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Thread: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

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    Last edited by No.401_Speed (YO-R); Nov-16-2016 at 10:15.

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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    You can be using with the Freetrack?

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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    1962- I was 15 years old when my next door neighbor let me handle his Thompson submachine gun, brought home after WWII. I didn't kill anyone even though I was unprotected by today's gun control laws. It was his opinion that 15 year old kids had no business hearing his war stories, so he didn't talk about it. He impressed me as a well grounded individual with life's priorities well in order.

    1967- I served with an USAF Chief Master Sergeant who had "Born the battle" as a WWII Infantry man. I recall his story about his recollection of his "First Time". With the enemy in his sights he pondered, "I wonder if this guy has a wife and kids?" His reply to himself was, "Well, I know I do.", as he squeezed the trigger. He impressed me as a well grounded individual with life's priorities well in order.

    1974- I met an old man on a park bench in Boulder, CO. He had been gassed in the trenches during WWI. No complaints... it was simply his duty to be there. He impressed me as a well grounded individual with life's priorities well in order.

    I hope a pattern is emerging regarding the character of most combat veterans.

    Since then, they have served in Korea, Viet Nam, the Cold War, the Falklands, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan and a plethora of places no less important, but simply obscured by the passage of time and media significance.

    This Memorial Day, let's remember them all!
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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    Shook hands with a 90 something year old artillery surveyor just before Christmas here in Canada. 90 something and still a solid hand shake.

    I was impressed as heck.


    There is also a British Para from WWII here in town. His house is painted sky blue and he has the Para poem on the side of his house.

    When I see him out and about I smile. I should go over and shake his hand next time.

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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    Quote Originally Posted by No.401_Speed (YO-R) View Post

    In the not too distant future, their generation will be gone and those of use who have served in their shadow will take their place as veterans or a hundred smaller wars and conflicts. That level of respect is due all of them as their efforts have been critical in maintaining peace. I had a discussion once with a Bosnian while I was on a six month tour with NATO, and she said that they had taken their peace for granted, and when war came, they lost everything. We have not, and I hope never will allow that to happen in our respective countries. Complacency leads to war, not preparedness.

    Happy Memorial Day long weekend to all our family and friends in the U.S.

    Attachment 22937Attachment 22938


    When I did basic at Wainright in 98 I heard stories of that war.


    Very, very dirty.


    To add to the stories.


    My grandfather jumped a wall in Holland and was in the trigger release of an MG42 gunner. Everyone on both sides was killed.


    My dad only found that out from a war buddy when he passed. He pulled shrapnel out of his body for years.

    He finally got knocked out of the war in 44 with a bullet in his chest. Went between he heart and lung and died as an old man with it still in there. Could not get it out.

    He joined the North Shore Regiment in 1938 as a Reservist so he was in it for a good while. I need to track his records as there are stories he transferred to the Camerons and did raids. Want to find out if there is any truth to those.


    He was at Dieppe and that could also be the trigger pull location. It was again from war buddies at his funeral to my dad so I'm third person relating it on now.


    Grandma got 4 telegrams home about him. Those we still have.

    Those messages had no detail. They mush have been terrifying........

    "Your husbands been wounded" That's just about it..


    I don't think he ever recovered from the war. I'm pretty sure it broke him. He hit the bottle and everyone else. It's the strength of my grandmas charachter that not one of her children passed that violence onto their own children. Not one.

    My dad's pretty awesome. Hit a kid or woman in front of him and he goes nuts..... I've always loved that about him. He always stands for what's right.



    A story about my other grandfather. Some dick stole his medals off his coat on bloody Remembrance Day. He left it in his car and someone took them.

    Some people..


    He was on all 4 of Canada's services and was a boy soldier. Army, Air Force then Navy. He was still in for the amalgamated forces and was buried at sea as on old man. He loved the Navy best and was a career officer.
    Last edited by 7./JG26_SMOKEJUMPER; Jun-04-2016 at 21:18.

