Who here has met WWI and WWII veterans?

[Cybermat47]

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

[RAF74_Buzzsaw]

Met quite a few... US, British, Canadian and German.

Most of them are quite elderly now... and unfortunately have considerable health problems. Most of the ones I met have died.

All of the pilots I met had one thing in common, a zest for life, a 'can do' attitude, and a lack of fear... or at least the ability to suspend their fear when they had to do something dangerous. They all said they were afraid, (mostly before they took off) but didn't let that interfere with their ability to fly in combat.

They were all quite admirable... 'Men' in the truest sense of the word.

[thee_oddball]

Bill is moving out of our building and into assisted living , he is a WW2 navy vet and this week he has been cleaning out his condo, I caught him in the lobby putting a couple of books down and when I asked why he said he thought it was a shame to throw them out ( 1. a book of the WW2 memorial 2. a book about military aircraft) I flipped open the 2nd book and said that's a corsair and that's a A6 intruder a big smile came over his face and he told me he stood on the deck as the corsairs took off.

I think he was happy because someone of my generation took such an interest in his generation, I have known Bill for over a decade and he seems to have a sense of class and mannerisms that give me the impression that he comes from a generation of....dare I say, high quality!
from model A fords up to rovers on mars, their generation has seen a lot.

[PhoenixCNE]

My Grandfather was quite a young man and was only part of the occupation forces in the Philippines but nonetheless has quite a few good stories and some pretty neat mementos. He made sure us grandkids knew and respected what the men before him had to endure.

[ATAG_Lewis]

Some great stories above....

I spoke with a few WWII vets in my youth...You could meet them in any pub in the UK in the late 70s and they all had a story to tell...Always wish I had spent more time with them....

I remember when I was travelling around France and ended up in a bar and spoke with a resistance fighter...He told me of a few of their night time activities and of one occasion when they got caught and ran..he was in his teens but was with older chaps from his town...A couple of the chaps got separated from them and disappeared that night and only turned up a few days later with bullet wounds and floating in the local river..

Check this for more...

A Tribute to Those Who Served

[Mysticpuma]

I have had the honour of meeting quite a few in my effort to document the story of the 325th Fighter Group "The Checkertail.Clan". Go to Google and type on "Checkertails Vimeo" and both documentaries will be linked. Part 3 is due out in the next couple of months.
In all I have sat and interviewed on camera many veterans, not all from the 325th, another group I helped a friend in South Africa interview was the Bomber Crews of B-24's of the 31st and 34th SAAF.

Also Eric Carter who flew Hurricanes with 81 Squadron alongside the Russians in Murmansk and Vaenga.

So many have now passed but I have their memories preserved and it has been an honor to meet so many.

Cheers, MP

[Sokal]

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

Most notably I met a Whirlwind pilot and a US armored intel officer about 30 years ago.

[TWC_SLAG]

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.

[TWC_SLAG]

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.

[AKA_Knutsac]

"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

[Pareto]

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

[EAF51_Jimmi]

During a FRECCE TRICOLORI AIRSHOW EAF51 met a CR42 veteran and let him fly it on the old il2!

He was very pleased!


Captain Marchetti

[EAF51_Jimmi]

During a FRECCE TRICOLORI AIRSHOW EAF51 met a CR42 veteran and let him fly it on the old il2!

He was very pleased!

[JimmyBlonde]

I met an RAAF Lancaster Wireless Air Gunner who dropped Window over the channel during Overlord and participated in the daylight RAF raids at the end of the war. He told me about finding a B-17 over England on the way home from a night raid once, they pulled up along side and somehow communicated to each other that early in the morning is a good time to do a bit of bomber drag racing. They toyed with the B-17 pilot for a while, watching him sweat to keep up before opening the throttles and leaving him well behind. He also told me about the menace of Me-410's during the daylight raids who would sit back out of range and lob rockets and cannon at them. He also had a German pistol that was given to him by the pilot of an Fw-190 who defected and landed at their airfield near the end of the war.

Another guy I met was a Rat of Tobruk, he showed me some nice photos of Erwin Rommel addressing the troops from his Kubelwagen. He had taken these pictures from the body of a dead Italian soldier. He didn't say much about Tobruk or any other battles and I wasn't inclined to ask him for details since his inheritance of those photographs said enough really, this bloke was a real soldier.

I also had the pleasure of dinner with a Bomber Command Lancaster pilot although we didn't speak that much about his time in the RAF. He was more active during 1942-43 so I was reluctant to press him for details since I am aware of the stresses put on the RAF in this period. He did tell me the truth about carrots and "Scare Shells" however. The carrot anecdote is fairly well known so I won't go over it but the scare shell one is worth relating.

