Anyone have a relative who served during World War Two? - Page 2

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Anyone have a relative who served during World War Two? (Page 2 of 3)

Posted: 11/28/2003 9:33:26 PM EDT

[#1]

My Dad was a co-pilot on B-17's with the 97th Bomb group in Italy. Spent 13 months as a POW after he was shot down. My grandmother made grenades at La. Army Ammo plant.

Posted: 11/28/2003 9:43:57 PM EDT

[#2]

My paternal grandfather was a tailgunner on a 9th Air Force B-26. His plane was shot down on his 17th mission, and he parachuted into occupied France. The Maquis got him back to England on a fishing boat. He lied about his age and enlisted when he was 15 and retired as a Chief Master Sergeant.

My maternal grandfather was a tanker, and fought across North Africa and Sicily. He took some shrapnel, and for years little shreds of steel would work their way out through his skin. He worked for Boeing after the war, and spent a year in Saigon during the Vietnam War repairing helicopters. In that year he never got to see my Uncle Cal, who was in the A Shau with the 101st ABN at the time.

Posted: 11/28/2003 9:44:17 PM EDT

[#3]

My dad. Co-B 121st Combat Engineers, 29th Infantry Division. Went to England in 1942 as a platoon leader (2nd Lt). Set foot in France June 6th 1944, at 7:05am (Omaha Beach,sector Dog Green), as Company XO (1st-Lt). June 7th became Company commander (Captain)after the first commander stepped on a mine during the invasion. Stayed in combat until the end of the war. Silver and Bronze Stars, 2 Purple Hearts, Ar-Comm, Distinguished unit citation, ETO w/arrowhead and 4 oakleaves, ETO Victory medal and ETO Occupation medal. After the war transfered to the Air Force (still an engineer)and retired as a full bird Colonel in 1964. Still alive and kickin at 83.

Posted: 11/28/2003 9:48:00 PM EDT

[#4]

My grandfather fought in the ETO with the United States Army. Don't recall him trying to bring German Weapons home. But my Grandmother said he was forced to throw a fur coat he liberated from Berlin overboard. It would of been confiscated as well.

Posted: 11/28/2003 10:06:17 PM EDT

[#5]

Uncle Oscar was in Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked. Father in law was in the Signal Corps in the South Pacific. Both are deceased.

Posted: 11/28/2003 10:16:28 PM EDT

[#6]

One of my garndfathers flew for the RAF during the Battle of Britain, initially flew a Hurricane then got a Spitfire Mk. IIa. Got shot down and captured in April of 45. Oddly, in later years, the German pilot who shot him down had become a close personal friend of his. Grndad was one of the "few" to which Winston Churchill referred.

My other grnadfather was an officer in the Black Watch, as was his dad and so on back to about 1748.

Cpt. Redleg

Posted: 11/28/2003 10:44:36 PM EDT

[#7]

On my dads side-My grandpa was a Hitler youth, but left Germany just before WW2 and moved to America. His brother stayed behind, and fought to the death.
On my moms side-My grandpa was in the Navy as a medic, supposedly served in WW2 and Korea from what I've been told. He died when I was six, and all of his war history went with him.

My girlfriends family-Her grandmother-Hitler youth, still has most of her "memoribilia"
Her grandfather- two time purple heart Navy man, has military awards up the yin yang and was your all around cowboy.

Posted: 11/28/2003 11:17:24 PM EDT

[#8]

Father was on the USS Macassar Straight carrier in the Pacific. 5 uncles in various parts of Europe, one in England working at Bletchly(sp) Park.

CW

Posted: 11/29/2003 12:17:24 AM EDT

[#9]

New here to the board also.

Paternal grandfather fought in France in WWI. Said he hated France, was a dirty place, passed away in 1983.

My mother's brother was at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked. Survived,lived until late 1970's.

My father served at the end of the war, stationed in Greenland, Army Air Force, he just passed away. My fathers brother fought in Korea, Army, still living.

Wifes father served in Vietnam at a repair depot, Navy, still living.

