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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,375
Campfire Regular
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OP
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,375 |
Dad never talked about WWII, even in hunting camp other than a couple of funny stories here and there.
A lot of dad's letters home were saved by his mother and my niece via another family member was able to scan them and put them in book form so family members could order 1-off copies (to the tune of $80) per so I bit the bullet and ordered one and just finished reading his letters. Most of the letters were written from Siapan, Biak and New Guinea and majority could only say from somewhere in the Pacific.
He did talk about making knives from *found* Japanese sabers and pieces of aircraft windshields using only files and handtools during some of his downtime. Luckily I am the owner of one of them, albeit missing some sections of the handle.
Toward the end of the war it was very apparent that it was wearing on him bad as his last two years left him wondering it he would be home for hunting seasons.
Sure puts a lump in your throat guessing what they went through back then. I was in Nam and dad would only say, "Son you were in a war and there were things you won't and can't talk about."
A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user. Theodore Roosevelt
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 19,495
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 19,495 |
Thanks. My father in law was in Europe. Then in Korea. He told me a very little bit about it. Miss him.
Retired cat herder.
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Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 7,436
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 7,436 |
I was in Iraq and Afghanistan. I share most my stories with my wife and kids. No one really knows why I got a Bronze Star though. Maybe I'll share that story when the kids are older.
Thanks, Dinny
Last edited by Dinny; 03/21/20.
Medics bury their mistakes..
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Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 42,743
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 42,743 |
My grand mother use to let me read some of the letters her boys wrote home from the wars, and some of them, they never mailed and just brought home...I recall one from Bob during the Korean War... he was in the Marines, and part of a Long Range Recon Unit...after his first year in Korea, he was a Sgt and was leading patrols, out of the trenches and behind enemy lines at night, on search and destroy missions...
Late one night in the early winter of 1951, he lead a group out on a mission, he and 5 men made it back... 25 were lost that night on that mission....that he was leading... he had turned 19 years old that July27th.. the mission was in December 1951...
That's a lot to experience at 19 years old...the Korean War ended on his 21st birthday... he turned 19, 20 and 21 years old in Korea, in combat, serving our nation in the Marine Corps... he never really came home mentally and emotionally from Korea...
"Minus the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the Country" Marion Barry, Mayor of Wash DC
“Owning guns is not a right. If it were a right, it would be in the Constitution.” ~Alexandria Ocasio Cortez
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Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 2,915
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 2,915 |
it is sobering i have some letters my dad sent to his mom when he was trying to enlist at the start of WW2. he broke his knee when he was 22 months old . it left him with his left knee not bending .he wanted to be a pilot but the military would not take him .told his mom that he did not need to walk on the clouds to fly a plane .all he was aloud to serve in was border patrol got sent to montana to guard the border to canada .he never said much about it but he died when i was 10 .but in the letters he wrote i could tell he felt like he was ashamed to not being able to fight .his dad was fugged up with mustard gas in WW1 and in 1952 he killed his self so he was not a burden to his wife any more
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Joined: Mar 2019
Posts: 417
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Mar 2019
Posts: 417 |
My grandfather never talked about WW2, even after I joined the Navy. Not one story, nothing. When he passed I learned my grandmother held it against him for being drafted! When he finally got home from the European theater she wouldn't let him talk about anything that happened during his service. I got to go through his military papers at his funeral and he had 2 bronze stars and a purple heart (the purple heart we knew about, mortar fragments in his leg). Turned out he was a squad leader that led night patrol, while closing in on Berlin in the closing weeks. My grandmother tossed the flag from his coffin on the table and said "what the hell am I supposed to do with that"! I picked it up and told her I knew. I've still got all his records, ribbons, medals, uniforms and the flag. How many times I wish I could have talked about it with him.
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