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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    Quote Originally Posted by 71st_AH_badfinger (XR-B) View Post
    I had an uncle who was on a cruiser in the Pacific. A Kamikazi hit the ship, and burst a lot of steam pipes in the engine room. With all hatches sealed for combat, the trapped men died in a pressure cooker enviroment.

    My dad was in a division that sealed off Germans at the sub pens at St. Nazaire and Lorient, France. Without any way to escape, or be re-supplied, the Germans finally surrendered.

    One of my instructors at Navy photo school in 1964 was a Marine who survived the Bataan Death March.
    Jeez,

    I just remembered, my dads brother was on the USS Pennsylvania during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He survived. The ship was in dry dock at the time. Two destroyers (the Cassin and Downes) were behind it and were totally destroyed. There is a stock picture from the attack showing the three ships.
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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    "I just remembered, my dads brother was on the USS Pennsylvania during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He survived."

    That just jogged my memory. My Uncle Albert (mom's side) was an airman in the USAAC at Pearl Harbor on December 7. As I recall, he spent the rest of the war hoping around the Pacific as part of some kind of chemical warfare unit...I was never clear on exactly what these duties were. He never had kids of his own so when he passed a few years ago I ended up with his old medals, ribbons, and other knick knacks.

    Had a close friend of the family who was OSS in Europe, but he never spoke about his service for obvious reasons. I also had an electronics teacher in HS who flew PBYs in the Pacific but I never talked details with him (I was too busy goofing off).

    ~S~

    AKA Knutsac

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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    My grandfather (mother's side) who passed away in 2014 from a urinary track infection where he lived in Brazil was a WWII veteran. He would never talk in detail about his war experiences to anyone; memories from that time would rush back and torment him in the dead of night, when it was just him and his thoughts. He would always say to us youngsters to pay close attention to what society taught us because you never know when you might have use for that knowledge. There were two general statements that he did tell us about the war he fought in 1940 on the Dutch side: He said many soldiers in his company lost their lives because during the days of training they did not take them seriously and goofed off. He also said that the Germans fought very well.
    He was around 25 years old in 1940 and had received basic military training at the age of 18. He was the only person in his entire family of 14 to actually be drafted. His other brothers found ways to skirt the draft. Sometimes I wonder if his company was up against the 9th Panzer Division and if he was present in Rotterdam when the Germans carpet bombed the city from the air to force the stubborn Dutch to surrender which they did as a result of the threat. But since the German bombers were already on route to Rotterdam, the Germans were unsuccessful in calling it off. Since he was a farmer, after the surrender of The Netherlands in May 1940, the Germans allowed him to continue farming. I was told by his close relatives, that he took part in the underground resistance, accepting air dropped supplies from the Allies on his farm at night where he remained a farmer for the remainder of the war. A few years after the war, he and a buddy migrated to Uruguay to start a new life as dairy farmers. They started from scratch, even attempting to build their own cottage. They ended up going their separate ways, but things turned out well in the end. He worked for many a years as an employee at the local dairy farm. When he was around 42, he married for the first time to a nun-nurse who left the practice to be with him. She had also immigrated from The Netherlands. She convinced him to start his own dairy farm operation and so it went. They had a successful dairy business in Uruguay for just over two decades before they sold most of their cows/farm assets and moved to a Dutch colony in Brazil because of their deteriorating age.

    The last thing he ever told me was over the phone sometime in 2004 when he said to learn well because if you don't you'll always be lagging behind for the rest of your life. If only I had listened to him, for I now know it first hand.

    Every time I hear this composition I think of him and of the lost opportunity of the war experiences that he kept locked inside for the world to never know. But having said that, to this day I still believe I could have gotten him to open up about his war experiences if only I really showed I wanted to know and went through it with him, together.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG9-j3eevL4
    Last edited by Pareto; Jun-07-2016 at 01:00.

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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    Here's an old family story as recalled by my old memory:

    My Uncle Cecil was on duty, serving aboard an ocean-going tugboat in Pearl Harbor the morning of December 7, 1941. He related the grisly details of pulling casualties out of the water during and after the attack, but found there were few medical services available ashore due to the chaos of the attack and pre-war security. Many ambulances were "Locked up" to prevent theft and sabotage, and the keys were lost or otherwise inaccessible due to the enemy's assault.

