My grandfather was drafted.  I don't think he was excited about that.  He actually was deaf in one ear, and was medically ineligible- but he faked his way through the hearing test.  He thought he would be looked down on if he wasn't in the service.

He served as a meterologist in Africa for the air corp.

PS..Fobbit?

No, Cav Scout.

Thanks for your service brother.

^This. There have been men and women of this caliber for every generation.

And thank you for yours.

I just didn't understand the way you worded your post.

Loud, dirty, mentally and physically demanding. Ummmmm those things are all awesome.

 






























 

4 times.

AND did the worst job in child raising of any American generation.

 

You say 'they created'

Gotcha, sorry about my earlier comment, thought this was some post criticizing how modern vets return with a lot of problems, comparing WW2 to now..etc...I know..far stretch, but i gotcha now

Having relatively established lines and uniformed enemies does have its appeal....

That I wish I lived in.

These Obama pussies make me not like the time I live in anymore.

"Pop" as we called my grandfather never really talked about the war.

We have his photo album of pictures from during the war.

I asked him why he didn't have any pictures from the actual time spent fighting when I was younger.

He looked at me and said, "Son, there are certain things in life you just don't want to take pictures of as it does nobody any good, and I left my camera on the boat "

I never asked again.

I have the album, I need to scan the pictures one of these days, always thought it was kick ass to see Pop posing with a Thompson and smoking a cig while at sea.

Cmon rustedace, I'm not a writer aight! BTW how you been you magnificent Marine bastard?

Those guys didn't just go home and get on with life without complaint.  They had just as much trouble as later generations, and there is just as much heroism in the later generations.

I get what you are trying to say, but it's just not really true.

I think he's got the figures right, but the definitions wrong.  I think WWII vets had a 25% higher suicide rate than non vets, and a 50% higher alcoholism rate.

From the anecdote files:  My father's father was a Marine in the Pacific during WWII, and after the war turned into a raging alcoholic.  He slit his wrists in a bathtub while Dad was in OCS.

Sell  me the wood grips off your Angel pb gun, nao.

Not to take away anything from them, but most of them were drafted into service.  Not sure that could qualify as "nary a complaint".








 

Damn.

Changing barrels on those mg42's is awesomely quick.

I'm gonna go play some IL-2 Sturmovik and fearlessly battle in the skies over Europe while I use my steely nerve to dodge flak exploding in every direction!!!!



















...while the dog attempts to go to sleep on my lap

Errrr.  as much respect as I have for those men...many drank themselves to death, became abusive, etc...they had PTSD and who could blame them.  They paid a very high price...even those who survived.
The fact is we didn't have a firm grasp of mental illness until the early 70's.

I think your portrait of them returning home with no complaints is inaccurate.

I tell my next door neighbor all the time that his generation saved the world, (he was a waist gunner on a B-24 and survived 20 missions over Germany). He just shakes his head and says, "it was a different time".  

I knew a bunch of the old guys around home that were in the military in WW2.  Seems most were Marines, some Navy.

They told stories about funny things that happened during their preparation training but I never heard them tell stories about the landings or the jungle fighting.  Stories about bar fights?  Yes.

Those old guys got married (some a couple of times), had kids and raised them, worked in the mines and went back to hunting and fishing as they'd done prior to the war.  I never heard them blame the war for any issues they had after it.  I think all the guys I knew are gone now.

I know a couple that went through a lot in Korea.  Again, they'll tell stories about things that happened in camp, things that happened to other people, mistakes they made, etc.

No firefight/combat stories, not really.  They've told me they went on patrols with their M1 Garands with a full ammo belt, a clip on the sling, a clip in the rifle and two bandoleers.  They've told me about some things around the edge of combat (relieving a Turkish outfit on the front lines and having to clean up all the stinking dead bodies of North Koreans/Chinese that the Turks had killed and let lay all around them.  They told me about losing a buddy to a mine (probably only because one of them was supposed to drive their CO to Bn. HQ. that day in the jeep but got sick so the buddy volunteered to drive that morning.  The mine killed him and the CO.)  One of them told me he remembered two things about his M1.  He said, "It was heavy and it killed good.  It killed rear good."

Those two (brothers, twin brothers actually) came home from Korea and got married and raised families and worked in the coal mines till they retired.  No alcohol problems.  They are both very religious.

I'm not sure the guys in WW1, WW2 and Korea had to live/fight under some of the stupid rules the guys have to today.  Those were wars.  We knew they were wars and they were fought to win.  Today our government is afraid/unwilling to call a terrorist attack what it is and afraid of upsetting the very people who want to kill our soldiers.  How in the hell can you fight a battle/war when you're afraid of pissing off the enemy?

I think the men like my Dad and his friends who served in WW2 - most were draftees - were great men.  But just men who were available and willing to do what was needed by their country at the time.  My Grandfather on my Mom's side lied about his age and joined the Navy in WW 1.  My Uncle was a missleer thru the 60's - very interesting.  A cousin was a Green Beret in Vietnam.  