Posted: 11/29/2003 12:23:00 AM EDT

[#10]

my dad was in the south pacific, navy WWII, saved his whole ship during the war. he shot the cook. well thats his story and i am sticking to it.
lots of stories he used to tell, one comes to mind that the native women would cut holes in the tshirts that his capt issued them, so their boobies would hang out.

edited to add, i have the that flew on his ship, an lst, but i forgot the name, that he gave me before he died

Posted: 11/29/2003 12:55:10 AM EDT

[#11]

One Uncle, B25 Gunner, KIA 1944
One Uncle, 10th Mountain Division
One Uncle, Naval Aviator; Dauntless(?)

Posted: 11/29/2003 2:09:14 AM EDT

[#12]

paternal and maternal grandfathers both served in the USAAF. mom's dad was a navigator on b24s, and dad's dad was a crew chief on -17s.

Posted: 11/29/2003 2:10:43 AM EDT

[#13]

My Grandfather on my dad's side fought in the Pacific Theater(Navy).Turns out he was a Gunnut like me.He ACTUALLY carried 2 enemy rifles around with him untill he could get them shipped(literaly)home.They(navy)wouldn't let him take pistols though.

I bet he was pissed about that.lol!

I'm PROUD of my Grandfather.

Posted: 11/29/2003 2:15:48 AM EDT

[#14]

My Dad was in the AAA at the battle of the bulge. He said they were starting to get stormed,something to the tune of 20 to 1 odds against them, when pattons tanks came over the hill! He is still alive, but he doesnt talk about it much.
He lost a few of his friends in that battle. His closest friend had a large caliber weapon put a round thru his head while they were side by side in a trench.Blew his helmet into 2 pieces and 1 of the pieces hit my Dadfs arm and that was what told him to look at his friend. He still cry's about it to this day.[cuss] Damn Nazis!

Posted: 12/6/2003 10:12:13 PM EDT

[#15]

My grandfather on my mom's side was an Army medic in the Pacific Theater, two of his brothers also. One Army that landed at Normandy and the other Navy serving aboard the USS Anthony DD-515. Their dad(my great-grandfather) was an Army captain and served during WWI. Wounded in the Argonne Forest. Shot in the jaw among other places, blowing out most of his teeth along with a portion of his jawbone, and he was gassed. He was 100% combat disabled. One of my grandmother's brothers was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge and is also 100% combat disabled. I had a second cousin who was a paratrooper in Korea. Survived the war only to be burned to death in a freak accident after the war. My father was one of the few USN draftees during the Vietnam War. My wife's dad and her uncles represent the Army(dad-in-law), Navy, and Marine Corps during Vietnam. Her GrndFthr was a gunner on a B-17. Was shot down once, managed to evade capture made it back to England and flew a total of 35 missions during the war. He recieved the Silver Star and Distinguished Flying Cross among other decorations for his efforts. At his funeral was a collage of some amazing pictures from the war. B-17's lined up as long as you could see on the flight line. P-51's too. All kinds of vintage stuff.

As for me, I'm a Sailor well a Reserve Sailor but I was active back during the first Gulf War. Was not in the operation though, just got to bootcamp when the ground war started, had barely gotten all my shots by the time it was over!

So you see, I'm from a long line of military folks that predate WWII!

Posted: 12/6/2003 10:51:56 PM EDT

[#16]

Both granddads were vets. One was in Germany. The other was too young so he served in Korea and a tour in Vietnam.

Posted: 12/6/2003 11:06:54 PM EDT

[#17]

My Pop was stuck in a jap prison camp in the phillipines till the airborne came to the rescue. 3 years he spent surviving. Helluva guy he is.

My Great uncle on my Mom's side was in the Army, fighting to take Guadalcanal. I've seen his DD214...2 Bronze stars. Never knew him but I heard the experience went heavy on him.

Posted: 12/6/2003 11:38:10 PM EDT

[#18]

My Father and ALL of my uncles served in WW2.
One Uncle, Korea and Vietnam.
11 first cousins, Vietnam.

