Topic: WWII Vet

[dhall57]

A older gentleman came into work today and purchased 2 oil filters. As he was leaving I noticed the ball cap he had on said something like D-Day WWII Vet. I had to answer a few more phone calls and maybe 5 min. had gone by. And than all of a sudden something came over me and I had this gut feeling that was telling me to run out to the front of the building and try to catch this soldier and hero before he got out of the parking lot. Since he was a little slow in his step he had just got to his car and was pulling out of the parking space when I got to his drivers door. He rolled down his window and I could tell he wasn't quite sure what was going on with me. I told him I noticed his cap WWII Veteran and I just wanted to meet him, shake his hand, and thank him for his service and what he had done for this country. He very politely thanked me and shook my hand. We stood there and talked for a few minutes and he told me he was 90 years old. I only hope I live this long and can still get around as good as he does and have a firm grip as he. What a great generation his from and their getting fewer and fewer everyday. Meeting him sure made my day and maybe I brightened his a little bit to.

[edwardmorris]

I've had the privilege of meeting with one as well. In fact, I ended up selling him a mini van I spent a whole summer fixing up. Great generation, very nice guy in his late 80s but getting around great. He and his wife had just bought a Grand Voyagerfrom the stealerhip that set them back quite a bit, then he saw the FS sign on mine and flipped out. I had put in A LOT of effort getting that 2000 Grand Voyager back to like new condition. I'm talking steam cleaning carpets and refinishing the vinyl insides and an engine so clean you could make omlettes on it. He bought mine for a 3rd of what he paid for his, left it in storage and headed on to Florida for the winter. I hope he's still around and I run into him again.

[bwaller]

Very cool guys.

[grcamna2]

I loved reading the book 'Unbroken' about the true biography of Louis Zamperini;it was written by the same woman who wrote the book 'Seabiscuit',the one they made the movie about. Louis Z. is about 100 years 'young' if he's still 'kick'in'   
I think it's a 'must read' for anyone who wants to be inspired ! 

[faux fiddy]

I missed the 12th armored reunion this year. I have made it to three since my Father passed away, and made  all but one since 1997. They are my family.

[BobbyR]

My Father is a WWII Vet. He worked on the Manhattan project. My late Father in Law was in the second wave on D Day. When i was a kid everyone was a WWII Vet.  I think unlike Korea and Nam, they seemed to take ownership of the Country seriously. People seemed more willing to help each other out.

[dhall57]

Yeah Bobby when I was growing up just about all my kin folk I was around were WWII vets. also. Had a uncle that was at Pearl Harbor and my Dad was a paratrooper with the 82nd airborne. My Moms older brother was a marine and was killed on some island in the Pacific by a sniper. He was only 22 years old.

[vfourfreak]

Whenever I (re)watch the opening scenes on Saving Private Ryan I get the s**t scared right out of me. They were brave men, I know I would have been whimpering in the back of a landing craft.

Kev

[demon78]

I suppose because I am of an age I met a lot of vets mostly in the RCAF there were Lancaster, Wellington, Beaufort/Beaufighter Dakota/DC3, types but mostly didn't think any thing about them or the fact that some of them were retreads and during the war were commissioned I think we had at least a couple of ex Flight Lieutenants working as mechanics any how not much was made of it, oh there were a couple one of the guys flew with the desert airforce and was terrified of flying he'd been in at least 3 prangs another who'd been in the Pat's hated Germans and you learned not to prod certain people but mostly no one thought much about vets from ww2 it was more about ww1 vets.
Bill the demon.

[MoMo]

Whenever I see a WWII Vet I will go out of my way to thank and  speak with them, who where a very special generation of courageous gentlemen. One man I spoke with told me he was married and had a child but still enlisted.  I asked why he went in, his response was "the President called and I responded."  My father also was a WWII vet but never spoke about the war,, I found that a common trait among that generation, especially at the American Legion where I tended bar for a year or so...Larry

[70CB750]

I met my first US Vet in Pilsen, 1990.  There is a celebration every May since the government change and every year some veterans come to participate in the town they helped to liberate:

http://gretawire.foxnewsinsider.com/video/video-fox-11-goes-to-the-czech-republic-for-special-report-on-the-people-of-pilsen-honoring-american-veterans/

[flatlander]

my grandfather (who is alive, an incredibly tough guy but just recently became very fragile) and his younger brother fought side-by-side in WW2. the brother later emigrated to the US where he died several years ago, my grandfather stayed in budapest where my family's from.
my girlfriend's father, from an irish family in chicago, was aiming bombs - over budapest, of all places. go figure!

then there was my great-grandfather who just barely survived WW1, was dragged off the field with more shrapnel in his body than bones, stitched back together and retired from service. then when WW2 came he volunteered with a mechanised unit because he felt his place was with the boys who were fighting.

what a mess, but incredible people.