All these were/are great men to me.  And they all bore the scars of their experiences, some better than others.

There are a lot of great men here today who can fall in with any of the above.  Men who have been places, seen and done things no one else has or could have done.  Let's not forget who labeled one generation "The Greatest Generation".  He was a libtard journalist - not a respected historian or one even knowledgeable about the world of the US military and its men.  Truthfully, he is one that is part of the worst segment of his generation.  Each generation has one and there are no exceptions.  

While my undying respect will always be given to my predecessors who have done so much for this nation, I hold the same undying respect for those of my generation and my son's generation who have met the challenges and born the burden of their service for us all.  

Combat has changed over the years and will continue to evolve or REvolve with the ebb and flow of events around the world.   I don't know too many that would say any form of it is better than the other but I believe I would rather have today's medical capability available.

Yep. They had the very best of intentions, and were certainly phenominal providers, but they were also short-sighted. But then again, who the hell could have forseen the clusterfuck that the country has become?

As for the "nary a complaint" part...a hell of a lot of those guys took years to get over the things they had seen & done. Some of them never were able to put it past them.

My uncle rarely talked of WWII combat, the weather, the countryside, the privations, rarely combat. He did tell my Dad once in the 60's that he layed an his belly on Omaha Beach and saw doors on landing craft drop and not one man would survive. They would be completely eviscerated by German machinegun fire. He went from Omaha beach to Germany without any serious injuries.

A few weeks ago an older gentleman came into the store and asked me for help finding ammo for his old nigh-antique Rossi revolver.  I helped him as best I could, and then near the end of the conversation he mentioned something about the war.  It slowly came out that he had served in the Navy during the island hopping through the Pacific.  I showed him an Auto-Ord Thompson, and he began relating stories from serving aboard the landing craft...apparently one of his buddies managed to ND most of a stick mag through several compartments without hurting anyone or getting keelhauled, and that was found to be quite hilarious after the fact.  He didn't have much to say about the landings, except to get quiet and tear up a bit.  Said that he just didn't have much use for guns after the end of the War, and what can you say to that?

I agree with all that, but on the other hand some of our grandfathers (even some that were brave heroes in that war) voted in more left wing governments, voted for financially unsound entitlement programs, and raised a spoiled generation who's seeds of destruction are still with us today.  Let's look at that generation with both eyes open.  

My dad was in a family of 6 kids during the depression. He also served in WW2. Got to the beach on D-Day+3. Still lots of crap going on. Froze his a$$ off in the winter time. Was one of the many that got caught behind the lines in the Battle of the Bulge. Told a story of how he avoided getting shot by a German patrol by hiding in a wine cellar. Didn't mention what he had to do to the occupants of the house above. We didn't ask, he didn't say. Whenever The Longest Day would come on TV, he'd go do something else. There were certain town names in France (St. Mary Gliese?) that would be mentioned in the TV show that he would visibly change his demeanor and clam up about. He obviously witnessed things first hand that normal people would not want to know about. I have one picture of him holding a captured Nazi flag from the town his group liberated. That's it. One of the few "war stories" he told was one episode where the only thing he had with him was his rifle and a rosary in his pocket trying to get back to his lines. He walked across an open field and when he got to the other side he saw a metal sign that had fallen off the hedgerow fence. It said "Minen!". That's when he knew that a higher power was watching over him.

My dad was a conservative, raised 3 conservative kids, and had several conservative grandkids before he passed away. Not all in his generation were like him, but most were. Many of the things "the greatest generation" fought for both on and off the battlefield were given freely to their children, who, sadly have taken for granted many of those things and the attitude that led to their acquisition to begin with. The baby boomers' kids, two generations removed from the Normandy beach commandos, are now the occutards and FSA crowd that we see infesting so many places. There is hope, however, as I saw many, many of our young people who, when 9/11 came around went down either to the Red Cross to give blood, or worked at a donation center. Others went to their recruiter. There are still those Americans who are willing to put their lives on the line for freedom. Thank God for them and may he watch over them now as he did then.

Absolutely.

The quality of our Soldier today is as good as it was in 1941-1945. Anybody saying otherwise is full of shit.

Thank you for stating what I was attempting to.

Worth repeating.

My grandfather was told. Act normal and you will be normal. Back then it was under the rug. Now days it's wear your feelings on your sleeve.

I am kind of torn over which was right.

Yeah we don't have unions shutting down whole cities, just businesses.

Social Security came out in 1937 IIRC. In fact, most of the people who fought in the war were too young to vote for it I bet. Did they vote for dems aftewards? Sure, some of them did. Some of them did not. Do not paint with such a broad brush.

Romanticized bullshit. Lots of WWII vets had problems adjusting post war. There was all the problems associated with PTSD. Suicide, alcoholism, joblessness, homelessness, divorce, domestic violence, nightmares, depression, social isolation.



 

Both of my Grandfathers were Infantry, Pacific, Solomons, they had nightmares and alcohol abuse problems till the day they died....My Granddad H, scared the shit out of me, I never wanted to be alone with him, mean as hell.....they did what they had to do...but to think they didnt have issues when they returned is incorrect.