    With his crew of American villains, he broke into the motor pool of one of the bases under attack and hot-wired the ignitions of the parked ambulances. We'll never know how many sailors owe there lives and limbs to that crew's non-regulation actions.

    So, in this case, crime did pay... big time!
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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    My wife's grandfather whom I had the pleasure of spending a fair bit of time with, served during WWII and took part in the landing on D-Day, Juno beach, 1st Battalion Regina Rifles, first wave.

    It was incredible to me to be in the presence of such a real life hero at the time. I cannot even begin to describe the respect that I thought he deserved. At the time, I was in my mid/late 20's, I wanted to ask sooo many questions pertaining to wartime activities but... The respect kinda curves the questioning.

    A few things that he told me... He was injured multiple times during the course of the war, bullet wounds to the foot, shoulder and to the butt cheek (We had some good lolz as I joked with him about the bullet in the ass and him running away). In regards to D-Day, he shared... "It was hell getting off that boat, the channel was blood red, my friends were falling in front and beside me". Him and another gent were tasked with carrying a ladder off their LCA, his partner was shot dead before his boots were even wet, he dropped the ladder and "I just had to keep going forward". That must have been really grilled into those boys' mind prior to the invasion.

    He was involved in some pretty serious fighting in Northern France and was eventually captured as a POW. Luckily, he was in Holland when it was liberated in May 1945.

    He passed in the fall of 2009.

    I was honored to be asked to be a Paul Bearer for his funeral and humbly accepted. It was a military funeral and prior to the proceedings I was approached by a Vet that he had served with. He shook my hand as he asked me "Are you one of the Paul Bearer's" to which I replied, "Yes I am". He then said, "I want you to know that what you are doing here today is a great, great honor. This is the bravest man I have ever known. I would not be here today to shake your hand if not for this man". I have never had anyone, ever, tell me something with more sincerity in there tone, eyes, face, than at that very moment. There was a story behind his words to me, a story I will probably never know. But whatever had happened, I knew that it had affected the man's hand I was shaking to the core.

    He was a good man. RIP

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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    Some years ago I've met at Mount Cassino some Grünen Teufel veterans. ( German paratroopers )
    There are several things, in particular, that have impressed me during the meeting:

    1) They were in average quite old but they had the " spark in the eyes " of a boy of 20 years old. They seemed old just in the body not certainly in their souls!

    2) I'm not a weak man ( nor little ) but every time one of them gave me his hand he makes me feel pain at the hand ( what a handshake at 90 years old! )

    3) A funny " incident " during the meeting: one of my friends with me asked to one of them the following: " Why do you think you have lost the battle at Mount Cassino? ".
    The reply of the German paratrooper was very decise..." We have not lost any battle at Mount Cassino, damn! We were forced to retreat because we were out of ammo or the Allies were still there trying to pass and defeat us! "

    What a temper after almost 60-65 years ( at that time ) after the war as ended!


    I've also met a lot of veterans in Normandy ( both Allies and Germans ) and Italy during reenactment meetings ( astonishing was the story told to me by an Italian paratrooper veteran of the Division " Nembo " of one of his unit close combat actions on the Italian front especially when he was describing his feelings while being very close to the enemy lines some minutes before the assault at night ) and I've personally met the Hauptsturmführer Erik Priebke in a house near Rome for an interview for the reenactment group at which I was belonging at that time ( despite what he could have done he was a very intelligent and smart elderly ).
    The grandfather of my wife was in the Regia Aereonautica in Sicily during WW2 as a " Specialist " ( mechanic ) and he told me many stories about it and before he departed in 2011 he gave me his WW2 Regia Aereonautica uniform.

    Last but not least when I was a child I've passed hours and hours with my grandfather talking about his " war stories " ( he was captured by the Allied troops at Anzio ) and that's probably the thing that have let start in me the great passion that I have for the arguments related to the WW2 and for the WW2 model-making and that have taught me a certain way of acting and behave in my life! Thanks grandfather you are always missing! ( he passed away in 2002 unfortunately )

    That's pretty much all my " experience " about this argument.


