Just met a WW2 veteran at the barbershop. He is 99 years old, fought in Africa and Italy. So few of them left. It was a big honor for me to meet him. Even tho my dad was a WW2 vet, I was young and had no interest in asking him things about his time in the war, i really regret not asking him these things.
OT
- Thread starter KyFaninNC
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For which side? Kind of important to let us all know that.
Being able to meet and talk with those folks really one to see/hear a different perspective on things that will soon be lost to us all.
OP is a known Nazi-sympathizer, so I'm guessing Axis.
I am jealous of any 99 year old with enough hair to go to a barbershop. I haven't been to one in 20 years.
I ran into an old man a few years ago in the McDonalds in Mt. Sterling, who was wearing a "Pearl Harbor Survivor" hat. Without thinking, I asked him if he had really been at Pearl Harbor.
He gave me a withering look and said "Do you think for one second I would wear this hat if I hadn't been there?" So being properly embarrassed, I bought his coffee, apologized and thanked him profusely.
Memo to self: DO NOT ask stupid questions to WWII vets again.
He gave me a withering look and said "Do you think for one second I would wear this hat if I hadn't been there?" So being properly embarrassed, I bought his coffee, apologized and thanked him profusely.
Memo to self: DO NOT ask stupid questions to WWII vets again.
i ran into two WW2 veterans at the barbershop today. knocked 'em both on their rumps. 101 and 103 years old. they had nothin for ol' johnny cope
I’m glad I talked to both of my grandfathers as much as i did about their experiences while they were alive. One was a tail gunner on a B29. Flew over the hump 7 times. Was stationed near the Enola Gay. No one had any idea. They thought we’d captured some v2 rockets and were going to use them. Fascinating stuff. The other was a medic in North Africa and Italy. You couldn’t hear their stories and not want to be a better person.
I saw a show one time about the alternative plan to dropping the bombs. Basically a southern invasion of the island so they could try to start paving so they could land planes. They said they started making the purple Hearts they thought it would take just to do that. Since they didn't need them, those Purple Hearts made it through both Korea and Vietnam.
Had a good friend who’s father served in army during WWII. Never spoke a word about the war to his son.
When he died, he saw his dad’s record. 4 battle stars from the pacific front. He was in four major battles on those islands but never said anything. Poor guy drank from the time he returned till he died
I also knew a WWI vet
He said that the day the war ended the ceasefire was to be at midnight. He said that for hours both sides shelled each other mercilessly. Then at midnight it went silent like flipping a switch. Lots killed for absolutely no reason since war was basically over when both sides agreed on time
When he died, he saw his dad’s record. 4 battle stars from the pacific front. He was in four major battles on those islands but never said anything. Poor guy drank from the time he returned till he died
I also knew a WWI vet
He said that the day the war ended the ceasefire was to be at midnight. He said that for hours both sides shelled each other mercilessly. Then at midnight it went silent like flipping a switch. Lots killed for absolutely no reason since war was basically over when both sides agreed on time
I wear this shirt often and don't get asked any questions..
The German Army gets a lot of grief because of th he atrocities comitted by the Nazi's, but in all honesty, was considered one of, if not the most professional army in the world. You don't conquer All of Europe, and part of Asia, and Africa, by being stupid. The decision to go into Russia was what destroyed them. If they had just invaded England, and called it good, the world would be a very diffetent place. Classic case of the politicians should listen to their generals.
They needed a navy to invade England, which they sorely lacked, landing forces would have been destroyed on the English Channel before they ever landed. They tried to wipe out the British Air Force in 1940 but could not do it, so they did not have control of the skies either.
OTOH, had Japan invaded the eastern half of the Soviet Union on December 7th, instead of bombing Pearl Harbor, history may have taken a very different turn.
I agree
No one every called the German people stupid. Lots of other things but not stupid
Their military was first class minus a navy
Subs did plenty of damage, but could not support a land invasion
Had they not invaded Russia and solidified their captured lands before moving on, things would be different today
Their scientists were about to make them unstoppable but needed more time. Jets, rockets, bombs etc.
The Wehrmacht committed their share of atrocities in Russia. Germans, from top to bottom, considered Russians subhuman and fair game..
Few dispute the professionalism of the Wehrmacht. The SS and even the Hitler Youth were feared and despised, even by many in the Wehrmacht. Certainly by the Allies.
My dad wouldn't say much about his time in WWII...he was in the South Pacific. Usually he would just pass on light hearted stuff that he did or was part of...not the rough stuff. I do remember watching a movie with him where MacArthur returned to the Philippines walking up on the beach and he said his group was on a hill watching all the retakes of the landing. My dad was a Combat Engineer. He was one of those guys that had to shove explosive pipes through razor/barbed wire lines and blow them up so that troops hitting the beach had a spot to go through.
My dad was the same. He was a Marine who survived Iwo Jima. He liked to talk about his fellow Marines, basic training, and some of the places he saw. He went to a couple of reunions, and there was a guy he was in with who stopped by the house with his family a couple of times on their way to Florida. As for talking about actual combat, he never went much beyond "I hope you and your brother never have to go through anything like that, to see and do the things we had to do".....
Let’s be honest. Very few of us could have done what they did.
My great grandfather was 16 and lied about his age to fight in WW2. He died when I was 9 or 10 but we had were pretty close. He was in the Normandy invasion and the Sicilian invasion. And then he was somewhere in Japan after I believe. He received a Purple Heart. I spent tons of time with him and he was the most by god American I ever met. With that said he never talked about the war much to any of us. Just a different breed of people the generation he came from. Imagine being 16 and fighting in a war like that... I’m 30 and I couldn’t imagine it.
At least, the day the war ended, there were twice as many Germans fighting the Russians as fighting the Allies. Russia largely won the European theatre, and has forever felt like they did not get the credit they deserved for doing so, and frankly, probably have some justification for feeling that way.
While I honor what the WWII vets did . . . same thing occurred at Valley Forge, Gettysburg, Belleau Wood, Vietnam and Korea. I think each generation rises to the challenge they face, and there are plenty of great young people today who would sacrifice, if a truly national emergency occurred, like another World War (hope and pray it never does again though)
Ike knew that taking Berlin would be a bloodbath. The Russians wanted to do it so Ike let them have at it. 70,000 Russian troops died taking it. 405K Americans died in the entire war.
I agree with that. I was referring to the day to day man on man battles they fought in. Hand to hand combat for months at a time.