to Panama with him.

As far as I knew, neither my Father in law, Walter nor my step dad, Jim were in the armed services. Then, 4 years ago, shortly before he died, we found out that my father in law worked on the Manhattan Project (his 2nd wife blabbed) We were astonished and asked him about it. The only thing he ever said to us was "that's secret". That is literally the only two words he ever said about it.

We went back home, and talked about how amazing it was. Told my step dad all about it, and how he had never said a word.

Last September my step dad Jim died. His brother, while we were at the funeral, told us that Jim had worked on the Manhattan Project. I was flabbergasted!!! The snot never said a word to me, even when I was talking about my FIL!

Those guys knew how to keep a secret.

[DollyCali]

I don't know if the policy has changed since I was in water. That was just after dedication as I said. The subsequent two times I was there it was VERY COLD & so no one in water, wading, etc.

The Korean memorial is NOT new nor is the FDR but both are very impressive and worth seeing. All the memorials are relatively close proximity & can be walked in an afternoon.

It has been decades since I have walked to top of Washington Monument. So often it has scaffolding on it for one project or another & not sure it is open then. I want to go back up that one again.

[DollyCali]

Men often do a better job at keeping a secret I have observed over the years. Yours is a great story ..esp about your step dad's closed mouth even after you talking about FIL.. amazing.

I cant help wonder if it had to do with secrecy (it was well after declassification, I would guess) or maybe rather embarrassment that so many were killed from bomb...etc. Not all say "war is war" as we well know. They may have thought it better to say nothing than chance the assault/scrutiny they might receive from others

Here is Wikipedia's INFO on the Manhattan Project,

[swmobuffalo]

Thanks for the ping Dolly!

My WWII veteran is no longer with us. My father served 44 months ETO and passed away in August of 2003. He was part of a group of 13 cousins that served in the military starting with WWI and on through Korea.

I don't have a photo to post of him that I know of. I'll have to look through a bunch of disks to see.