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Joined: May 2002
Posts: 9,523
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 9,523 |
My Father served with the 77th Div. in the pacific, making landings in the Marianas, Philippines and Okinawa.
His brother, an uncle I never met, died near Carentan 6-20-44. He served with the 51st Infantry Battalion, 4th Armored Division.
The last of the siblings (there were four), a Sister, died 6-24-16. The other sister had passed a couple of years ago.
She, as far as I know, was the last of the "WWII" generation in our family. My older sister said, when calling me with the news, "She was the last one."
It saddens me to remember a time when my parents (both passed at a relatively young age) were vibrant and active, and it seems like everybody I knew was either a child of a WWII vet, or a WWII vet themselves.
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Joined: Feb 2006
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 18,033 |
Dad served in Africa and Europe. Infantry under General Patton. Wounded twice in combat. Once in a straffing run on an airfield he was dug in on, and once during the brutal street fighting in Italy. He took a MG round in the belly. Went to his death with scars on his gut and backside. He saw Mussolini hanging from the derrick as the partisans riddled his body with gunfire. He heard the rumors about the Germans having a plane that flew without propellars, and shortly thereafter saw one of the first Me 262's. After his second wound, he got off the front for a while. His duty was driving a war photographer around. We have a big box full of black and white pictures of battle damaged tanks, POW's , knocked out German artillery, etc. He went back to the front lines in January of 45. Patton's boys were driving towards the border and it was all hands on deck.
Like so many others, the horrors of war were very hard on him, and he dealt with it all on his own. I can remember him calling out in his sleep for medics, and artillery coordinates. These were some truly amazing men. My heroes one and all. They truly were our Greatest Generation.
Rest in Peace
Seargeant H.W. Grubb
molɔ̀ːn labé skýla
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 37,066
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 37,066 |
Wow!
Thanks for sharing.
DF
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Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 14,408
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2010
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my dad was a bombadier on a b17 and all of his buddies were vets. i remember sitting around deer camp in the early 70's with him and his buddies, a pacific navy vet who told stories of shooting down kamikazies, another USAAF vet, and a guy who landed at normandy and was shot in the ass. all told stories but other than the kamikaze one they were all funny stuff like my dad meeting mickey rooney at some USO show and thinking he was a little puss. and hunting pigs in germany with a tommy gun and getting a german pow to cook them. i wish to heck i could go back just one time and ask the questions i have now.
My diploma is a DD214
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Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 4,164
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 4,164 |
My Dad was the engineering officer on a destroyer escort. DE-100. He always got a kick out telling the story about the Captain not letting anyone load their M1 rifles because he said that the Captain doubted any of the steel in the ship would stop one of the bullets if it went off...Dad said the good part was that they didn't think that there was enough steel to set off an armour piercing shell from another ship either. It should just blow right on through.
Those guys were a different breed.
Harry
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 8,073
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 8,073 |
My Favorite Veteran by Jordan Kallus (my granddaughter)
Rufus Warren Smith, born in 1918, also known as RW to family and friends was my great grandpa. He married Jean Smith in 1940 and was working for the Civil Service as an electrician.
In May 1943, he was sent to Warrington, England, for the Civil Service to work as a technician for the 401st Air Depot. On the way to England, he had to travel by ship that was a part of a convoy. Some of the ships in the convoy were sunk by German submarines.
When he got to England, he was working at the 8th Air Force. He did the electrical wiring on the airplanes that were used in the war.
After 18 months of working in England, he was sent home to the U.S. When returning home, the U. S. got involved in the war and in 1945, he was drafted in the 25th Division of the Army as a Private 1st Class for World War II. His home base was Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and he fought in the Philippines on Luzon Island.
In June of 1945, the Japanese were firing upon them when my great grandpa pulled a friend out of the way and got shot by a Japanese machine gun. He was shot in the left eye and the bullet went out of his left ear.
After he was wounded, he was sent to a hospital in the Philippines. At the hospital, they did what they could for him before shipping him off to a hospital in Washington.
In September of 1945, he was then transported by ship to a hospital in El Paso, Texas. After many surgeries, he had a glass eye, a rebuilt ear, and the left side of his face had been reconstructed. When he was released from the hospital after 6 months, he received an Honorable Discharge, a Good Conduct Medal, a Combat Infantry Badge (which means you were a shooter in action and later upgraded to the Bronze Star for WWII Vets), and a Purple Heart for being wounded in combat.
For the rest of his life, he was a disabled veteran. He worked as an auto mechanic in his own shop in Pasadena, Texas until he retired. He died in 1993.
My granddaughter wrote this about my dad. Hasbeen
hasbeen
(Better a has been than a never was!)