    P.S: out of interest...how many of you were " addicted " to play with plastic toy soldiers and plastic aircraft models when you were a child?
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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    Quote Originally Posted by Stab I./JG 51 - Mölders View Post


    P.S: out of interest...how many of you were " addicted " to play with plastic toy soldiers and plastic aircraft models when you were a child?
    Whhhhoomm....whhooommm...ttrrrr.....trrrr...trrrrr ...boooomm! booooom! boooooom!
    I still am!!

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    I remember one gent from my home town telling me "what can i say - it seemed to take a damn sight longer to get off the bloody beach than it had taken the navy to get me to it!"

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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    My father was in the Regia Aeronautica 274 squadriglia BGR as a gunner and Bombs releaser on the Piaggio P 108, the four engine italian bomber.
    He hardly talked about war, but he told me he took part of sorties above Gibraltar, Tunisia and in the end over Sicily, during Husky.
    September 9th 1943 his airfield was overrun by germans as a consequence of the armistice, he was then prisoner of germans, but managed to escape.
    Was captured by the germans again the following year, but was able to escape again thank's to the confusion generated by a couple of P47 that were going to strafe the trucks were he was transported.
    Managed to reach his home in Sardinia at the end of the war....his brothers and daughters hardly were able to recognise him, by the conditions he was, in particular the reduced weight....
    Last edited by FS~Fenice_1965; Jun-11-2016 at 02:25.

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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    Fenice...Please write here about your father....I and many others would like to read about him...He sounds like he had a fascinating story in the war...

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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    I've been lucky to have met quite a few and looking through some of my files here are some of the men I have met and interviewed:

    USAAF

    Art Fiedler - Pilot - P-51 Ace - 325th Fighter Group

    Barrie S. Davis Pilot - P-51 Ace - 325th Fighter Group

    Clarence Coonce - Armourer - 325th Fighter Group

    Ed Doss - Crew Chief - 325th Fighter Group

    Frank Bolek - Pilot - 325th Fighter Group

    Frank Mertely- Pilot - 325th Fighter Group

    George Hamilton - - Pilot - 325th Fighter Group

    Gordon H. Austin - Group Commander - Pilot - 325th Fighter Group

    Jack Evans - Crew Chief - 325th Fighter Group

    Jack Sherbourne - Pilot - 325th Fighter Group

    Jerry Edwards - Pilot - 325th Fighter Group

    John Gaston - Pilot - 325th Fighter Group

    Milton B Guy - Group Seargent - 325th Fighter Group

    Ray Woodstock - Pilot - 325th Fighter Group

    Tom Batey - Pilot - 325th Fighter Group

    Tom Orcutt - Group Photgrapher - 325th Fighter Group

    George Novotny - P-40/P-47 Ace- Pilot - 325th Fighter Group

    SAAF

    Ivor Worsfold - Gunner - B-24's - 31st/34th Squadron

    Michael Cauchi - Gunner - B-24's - 31st/34th Squadron

    Raymond Eaves - Gunner - B-24's - 31st/34th Squadron

    Trevor Watkins - Gunner - B-24's - 31st/34th Squadron

    William Gausden - Gunner - B-24's - 31st/34th Squadron SAAF

    RAF

    Eric Carter - Pilot - 81 Squadron RAF (flew with the Russiand at Mumansk as part of the lend lease)

    Ivan Castle - Lancaster Pilot (as well as other aircraft) - 100 Squadron

    Tim Elkington - Pilot and eventually Wing Commander - 134 Squadron




    Veterans I have met and chatted to:


