Posted on 04/06/2009 4:20:18 PM PDT by CitizenM
Hey, lets not be too critical of Obama. He hasn’t had time for the WWII briefing yet so how can he know about it? An honest mistake.
No, unfortunately. I was only 2 when he died (he came back to the States and died of his wounds; Purple Heart w/oak leaf clusters, plus the Bronze Star). All I know I learned from his military records, and my mother said his was the 2nd half track onto the beach. It makes my stomach churn to think of what he and his fellow soldiers went through. Imagine seeing the men in front of you being mowed down, then it's your turn. He was a medic.
My father-in-law was in the Pacific, and he won't talk about anything that happened there. Two years ago, my husband and I had an opportunity to go to New Zealand. We were trying to figure out how to go to Australia too. He told us then that he had been to both places during the war, and New Zealand was the best place to go. That is the first and only thing he's ever said about his time during the war.
Thank you for telling me about your dad. There might still be websites for his division that has additonal information and contacts that know the unit’s history.
My dad was a factory worker during the war, working on parts for the B-29 bomber.
My father-in-law fought in the European theater in WW2.He was a very quiet guy. He never talked about his experiences, until one night I flat out asked him to tell me about what he experienced. He then spent two hours telling me everything.
Two weeks later he died of a heart attack. This was back in 1978. I was able to relay to my wife and her brother what their dad had told me.
Last month, a friend of mine invited us over to meet her Uncle Lee, a dear friend of her family, who is now 88 years old and still drives!
Uncle Lee, a Chinese immigrant(he was a sailor on a Chinese boat, and had traveled across SE Asia one day ahead of the Japanese Army in late 1941) was an Army scout during WW2 in Europe, from D-Day to VE day. He even personally knew General Patton, who used to look him up at the front for his recon reports!
Uncle Lee related that on D-Day he threatend the Navy driver of the landing craft, telling him to not stop until he heard the bottom of the craft hitting the sand and then to turn to one side. This was to prevent soldiers from being dropped off too soon and jumping into the sea and sinking to the bottom because many landing craft were dropping the men off too far from the beach and drowning them. Turning to one side a bit helped shield the men as they exited the landing craft from the machine guns of the Germans. The driver resisted,because their mortality rate was not too good either, so Uncle Lee pointed his rifle at him and told him he had a choice to make.
He choose wisely. And a lot of the men Uncle Lee fought with survived the initial assault on the beach. He was made the scout because he was very brave and very wiry, and he was able to avoid detection by the Germans on his recon missions.
He even told the men in his outfit to remove their tracer rounds(this was not allowed) because it revealed from where they were shooting from(the tracer rounds, every fifth round, were there evidently to help your aim)to the Nazis.The Nazis would fire at where the tracers came from.
He said it was little things like that which saved men’s lives.
He was wounded gravely in combat, and received a bunch of medals. He showed us an old article written about his exploits after the war.After he recuperated, he went back into combat.
Immediately after the war, General Patton had him on staff and was going to help him get to college in the States, but the General died from injuries from the infamous car crash. All Uncle Lee would say is that “they killed General Patton”.
Stories like these , your dad’s, my father-in-law’s—are all lost if they don’t tell anyone about it. Time has shown that these men accomplished the impossible. Their generation is one that didn’t think anything they did was special. The only heroes to them are the ones who didn’t come home—the ones they remember every single day.
I would hope your father-in-law can tell his stories someday to his grandchildren. In times of trouble, they may draw great strength to do what is right, because courage “runs in the family”. Good luck to you, and tell your father-in-law, that an aging Baby Boomer in Delaware says “Thank you for your service”.
LOL!
Too many Christians buried there. He would’ve probably seen a cross or two. Best avoid it.
Thank you. I certainly will. One way I have honored my father, father-in-law, plus several other family members including my husband's grandmother (she was a WAC in WWII) was to submit their names and information when they were erecting the World War II Memorial. It's not much, but it was the least I could do. My father-in-law seemed very pleased. Your Uncle Lee's story is a remarkable one. I have often wondered how my father survived the landing, especially considering the high mortality rate. Maybe he was with your Uncle Lee, and his maneuvering of the landing craft saved my father. I do wish I could find someone who was with my father. I wold love to know more about what happened. I have several pictures of my father in France and Germany. One is with "my men" in front of an ambulance, but there are no names on the picture.
LOL! That's gotta hurt!
bookmark.
I do thank your father for his service to our country. Seeing any film footage of Normandy is just horrendous. So many lives lost. So many brave souls. Obama SHOULD have visited Normandy out of respect. As an American President...this was a disgraceful act. Not a misstep...a disgraceful act. Shame on him. God rest the sould of your dad and those who fought alongside him.
I was going to make a comment but words fail me. This combined with the “black” caucus sent to Cuba and their glowing report.
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