NRA Patron member
Try to live your life where the preacher doesn't have to lie at your funeral
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 7,921
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 7,921 |
We lost dad 3 1/2 years ago. He'd be 93 if he were still with us. He graduated HS in 1942 and was drafted shortly after. After basic he was assigned to work in hospitals on Army Air Corps bases where bomber crews trained. He spent time in Louisiana and New Mexico. In the Fall of 1944 he was sent to Paris TX for infantry training. My best guess was as part of the planned invasion of Japan, but dad said they were told nothing. He completed training in December just as the Germans counter attacked at the Battle of the Bulge. His unit was on the Queen Mary within days, which had been converted to a troop ship. He was given a Garand in France and spent the next 2 days in a boxcar headed to Belgium. Once there they took his rifle, painted a red cross on his helmet and he spent the last 5 months of the war driving this ambulance to the front and returning them to hospitals in the rear. He drove across the Rhine on a pontoon bridge while under fire. The way the points system worked dad was one of the last to get home in April 1946. Almost a year after the war ended. The return trip took twice as long on one of the Victory ships. ![[Linked Image]](http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m513/jmr40/Army6JMSr_edited-1-1_zpsd018b1c5.jpg)
Most people don't really want the truth.
They just want constant reassurance that what they believe is the truth.
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Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 151,089
Campfire Savant
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Campfire Savant
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 151,089 |
My father was a tail gunner on a B-17. Lot of amazing stories
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 19,153
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 19,153 |
My cousin was a co pilot on a B-17 and flew 29 missions total before the war ended for him in Europe. He stayed in the Air Force for 32 years and flew in the Berlin Airlift, Korea and Viet Nam before he retired in 1975.
kwg
For liberals and anarchists, power and control is opium, selling envy is the fastest and easiest way to get it. TRR. American conservative. Never trust a white liberal. Malcom X Current NRA member.
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 12,522
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 12,522 |
We lost Uncle Gilbert on August 12. He was in the Navy, on a landing craft in the South Pacific, in the Phillipines and around Borneo, late in '44 and '45.
He died a year to the day after we buried my father, who was younger and spent his service time at Camp Fannon TX after the fighting had stopped.
I miss them both. I still have one uncle left, who spent his Army years in Alaska, post-war.
You can roll a turd in peanuts, dip it in chocolate, and it still ain't no damn Baby Ruth.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 39,301
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 39,301 |
They were indeed the Greatest.
I seriously doubt we as a nation now could pull off what they did.
When the young men of today want their safe place in the middle of a war they just might wake up. On the other hand, most of those serving today are some of the finest you will find anywhere.
The first time I shot myself in the head...
Meniere's Sucks Big Time!!!
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 23,366
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 23,366 |
Father In Law served on the USS Alabama in '45. They didn't see action. Went to The Citadel, got shipped to Korea, saw more than he wanted! He;ll be 90 this December. Great man.
"The Democrat Party looks like Titanic survivors. Partying and celebrating one moment, and huddled in lifeboats freezing the next". Hatari 2017
"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid." Han Solo
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Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 15,883
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 15,883 |
Dad will be 90 in October. Served in the Navy during WWII, in the Pacific.
Old Turd- Deplorable- Unrepentant Murderer- Domestic Violent Extremist
Just "Campfire Riffraff and Trash"
This will be my last post! Flave 1/3/21
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 1,890
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 1,890 |
My father, born in 1917, joined the navy in 1942. He served in the Pacific on USS Swallow (AM-65) then the USS Oglala (ARG-1). Discharged in 1945 as a MS2c. He died in 2000. I still miss him. I always will.
"...why, land is the only thing in the world worth working for, worth fighting for, worth dying for,... because it is the only thing that lasts."
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 8,542
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 8,542 |
My Favorite Veteran by Jordan Kallus (my granddaughter)
Rufus Warren Smith, born in 1918, also known as RW to family and friends was my great grandpa. He married Jean Smith in 1940 and was working for the Civil Service as an electrician.
In May 1943, he was sent to Warrington, England, for the Civil Service to work as a technician for the 401st Air Depot. On the way to England, he had to travel by ship that was a part of a convoy. Some of the ships in the convoy were sunk by German submarines.
When he got to England, he was working at the 8th Air Force. He did the electrical wiring on the airplanes that were used in the war.
After 18 months of working in England, he was sent home to the U.S. When returning home, the U. S. got involved in the war and in 1945, he was drafted in the 25th Division of the Army as a Private 1st Class for World War II. His home base was Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and he fought in the Philippines on Luzon Island.