    Joe Peterburs - Pilot - P-51 - 20th FG

    Walter Schuck - Pilot - Me262 and other aircraft

    Jim Brooks - P-51 - Pilot - 31st FG

    Clyde B. East - Pilot - 15th TRS - 10th FG

    Robert Goebel - Pilot - 31st FG

    Lowell Steward (Tuskegee Airman) - Pilot - P-40/47 and 51 332nd FG

    Ellis Beymer - Navigator - 490th Bomb Group

    Jorge Czypionka- Pilot - 109 Night fighter and Me-262

    Sal Del Valle - Pilot - C-46

    Wayne Downing - Pilot - A20 and A26 416th Light Bombardment Group

    Robert McCampbell - Pilot - Spitfires and Mustang 52nd Fighter Group

    Herb Prevost - Pilot - P-47 365th FG

    Les Reeker - Navigator - 490th BG

    Ben Robertson - Pilot- B-29 20th AF (flew missions over japan and Tokyo)

    Charles 'Norm' Stevens - Bombardier - B-17's of the 351st Bomb Group

    Chuck Sternburg - Pilot - Navy PBY-5 in South Pacific

    Jim Van Voorhis - Pilot - P-51 and P-61 of the 417th Night Fighter Squadron

    Hal Wilder - Co-Pilot - 485th BG on B-24's

    Leonard Zerlin - Gunner - 322nd BG on B-26's

    Sam Hardy - Soldier- Sergeant in the Worcester Yeomanry and was in the Horsa Gliders during the D-Day landings.




    I've been very lucky to have met some amazing men in private life but also for part of my work. I am sure there are more but these are the ones I have a record of

    Cheers, MP
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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    When I was 20 I lived in Brighton for some months.

    On my way to school I stopped at this little grocery shop to buy sandwiches for lunch, the owner was a veteran of the Battle of Britain. We talked a lot about his war stories, and told me how he was shot down over the channel, near France. Can´t remember his name, long time ago...

    I saw and shook hands with Adolf Galland in 1985, in a conference in Washington IIRC. I was so impressed that I even forgot to ask for an autograph.

    Alex

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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    In the early 90s I was a member of 77 Sqn RAAF and we celebrated our 50 yr anniversary at which quite a few of the WW2 and Korean War veterans attended. Can't recall any specific conversations but it was a good night. We painted one of our Hornets with the same nose art as WGCDR Cresswell had on his Kittyhawk and restored a Meteor to its Korean War livery - I think its now one of the gate guards at RAAF Base Wlliamtown ( almost wrote Willmington...).

    Ezzie

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  27. #48
    Manual Creation Group ATAG_Vampire's Avatar
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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    In the mid 1970,s I was in the RAF and serving on the personal staff of Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Michael Beetham ( an Air Vice Marshal at this time ). This was at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Belgium. Sir Michael, who sadly passed away in October 2015 at 92, was a young Lancaster pilot during WW2 and completed 30 'ops', including Berlin and Nuremberg.

    Although he did not talk to me about his wartime service a great deal, he did mention it in conversation as he was aware I was interested in this period of history. Also,as a matter of interest, Sir Micheal was the pilot of a Valient V-Bomber which completed the first non-stop flight to Cape Town in the late 1950,s. In addition he was the longest serving Chief of Air Staff (5 years or more) after Lord Trenchard, Father of the Royal Air Force.

    He was, to me, a very good 'boss'. Not that at my lowly rank did I ever call him that.

    Firm but fair and he always had time to listen. RIP.

    Another interesting senior RAF officer I met was Air Chief Marshal Sir Augustus Walker (retired). I do not recall when it was I met him but it was something to do with the RAF Rugby Association of which Sir 'Gus' was the president for many years.

    As a young Group Captain he was the Station Commander of RAF Syerston. In an attempt to save the crew of a Lancaster bomber with a bomb load problem he lost an arm. He was a small chap but but like a lot of people of diminished stature was big in character.

    Then there is my Father-in-Law who joined the Royal Air Force in 1936 as an electrical fitter but volunteered to be an air gunner when WW2 started. He flew in Fairy Battle bombers in France before Dunkirk and in Blenheims from late 1940 to 1942. He ended the war as a S/Ldr with a DFM. However, I think his storey is better told in ATAG_Lewis,s 'Tribute to those who Served'.

    ~S~ Vamps

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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    Quote Originally Posted by Alexunderpressure View Post
    When I was 20 I lived in Brighton for some months.
    I saw and shook hands with Adolf Galland in 1985, in a conference in Washington IIRC. I was so impressed that I even forgot to ask for an autograph.
    Alex
    The only famous person I ever met and asked a handshake from was this one... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UDylaymPdE
    (And I meet famous people daily at my place of work...)