Posted: 12/7/2003 1:32:43 AM EDT

[#19]

Father-in-law
Europe

2 Uncles
1 on the USS Dawson
1 on the USS Enterprise

Posted: 12/7/2003 2:40:48 AM EDT

[#20]

My Grandfather was either in the Parachute Regiment or The Black Watch in WW2. He trained people in Palestine should the Germans reach that far. Not sure what else he did.

Cpt_Redleg maybe our grandfathers knew each other? I know mine was a Captain and also served in Malaya, but I dont know much more. Maybe ill try get more info when i next see him.

/edit Grandfather's brother was in Royal Tank Regiment. Dont remember anymore relatives who served in WW2

Posted: 12/7/2003 3:17:39 AM EDT

[#21]

My father was a signal man in the Navy and served in the pacific for the duration. Just found out a couple of years ago that his ship was at Tinnian island and he saw the take off of the Anola Gay on it's A bomb run on Japan. He say's that on take off the plane took forever to gain altitude, and were getting ready to go pick them up if they had to ditch. God Bless all these men and women for ther service to protect our Freedom.

Posted: 12/7/2003 3:32:18 AM EDT

[#22]

My uncle was in the 82nd Airborne, we used to go on walks and he would tell me about some of the stuff. Was reason I wanted to join the Army and become airborne.

He is having problems with cancer now. =/

Posted: 12/7/2003 3:42:47 AM EDT

[#23]

Father in Law

Served in the 3/119th regiment, L Co., 30th Division in WW2. Nicknamed "Roosevelts SS" by the Germans.

Fought in the Bulge, Roer, Rhine, and Elbe River Crossings. Taken prisoner mid-April 45' after crossing the Elbe when a decision was made not to push to Berlin.Held captive by the Russians(many GI's were and it was hardly spoken about)He is 77 yrs old and going strong.

Posted: 12/7/2003 4:18:05 AM EDT

[#24]

3 Uncles, 1 of whom was by marriage. First served with Army Air Corps in North Africa and later in Italy. Second (by marriage) was with Army in northern France. Third was an MP in the Army of occupation in Germany following VE day. My grandfather (same side) was USMC infantry in WWI and earned a purple heart at Bellau Wood.

Posted: 12/7/2003 4:47:44 AM EDT

[#25]

My grandfather on my dads side was on a sub in the pacific.
My grandfather on my moms side was a tail gunner in a B24 then later a B32 in the pacific.

Posted: 12/7/2003 4:51:26 AM EDT

[#26]

My grandfather was a BAR gunner in the South Pacific...I can't remember if it was 2nd or 4th ID. He almost NEVER spoke about it and had terrible nightmares from it for much of his life. I am one of the few who heard but three or four stories he ever told about it.

Posted: 12/7/2003 4:57:15 AM EDT

[#27]

My Grandfather on my mom's side Sgt Robert K. Meanor was with the 29th Div. C Company 116th. He was on first wave at Omaha beach in Normandy. Was wounded and captured somewhere around July 16th 1944 on the way to St. Lo. He was held POW at Plaunen. A sub camp of the Flossengurg concentration camp system. There main detail was repairing railroad systems that the allieds bombed.

Grandad went in a healthy 190lb fighting Irishman. When the camp was liberated less than one year later he weighed less than 100lbs.

He died young as a result of TB he contracted during his stay as a POW.

Posted: 12/7/2003 5:31:27 AM EDT

[#28]

Cousin served with the 7th Kansas during the Civil War and later won the Congressional Medal of Honor as a scout with the 5th Cav during the Indian Wars. His name was William F. Cody.

Maternal Great Grandfather was wounded and captured in 1915 while serving in the Canadian Army. Family still has the wallet with my Great Grandmother's picures and lock of hair he carried while a POW.

Grandfather served in the RCAF during WW2 as an aircraft mechanic (the Canadian side of my family is still pissed it took so long for us Americans to get into the fight!)

Father in Law went into Japan with occupation forces (army). Still has a cool Nambu pistol he "liberated" one night while on guard duty.