In June of 1945, the Japanese were firing upon them when my great grandpa pulled a friend out of the way and got shot by a Japanese machine gun. He was shot in the left eye and the bullet went out of his left ear.
After he was wounded, he was sent to a hospital in the Philippines. At the hospital, they did what they could for him before shipping him off to a hospital in Washington.
In September of 1945, he was then transported by ship to a hospital in El Paso, Texas. After many surgeries, he had a glass eye, a rebuilt ear, and the left side of his face had been reconstructed. When he was released from the hospital after 6 months, he received an Honorable Discharge, a Good Conduct Medal, a Combat Infantry Badge (which means you were a shooter in action and later upgraded to the Bronze Star for WWII Vets), and a Purple Heart for being wounded in combat.
For the rest of his life, he was a disabled veteran. He worked as an auto mechanic in his own shop in Pasadena, Texas until he retired. He died in 1993.
My granddaughter wrote this about my dad. Hasbeen My father was also born in 1918 and served in the Pacific theater in WWII. He died in 1992. He received five medals, two of which were the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star. ![[Linked Image]](http://i632.photobucket.com/albums/uu45/Texan_Gringo/WWII/Legion%20of%20Merit_zpsh68eoxf9.jpg) ![[Linked Image]](http://i632.photobucket.com/albums/uu45/Texan_Gringo/WWII/Bronze%20Star_zpsavcmenxe.jpg) ![[Linked Image]](http://i632.photobucket.com/albums/uu45/Texan_Gringo/WWII/Pining%20Bronze%20Star_zpsdlc7yeis.jpg)
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 23,077
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 23,077 |
All the adult guys around me when I was growing up were WWII vets. All the guys in my department as a newly minted supervisor in the mid-70's were WWII vets. I felt like a green Lieutenant when amongst them. Uncles of mine were ETO combat vets (one of whom was drafted in 1940, went through N.Africa, Sicily, Omaha Beach D-Day, and on into Germany- and lived to tell about it), the dad's of all my buddies were vets, heck everybody back then was it seemed.
The "old guy" across the street and down the block when I was a kid was a survivor of the Philippine campaign- Bataan, the Death March, and Jap POW camps. He lived on total disability and at age 40 he looked 70. Told me of pulling .30 machine guns out of wrecked planes and jerry-rigging them for ground use, and finishing his short combat role as an infantryman rather than an Air Corps mechanic. He wouldn't talk about the March into captivity, or the time spent in camps in Japan. He died from health issues incurred then, well before age 50.
My Dad and Grand dad were both too young for WWII and WWI respectively, but my Great Grand Dad was a Spanish-American War vet- I knew him well. He died in the early 60's when I was in Jr. High. Never saw combat- the shooting was over in Cuba by the time he got there. He might be the reason I like Krags so much!
"You can lead a man to logic, but you cannot make him think." Joe Harz
"Always certain, often right." Keith McCafferty
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 24,368
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 24,368 |
Dad turned 93 July this year, WWII saw him in the Navy in the pacific. Spent a lot of the war on this ship as a weather reporting ship in the North pacific. Whatever mother nature bought they reported. Torpedoed once that were set to deep, and watched from the bridge as they passed under the ship. One storm blew them 500 miles. Ship they replaced just disappeared. ![[Linked Image]](http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb234/skkkpictures/untitled_zpslewgjy0o.png) http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/1416.htm
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 17,788
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 17,788 |
My Father who was born in 1916 was an atomic veteran having worked on the Manhattan Project in Albequerque, NM. when he first arrived he was in charge of a detachment of G.I's hauling water. Toward the end of his service he managed the assembly hall and movie theater. Dad would be 100 on his birthday December 18th this year, he passed away in '06. My Mother's cousin worked with Dad and I, he was a radioman in a tank at the Battle of the Bulge. My Dad always spoke with a reverance about the Battle of the Bulge and the brave G.I.'s who fought there. A good book about the Battle of the Bulge is The Bitter Woods a detailed account written by Pres. Dwight Eisenhower's son, a good read that I can highly recommend.
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 18,033
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 18,033 |
I love reading these stories. Those of us that have solid, tangible connections to this generation of patriots rue the day when they will all be gone, and it's coming faster than we want to admit. One can only wonder what kind of world we would live in today if not for the selfless sacrifices these men made.
I can't possibly say it enough, but my deepest thanks to all our vets. We owe each and every one our utmost respect, appreciation, and thanks.
molɔ̀ːn labé skýla
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 6,997
Campfire Tracker
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OP
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 6,997 |
My father-in-law received a Purple Heart for being wounded December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor.
Guns don't kill people, it's mostly the bullets
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