    The only other person I asked a handshake from was an Auschwitz camp survivor who gave a talk about his experiences: http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/h...nnenbluck_1927
    His conclusion after surviving the camps. "I forget nothing. I forgive nothing."

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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    Quote Originally Posted by Oersted View Post
    The only famous person I ever met and asked a handshake from was this one... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UDylaymPdE
    (And I meet famous people daily at my place of work...)

    The only other person I asked a handshake from was an Auschwitz camp survivor who gave a talk about his experiences: http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/h...nnenbluck_1927
    His conclusion after surviving the camps. "I forget nothing. I forgive nothing."
    Those were quite some handshakes!

    Alex

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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    A handful, not many. I recall two stories in particular: the first one got drafted as a supply clerk in '43, but once someone found out he was a veterinarian assitant before, he ended up spending most of the war following Patton's headquarters around and brushing down the white horses used for show parades. The the bulge happened, the white horses got left behind during third army's counter attack, and he was a supply clerk again for the rest of the war. He was extremely proud of his role as the general's groom, though he never met the man personally.

    The other one got shipped to the pacific, never saw anything, and ended up staying around for the occupation of Japan - an experience he described as "the easiest women anywhere and a shoeshine boy for every GI". He stayed in for a touch, since occupation duty was pretty sweet, and got sent over with task force Smith to Korea. That's where they received their platoon sergeant, a long time pacific vet retread. As best I remember it, this NCO was the only guy in the platoon who had any clue what real fighting or even training was like, the rest had been living as exalted alleged policemen with no real jobs. The T-34's came barreling down, whatever artillery piece/AT gun was supposed to kill them sure as shit didn't, and the guy in the hole to his left bugged out. The PSG blew the guy's brains out with a .45 and told the rest of them that if they ran, they were next. They didn't run, and to this day he thinks that battlefield execution saved his life - a squad from a sister platoon decided to bail as the tanks were approaching, and got mowed down to a man when they tried to leave their holes.

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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    Quote Originally Posted by Cybermat47 View Post
    I've met a few, but not all that many. Just my Pa, a RAAF bomber pilot, and Chuck Yeager.

    I'm guessing that quite a few people here have met quite a few more veterans than me, though. So please, feel free to talk about the veterans you've met, and what they were like
    You make me feel old!

    As an RCAF 1950's - 1960's brat, I grew up with literally hundreds of them that stayed in the airforce even with reduced rank from combat days.

    Cats . . . .
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    but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP"
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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    My Dad enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1942 when he was 17. He was actually going to be sent to Bermuda (no such luck) and at the last minute he was told to choose between submarine or minesweeper duty in the Channel. He ended up aboard MMS (Motor Mine Sweeper) 27 ultimately sweeping offshore from the beaches
    prior to the D-Day landings - then later - off Dieppe and the Cherbourg peninsula.

    Believe it or not he was paid a little more than other seaman because minesweeping was considered more hazardous! - Hard to imagine hazard pay in a war!

    There are a number of stories he told me that I will pass on later as an edit to this post. I just happened to run across this thread and am on my way out the door.

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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    I met Robert K. Morgan, pilot of the "Memphis Belle" a year or so before he died in 2004. He gave me an autographed pic of the Belle which now hangs in the Maine Air Museum at the Bangor International Airport, Bangor Maine (formally Dow AAFB WWII). Dow Airfield was the last stop in the USA when he and his crew flew the Memphis Bell to England. He told me at that time that he got his crew to agree to the A/C name (after his sweetheart) in a Bangor pub (Silver Dollar Cafe) after so many pints that they would agree to anything.