Paternal Grandfather was a civilian technician for the Navy in the Pacific. Actually served on ships in combat in uniform with an effective rank of Commander. I still have several uniform items of his. He died 10 years ago at age 93. Knew him well.

Great uncle who served in the Pacific as a Marine MP and an Uncle as a Navy combat radio operator. He landed with Marines at Kwajalein and Eniwetok.

Father flew PBY, PBM and PB4Y2's out of Kaneohe. He is still going strong, Thank you Dad!

Posted: 12/7/2003 5:33:44 AM EDT

[#29]

3 of my father’s brothers and his brother in law and my mother’s brother were in WWII. They all saw combat but didn't talk about it.
My Polish father in law was born in this country, went to Poland during the war and fought in the Polish Underground. I didn’t know until his wake when an elderly gentleman came in whom I’d never seen before. I asked my wife who is he and she said that’s “XXXX he was a hero in the Underground. My dad fought with him”. We had been married 15 years at that time.

Posted: 12/7/2003 5:41:49 AM EDT

[#30]

My father, still living, was in WWII. Shipped out in the middle of his honeymoon. Followed the first wave into Normandy. Was offered a position at the Nuremburg trials but delcined so he could get back to my Mom after four years.

Posted: 12/7/2003 5:54:39 AM EDT

[#31]

My Uncle was a Navy radioman, with a team that was stranded on a Jap held island, for two years. The natives hid them. My uncle saved the chiefs son's life, and they made him honorary chief, and witch doctor. Gave him the canes, and everything!!

Posted: 12/7/2003 5:57:51 AM EDT

[#32]

My grandfather fought in Japan. He shipped off at the age of 18.
He had a scar on his hand that he got by deflecting a bayonette thrust by a Japanese soldier.

Posted: 12/7/2003 6:01:26 AM EDT

[#33]

My grandfather, 23rd Fighter Group, 75th Fighter Squadron. China.
[img]http://photos.ar15.com/ImageGallery/Attachments/DownloadAttach.asp?iImageUnq=477[/img]

Posted: 12/7/2003 6:03:16 AM EDT

[#34]

My dad and two cousins.

Army Aircorp and 101st Airborne.

Tj

Posted: 12/7/2003 6:08:57 AM EDT

[#35]

Thank you all for your input. It's nice to see so many of our relatives served.

BTW, It's nice to see the forum back on line.

Posted: 12/7/2003 6:24:51 AM EDT

[#36]

My Father was in the Navy serving on an Aircraft Carrier in Europe.

His half brother was in the Airforce as a Flight Navigator aboard the boomers that boomed Italy.

My moms brother was a Marine frogmen, don't really know where or what he did.

Posted: 12/7/2003 6:40:26 AM EDT

[#37]

My grandfather was in the Navy. He was stationed in Pearl Harbor, well after 12-7-41. He was a supply officer, made sure that the ships that went to sea had enough food to feed everyone during the deployments.

After the war, he was stationed in Philadelphia and at Great Lakes Naval Station. He contracted polio in the mid-50's, and was paralyzed until he died in 1983.

Posted: 12/7/2003 6:45:59 AM EDT

[#38]

My father in WWII, now deceased, served stateside in G2.

Posted: 12/7/2003 6:51:02 AM EDT

[#39]

My father, who will be 85 soon. Radio operator/crypto stuff, then got into the Army Air Corp. Was going to fly C47s at "The Hump" then the war ended.

Posted: 12/7/2003 6:55:05 AM EDT

[#40]

My uncle was a Marine. He was at Pearl Harbor, Midway Island, and Vella LaVella.

Posted: 12/7/2003 6:59:35 AM EDT

[#41]

Let's see...

Grandfater on dads side: 4th AD, message center chief. Was with them the whole way through WW2. He brought back a 98K, a CZ-27, German overcoat, complete Russian uniform, German Luger, Russian M-44, Russian helmet, German Hitler Youth uniform, USA M1 Carbine, and a M1 Garand. I asked him how he managed to get all this stuff home and he told me his commanding officer owed him some favors.