There had been a rumour in Bomber Command since 1941 that the Germans were using some huge artillery shell to create a great blast that was supposed to simulate a fully laden bomber exploding from a direct flak hit in order to break the nerve of other crews. Crews would return to base with stories of huge blasts that lit up the night sky and could be heard from miles away.

Needless to say, the Germans were using no such thing and anyone with an imagination can deduce what these "scare shell" explosions actually were. Apparently the Air Staff kept the rumour going to hide the truth.

[RAF74_Buzzsaw]

There had been a rumour in Bomber Command since 1941 that the Germans were using some huge artillery shell to create a great blast that was supposed to simulate a fully laden bomber exploding from a direct flak hit in order to break the nerve of other crews. Crews would return to base with stories of huge blasts that lit up the night sky and could be heard from miles away.

Needless to say, the Germans were using no such thing and anyone with an imagination can deduce what these "scare shell" explosions actually were. Apparently the Air Staff kept the rumour going to hide the truth.

The RAF Night Bombing casualties were quite horrific... the crews had very little chance of surviving a tour if they started it in 1942 or 1943. This was especially the case when the the Germans introduced their "SchrageMusik", ('JazzMusic') 45 degree upward firing cannon setups on the Bf-110's and Ju-88's, as the fighters could approach almost unseen, and the weapons were very effective, as the rounds went right up into the bomb bay and gas tanks... explosions were almost instantaneous. (if the fighter was too close it could take damage)

The Lancaster was very quick and maneuverable bomber, easily superior to a B-17 or B-24, it could be thrown into maneuvers which would put a USAAF heavy into a spin. Which was why a "Corkscrew" dive was the standard evasion maneuver whenever a fighter was sighted... usually worked if the fighter was sighted before it fired.

[=FI=Murph]

Too many to name them all. When I was growing up during the 50's and 60's, it was still recent history. My dad served as a nose gunner/gunner's mate on PBYs patrolling the Gulf of Mexico, and spent his second tour as ground crew servicing F4Us on Espiritu Santu, East of the Solomons.
My Great Uncle was with the 1st Infantry Division, and saw action in North Africa, Normandy, Market Garden, etc. though his worst experience was liberating one of the death camps. Another of my Great Uncles was lost when his ship was torpedoed in the North Atlantic. I worked with many WWII vets in various jobs over the years, and met several WWI vets as well, one of whom was my landlord years ago.
Growing up, everyone I knew had a dad who served. Our neighbor across the street had survived the Bataan Death March, and years of subsequent imprisonment, but he never regained his health and passed away when I was still quite young.
While staying overnight at a friend's house while in my late teen's, his Dad woke up yelling in the night. My friend said, "Oh, he's just remembering that night on Okinawa". This would have been almost thirty years after the fact.

"Sole survivor,
You wouldn't even see him in a crowd.
The family man waits in a que to draw his pension.
Nursing memories of a life,
he can't bring himself to mention."

[TWC_SLAG]

The RAF Night Bombing casualties were quite horrific... the crews had very little chance of surviving a tour if they started it in 1942 or 1943. This was especially the case when the the Germans introduced their "SchrageMusik", ('JazzMusic') 45 degree upward firing cannon setups on the Bf-110's and Ju-88's, as the fighters could approach almost unseen, and the weapons were very effective, as the rounds went right up into the bomb bay and gas tanks... explosions were almost instantaneous. (if the fighter was too close it could take damage)

The Lancaster was very quick and maneuverable bomber, easily superior to a B-17 or B-24, it could be thrown into maneuvers which would put a USAAF heavy into a spin. Which was why a "Corkscrew" dive was the standard evasion maneuver whenever a fighter was sighted... usually worked if the fighter was sighted before it fired.

They were careful to not hit the bomb bay. The fuel tanks were their target.

I think it was Schnaufer (sp?) who is supposed to have shot down a Lancaster as it did a corkscrew. He was below it, and shot it down, in the dark, using jazz music, while both a/c were upside down.

[LuseKofte]

The Lancaster was very quick and maneuverable bomber, easily superior to a B-17 or B-24, it could be thrown into maneuvers which would put a USAAF heavy into a spin. Which was why a "Corkscrew" dive was the standard evasion maneuver whenever a fighter was sighted... usually worked if the fighter was sighted before it fired.