    Later around 2008 I was able to fly in the B17 "Sentimental Journey" on tour in Maine by the Commemorative Air force (a birthday present to me by my wife). I was able to sit in all positions except pilot, co-pilot and tail gunner positions. It was about a 20 minute flight around Mt. Desert Island, Bar Harbor, Maine. A real thrill I won't forget.
    ASUS GB20CB Intel I-7 w/Nvidia Geforce GTX 1070, ASUS Swift PG279Q (3), VKB GF/KG12, CH Pro throttle, MFG Crosswind Rudder, EDtracker Pro

    [SIZE=1]"When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth" -S. Holmes-

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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    A couple of years ago I was on a flight from Frankfurt to Johannesburg and I was reading a book by Anthony Beever called the Battle of Kursk (or something like that). And older man was sitting next to me and I felt him constantly looking me and the book.

    At one point I looked up and met his eyes and he asked me if I liked these kind of books about ww2 and tank battles.
    I answered yes and that this book is about the battle of Kursk, the biggest tank battle in history.
    He replied with his german accent - Yes, I know, I was there...

    I slowly closed to the book and felt a bit stupid. He told many intresting stories He had been a tank commander on Tiger tank. One could really tell he was a proud old man. His english was great as he now lived in South africa with his wife.

    It was a very memorable flight!

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  36. #56
    Public Relations ATAG_Marlow's Avatar
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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    Quote Originally Posted by Kling View Post
    A couple of years ago I was on a flight from Frankfurt to Johannesburg and I was reading a book by Anthony Beever called the Battle of Kursk (or something like that). And older man was sitting next to me and I felt him constantly looking me and the book.

    At one point I looked up and met his eyes and he asked me if I liked these kind of books about ww2 and tank battles.
    I answered yes and that this book is about the battle of Kursk, the biggest tank battle in history.
    He replied with his german accent - Yes, I know, I was there...

    I slowly closed to the book and felt a bit stupid. He told many intresting stories He had been a tank commander on Tiger tank. One could really tell he was a proud old man. His english was great as he now lived in South africa with his wife.

    It was a very memorable flight!
    Hi Kling.......what an amazing story! I don't blame you if you maybe felt a little 'small' when you realised you were sitting next to this man. He was a giant.....a very brave man, who faced up to his fears and overcame them! I think we would all feel exactly the same. I often think that my generation (I am just turned 60) have been very lucky. Many of us haven't had to face up to a world war or any real crisis and faced with the incredible bravery of men such as the person you met.... we would all feel very insignificant, I'm sure! Thanks for sharing.

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  38. #57
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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    I have two instances that stick in my mind. One was a chap called Bill Lucas (I think I have posted on here before somewhere about him).
    A truly incredible man who I had the pleasure of sitting with in his house looking at his old pictures and logs.
    Flew 81 missions with bomber command which in itself is quite some feat.

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...living-1172832

    The other was around 10 years ago, I was in Normandy for the D-Day celebrations. On a trip to Pegasus bridge I was in the museum part looking at some squad photos of the guys who went in on the gliders when I noticed a chap standing next to me also looking very intently at these pictures.
    Turns out he was in the picture I was looking at and he proceeded to talk me through the events and showing me how many of his men in the picture died on the first day.
    Harrowing and humbling at the same time.

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    Veteran Combat pilot Hurricane's Avatar
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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    Two uncles, D-Day. One uncle Western Desert and Italy and one uncle Burma, British Army NCO with the Gurkha's.

    My paternal grandfather, fought on the Western Front 1914 - 1918.

    First with the Welch Regiment and then transferred to the Machine Gun Corps, in 1915 when it was formed.

    Best regards,
    Mike.
    The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.

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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    Grandfather in bomber command, started off in blenheims, tour in stirlings and then shot down during second tour on Lancs and became a POW (he always said it's better to be born lucky than rich, he's right), great uncle fought in Burma, other grandfather showed bravery of a different kind and was a concientious objector (religious grounds) and so served as an air raid warden in London.

  41. #60
    Supporting Member LuseKofte's Avatar
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    Re: Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

    My grand killed some Austrian Gebriktjaegers , one in close combat in Mountains north of Narvik where I was born in 1940, I sailed with a Commando and many who sailed in convoys, witch I call veterans any day of the week, some of them was torpedoed numerous of times. I met one pilot once, flying Spin in 1943to wars end in a Norwegian squadron

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