[vfourfreak]

I met a WWII vet in a bus in Munich one night in October 1981. I got on the bus after a skinfull at the Oktoberfest and noticed this old guy at the back looking like he was having a coronory. I went back to see what was the matter. My German is not great, but it always seems to get better after a few beers. I asked this guy if all was OK cause he was shaking rather violently. The poor bugger was actually sobbing and crying and proceeded to tell me how he regretted all the terrible things he had done in Russia during the war. This guy looked really ill and frail, though he could not have been more than 60, but I'd say that back in his day he could have been one tough bastaad. Anyhow, there was not much I could do to help him. I'm sure he lived in misery for the rest of his days.

Kev

[70CB750]

Reminds me of that joke:

 My grandpa was an electrician while he served in the WWII - his uniform carried lightning bolt insignia 

[flybox1]

My dad and his two brothers were all in the war.  My father was an MP, and part of the Internment camps in California/Arizona. His younger brother, part of the 10th Army, 96th Div,  was part of the landing party in the Battle of Okinawa.  Nothing but messed up stories about that battle.  My fathers older brother took part in the european campaigns.  They havent told me much about his encounters over there.

My dad will turn 92 on Saturday....

[vfourfreak]

Reminds me of that joke:

 My grandpa was an electrician while he served in the WWII - his uniform carried lightning bolt insignia 

eintritt nach vollendetem 17 lebensjahr ! Join at 17 be dead by 18. No pension benefits, but free funeral.

Kev

[Duanob]

great story Dhall! My next door neighbor is a WWII vet that was in on bomber raids over Germany towards the end of the war. He loved the B-17s so much he moved to Seattle to work for the company after the war. He just turned 90. Aweome guy I've known for 13 years as my neighbor.

Kind of a sad story: He was afraid of a big battle over his house between his real kids and his step kids so he turned over the house to his daughter with the intention that he could be taken care of for the rest of his days and be able to stay in his house. Well she moved her worthless son in to help take care of my neighbor and it didn't take too long before they just moved  Jack into a home and just recently sold the house for the money. I miss having Jack as my neighbor but I'm glad she and her son are moving out. absolutely worthless! Still pissed about how you can treat a vet that way, especially your own father.

[grcamna2]

Duane, I hope you get a chance to visit him in that home,it might cheer him a little.

[Bailgang]

I had a neighbor across the street that was a WW2 vet and oh boy the stories he could tell, he wasn't a quite/shy person but instead could talk your ear off. About a week before the Pearl Harbor attack he was on a ship that was a "sister" ship to the Arizona and he had gotten in an argument with an officer and he threw a punch at him. Another officer stopped him and told him he would be reassigned to another ship. That ship he was reassigned to left port and was out to sea when the attack took place so he was essentially out of harms way however the previous ship he was on just happened to be the Oklahoma which went belly up in the attack. The problem was that during the haste of his reassignment the Navy hadn't transferred his records yet and technically speaking was still on the Oklahoma so when he was nowhere to be seen after the attack (because he was out to sea on another ship) the Navy informed his family that he had died during the attack. He had no clue about the mishap of his records or that he had been reported dead until he got a chance to call home and his sister answered the phone who said "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!!!" followed by a thumping sound which turned out to be the sound of the phone banging the side of the wall because his sister fainted.

He passed a couple years ago but he was such a character that he won't be forgotten any time soon.

[grcamna2]

That sounds like a Great neighbor Bailgang 

[hoodellyhoo]

My next door neighbor is a WWII vet as well. Just turned 91 last week and lives by himself (widower). He's a real character and keeps me and my wife on our toes Haven't been able to talk to him much about his time in the service but I do know he was a welder on a boat in the navy.

[DanJ]

I've had the privilege of meeting with one as well.

Me too, my Father and 5 of my uncles

[BobbyR]

I grew up in the 1950's so every other guy in the neighborhood was a WWII Vet. You did notice they rarely spoke of it. They were proud of their Service but the guys that saw action spoke the least about it.

My Father in Law was from what I was told a quiet and gentle Man. He landed at Normandy in the second wave. His Brother and my Mother in Law told me that he would have nightmares. His brother says he told of wading through water that had turned red, pushing bodies out of the way while the Germans poured Artillery and machine gun fire down on them.

He was wounded and lost the hearing in one ear from a mortar shell that killed some of the guys he was with.

War can be necessary, but it is never clean or glorious. It is the lowest form of human behaviour and few if any come out of it the same way they went into it.   

[Duanob]

Duane, I hope you get a chance to visit him in that home,it might cheer him a little.

Going over tonight Bill, Thanks. yes it will cheer him up especially when my wife will bring him some tomatoes out of her garden and her gift of making elderly people feel special. Funny how the simple things in life will make people from that generation so happy.

[BobbyR]

Duane, I hope you get a chance to visit him in that home,it might cheer him a little.

Going over tonight Bill, Thanks. yes it will cheer him up especially when my wife will bring him some tomatoes out of her garden and her gift of making elderly people feel special. Funny how the simple things in life will make people from that generation so happy.

Especially since he feels abandoned and alone by the way his Family screwed him over. It is a good thing you are doing. All three of you will feel better from the experience.