Nightfighter pilots flying BF 110 with radar antenna reported they could not follow a Lancaster in a corkscrew maneuver even if they wanted to. The antennas made the plane respond to late and when the bomber turned the 110 just flew straight and overshot.
But usually night-fighters aborted their attacks as soon as they where discovered and attempted to find a new target. The rear turret of a Lanc was respected.

As far as the veterans goes I met one commando in sailor school back in 1982 and my granddad. The latter had 1 polish, 1 french and 1 Norwegian medal, but he refused to talk about the war. So his service is not known within the family

[TWC_SLAG]

I met an RAAF Lancaster Wireless Air Gunner who dropped Window over the channel during Overlord and participated in the daylight RAF raids at the end of the war. He told me about finding a B-17 over England on the way home from a night raid once, they pulled up along side and somehow communicated to each other that early in the morning is a good time to do a bit of bomber drag racing. They toyed with the B-17 pilot for a while, watching him sweat to keep up before opening the throttles and leaving him well behind. He also told me about the menace of Me-410's during the daylight raids who would sit back out of range and lob rockets and cannon at them. He also had a German pistol that was given to him by the pilot of an Fw-190 who defected and landed at their airfield near the end of the war.

Another guy I met was a Rat of Tobruk, he showed me some nice photos of Erwin Rommel addressing the troops from his Kubelwagen. He had taken these pictures from the body of a dead Italian soldier. He didn't say much about Tobruk or any other battles and I wasn't inclined to ask him for details since his inheritance of those photographs said enough really, this bloke was a real soldier.

I also had the pleasure of dinner with a Bomber Command Lancaster pilot although we didn't speak that much about his time in the RAF. He was more active during 1942-43 so I was reluctant to press him for details since I am aware of the stresses put on the RAF in this period. He did tell me the truth about carrots and "Scare Shells" however. The carrot anecdote is fairly well known so I won't go over it but the scare shell one is worth relating.

There had been a rumour in Bomber Command since 1941 that the Germans were using some huge artillery shell to create a great blast that was supposed to simulate a fully laden bomber exploding from a direct flak hit in order to break the nerve of other crews. Crews would return to base with stories of huge blasts that lit up the night sky and could be heard from miles away.

Needless to say, the Germans were using no such thing and anyone with an imagination can deduce what these "scare shell" explosions actually were. Apparently the Air Staff kept the rumour going to hide the truth.

I think they were actually called "scarecrow" shells. And, yes, they were really bombers blowing up. Get Len Deightons "Bomber" for a terrific read.

[ATAG_Flare]

Wow! What a story! He sounds like he would have been a great man to talk with. Interesting story about the machine guns! And I didn't realise that the Russians held the Germans captive for such a long time after the war! Wow!

[Flatlander]

I recently annotated and self-published my grandfather's personal war diaries. He was a chaplain (honorary Captain) with the Canadian Armed Forces - Royal Regiment of Canada. England - France, Belgium, Holland, northern Germany.
There were some stories in there.... like being bombed by RAF heavies during operation Tractable at Haut Messil quarry. Not good.


Cheers,
Flatlander

[JanoD]

This is the story of my grandpa. It's google translated,because it's written in slovak. I don't know the man who has wrote his story, but at this is first time I'am starting to understand all those stories which my grandpa told us when I was young boy.
He died quite few years ago, but I remember him as a very principled, strict but yet very kind man.

https://translate.google.com/transla...-text=&act=url

[TWC_SLAG]

Wow! What a story! He sounds like he would have been a great man to talk with. Interesting story about the machine guns! And I didn't realise that the Russians held the Germans captive for such a long time after the war! Wow!

Eric Hartman, Herman Graf, and several other aces spent 10+ years as "guests" of the Russians.

[breeze]

My dad, 3 campaigns Marine 1st Div. Guadacanal, Pelelieu, Okinawa, My friend Mr. Tafoya Survived the Batann Death March, the Hell ships, and coal mines of Japan, My neighbor Mr. Watkins flew C-47 pulling gliders first wave D-Day and went back and flew a glider over later in the day...

[Oersted]

Eric Hartman, Herman Graf, and several other aces spent 10+ years as "guests" of the Russians.

Hartmann was sentenced to ten years in the camps for the bullets he fired during dogfights perhaps hitting civilians on the ground, i.e. a "war crime". Yup, no love lost between the Germans and the Soviets...

[No.401_Speed (YO-R)]

post deleted

[7./JG26_SMOKEJUMPER]

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.

[Gustavo Henrique]

You can be using with the Freetrack?

[Baffin]

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!

[7./JG26_SMOKEJUMPER]

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.