Grandpa on moms side: US Navy. Served on the USS Culebra Island ARG-7. He got to support several Pacific battles, and worked on some of the most heavily dmaged ships. He was a machineist, and made a Zippo lighter out of an engine block of a Zero fighter that crashed into one of the ships he was working on.

Various other family members: Polish Resistance in England, Polish resistance in Poland, 2nd SS Panzer Division "Das Reich", various other SS units.

Av.

Posted: 12/7/2003 7:08:01 AM EDT

[#42]

Uncle Gordon was a radioman/gunner in a B-24 in the Pacific, died in a crash shortly after takeoff near Saipan. Uncle Jack died a month later in the Po Valley of Italy attempting to strafe German vehicles in his P-51. Uncle Bernie was on the Helena, a Cruiser during the war. My dad got out of the Navy just months before Pearl and tried to get back in. But having a family and a busted eardrum as well as working in the defense industry at Convair he didn't make it. Uncle Joe played football for the Army and later semi-pro (with Woody Strode, the gladiator opposite Kirk Douglas in Spartacus) on the Honolulu Bears. Uncle Jack (on the wife's side) was instrumental in getting war materiel to the Soviets.

Joseph Rollin Prentice, Medal of Honor, Civil War, Battle of Stones River, Tennessee, one of the bloodiest battles in the war.; Carried his commaning officer off the field while being wounded himself. Survived to raise a large family. Great Grandfather on the wife's side

John Paul Jones is related on my side.

Interesting how this stuff seems very important from time to time. Guess we have a innate need to remember where we came from.

Posted: 12/7/2003 7:09:05 AM EDT

[#43]

My GP, USMC, did most of the islands in WW2.
[img]http://photos.ar15.com/ImageGallery/Attachments/DownloadAttach.asp?iImageUnq=20244[/img]

Here he is in Aussie on leave.
[img]http://photos.ar15.com/ImageGallery/Attachments/DownloadAttach.asp?iImageUnq=20245[/img]

He died long before I was born. I wish I could have talked to him.

edited to add: My mother swears she sees him during one of real footage scenes in Sands of Iwo Jima.

Posted: 12/7/2003 7:14:59 AM EDT

[#44]

My grandpa is a Pearl Harbor survivor. I'm gonna go have a drink with him today.

Posted: 12/7/2003 7:18:13 AM EDT

[#45]

My Grandfather[mom's side] was a Seabee in the south pacific and helped island jumping effort. My uncle has his bring home Ariska rifle, a sword some other stuff.

Posted: 12/7/2003 7:23:04 AM EDT

[#46]

All of the men of my fathers age group from my family served. My father was in the pacific, Silver star and two bronze stars plus purple heart. Faught in the philipines. Two uncles were enlisted men on destroyers and two uncles were Naval officers. One serving on a cruiser, and the other a naval aviator flying TBF Avengers.

Posted: 12/7/2003 10:47:05 AM EDT

[#47]

My cousin, actually only a year younger than my father, was wounded at Anzio. Left the Army with a Silver Star and a plate in his head.

Posted: 12/7/2003 11:14:26 AM EDT

[#48]

Hi Milslurp.

Yes. My grandfather did and was seriously injured in Germany.

Posted: 12/7/2003 11:29:35 AM EDT

[#49]

My father, wounded during the "Battle of the Bulge", spent over a year in the hospital. His father, U.S Navy pacific theater, his step father U.S Navy pacific theater. Three of my uncles on my mothers side of the family, Canadian Army all european theater. My wife's father was also in the "Battle of the Bulge", same division as my father.

Posted: 12/7/2003 1:34:35 PM EDT

[#50]

My paternal grandfather died in North Africa in 1943 when my Dad was 18 months old.
Uncle on mothers side was stateside during war in the Army.
A few great uncles on Dads side were in WWII, but I really don't know any of them.

Great great uncle in WWI, Great Grandfather was in the 7th Cav in the SpanAm War.

Buch in the Civil War.

Bunch fought the Hurons in Canada inthe 1600's, too, more than a few died in battle.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Anyone have a relative who served during World War Two? (Page 2 of 3)

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