Thank you for being honest. My grandad was a medic with the 82nd from 42-45, end of war. He too suffered and lost. May he find peace in eternal silence.

I just finished reading a book on Rommel written by an American Military Intelligence guy.  During an interrogation of a German soldier who fought on both fronts he asked what was it like to fight the Russians compared to the Americans.  He said that the Russians would keep on advancing through artillery and machine gun fire until they closed to hand to hand combat range.  The German soldier said in the months he spent on the Western front, he never once saw an American soldier until he surrendered.  He did see a lot of American planes performing close air support, and a lot of American artillery.  

 

NKVD magic ?!

The Wehrmacht at the peek of his might in front of you,NKVD units behind you and politcommissar next to you.



 

My Grandfather was a SEABEE in the Solomons among other landings.  Gave up drinking when I was born under the threat of never being able to see his grandchild if he continued.





Apparently he turned into a raging asshole drunk when he came back from overseas.  Same with my Grandfather on my Dad's side.  Same with MOST of the males in my Family that went over.  



 

Damn, exactly what I was gonna say.

My grandpa fought in the pacific and lost part of his foot. Didn't make a big deal out of it.

He also was one of those guys who was a union stiff who voted Dem., because back in those days, they believed they were the party
of the working man.

My, how things have changed.

Funny you should say that.

My grandpa came back from the pacific hooked on morphine. He also was a bad drunk until all us grandkids were born. For some reason,
he cleaned up his act in the late 60's, early 70's.

I really wish I would have talked to him more in depth about the war. I remember hearing the stories as a kid, but kids generally don't give
a shit about wars that happened 25 years before their birth.

He died when I was 20, and it wasn't until my 30's that I really got interested in history. Oh well.

Welfare state huh?  I think what everybody else sees, and you don't, is the type of individuals these men were. Their personal character. They didn't come home and say, HEY, LETS TURN IT INTO A WELFARE STATE!, They came home, had some fun, got a job and raised families. You sir, are just pathetic, and your rhetoric is unwanted here.

Bashing WWII vets? How low can you go?

They raised a generation of pampered, insulated adolescent adults who turned against their value system when they became young adults and many of them embraced Communism, Liberalism and Anarchism.

They embraced a culture of drugs, lack of accountability, lack of patriotism and a lack of pride in their Nation.  On the other side of that, the "conservatives" became selfish executives, Wall Street Capitalists and credit abusers.

Most of the Baby Boomers ushered in high divourse rates, high credit debt, absolutely terrible parenting, disconnection from family, and basically just selfish, self serving behavior.

And the children they raised are even worse, generation X and Y are struggling now with no moral compass, no sense of family and just basic grounding.  

Generations who seem like they are trying to continually "find" themselves.

My parents are of the "conservative" Baby Boomers, and they act like they are 18 again, most of the time when I call they are never home.  

When I do reach them, Mom continually talks about her friends, and going on vacations, they avoid other family members and to this day have yet to ever come and visit me.

My Grandfather passed when I was 8 or so, he was in WA state with my Nana and mom's entire side, I grew up in CA where we lived by my Dad's side of the family. We went up to WA every year. I still remember my Papa's tattoos, an Eagle on one forearm for his service, an Anchor on his other for his twin brother's service.

Papa served in the 134th IR and fought from Normandy D+20 through Germany VE Day. He hardly ever talked about it to anyone that I know of. I remember asking him if he was a Hero and him clamming up. I was to young to understand.

he helped capture St. Lo and a few others. He would make rank and get busted down just as fast for telling officers where to go if they wanted him to do something suicidal.
two stories I know:
Papa was providing covering fire for his troops so he set up in a window sill, laid his clips out and commenced to firing... he managed to light the wood on his rifle on fire.
The other: I am going to assume was in Bastogne (his unit got folded into Pattons command for a spell "Your Papa hated Patton"... he was walking back to the front with two replacements when he heard an incoming shell. Papa dove behind/under a log and when he popped up both replacements were dead.

Papa was a combat infantry man and I am proud to say I have his CIB.

He chain smoked cigarettes after the war till his death, if he didn't have a smoke in his hand it was a coffee cup. One thing Papa didn't allow was for my Uncle to use drugs or alcohol as his escape after two years in Nam.


Me: I'm just a dumb pallet pusher, about as rough as it gets for me is close IDF or loading wounded and the fallen onto aircraft.

And you know what else?  Just as many told lies or exaggerations or BS about what they did/saw as you find today, too.  No different, and looking back at them through rose colored glasses just fails the common sense test.  

Most combat vets would find much in common with other combat vets from any age, I've found, good and bad.  I don't belittle or diminish what many of them did, but the glorification of their entire generation is silly, especially when we can clearly see the big pictures with its contrasting truths.

I like to think that they provided their children with the freedom to be idealists.  What those children did with that freedom and turned those ideals is another thing.