is about 86. My siblings, my wife, and I just moved him and my mother into a local nursing home. She is cogent but cannot walk without a walker; he, while physically intact for the eigthies, is losing his short term memory. He's been a retired college professor since his sixties and a Democrat of the "old party". As a political science, history, and econ prof, I believe he'd be very sad if he could realize what has happened to "his" party and it's present condition.

There is a lot I didn't know but found some interesting stuff. He was in the Philippines at age eighteen, drafted about mid-war. He was involved in rounding up Japenese infantry and interring them in a prisoner of war camp in the Philippines. I knew about the 6.5 Carcano Japenese carbine he lugged home but somewhere during my education and moving about he sold it. But here is some stuff he never mentioned and I never knew he had: a Japenese infantry satchel along with pictures, presumably of a prisoner and his friends or family (there is, no doubt, another story); the Rising Sun flag, dog tags, numerous insignia, as well as Jap or Philippino currency.

I did know about the Silver Star and the Purple Heart. One time he told me that at the shot that took the heel of his boot off and drilled his heel, the enemy was so close he could hear him work the bolt presumably for a second try. I asked his how the guy could have missed him at that range. He mused that if that guy was half as scared as he was, he was probably only vaguely aware of where he was pointing the rifle.

There is an interesting picture of the dates he recorded of his malaria attacks.

It was sad that he related that many Japenese prisoners committed suicide after capture because of "dishonoring themselves and their families."

Dad had two brothers who also served, one in the south Pacific on the USS Marblehead that was bombed in the Battle of Makassar-- two direct hits, and a very near miss -- suffering twelve or thirteen dear and 84 wounded. With no comm, weapons, or even rudder, they navigated by alternating engine thrust to turn this way or that and bailed water with cans and buckets. It took three months in that manner to make a port where they could make major repairs. He was a man forever scarred by his experiences.

The other uncle, one of my favorites, was a very intelligent, kind man. He served in North Africa as a medic and spent two years as a prisoner in a German camp. As a high schooler, I, my dad, this uncle, and my cousins would pheasant hunt a couple times a year. I remember he was a great wing shot and very quick. He shot an older Savage 16 ga. SxS. His son still has it. I know this cause I took mental notes of things of such import; pity I didn't with others.

Thanks for letting me reminisce a bit. No offense meant to any Japenese friends here or lurking around. My father often said, "there is nothing worse than the grit of war for all thrust into it.'

thanks for the post.

it helps to reminesce a bit. my mom was a Rosie the Riverter type, building B-29 Super Fortresses.

best regards.

Wish my dad was still hear, but in a sense I'm glad he passed before all the political and social crap going on in the country. He would have been 85 and he passed 5 years ago. Served on a carrier in the tail end of the Pacific campaign. He had one brother who was killed on Iwo. His father served in the Army in WWI, was gassed by the Germans and survived. His lungs were weakened by the gas and he died when my dad was 4.

He was sharp as a tack when I visited him a few weeks before he passed away. Mom has altheimers and now terminal cancer.

They definately were a great generation, and just as admirable as their accomplishments is their humility. They had a job to do and they did it. We could use their type again. Seems most folks these days want to say why something can't be done vs. rolling up their sleaves and getting to it.

Treasure him while you still have him, and find out as much about his life as you can. My regret is not spending more time finding out about his family history while I still had him. I learned more his family in the last week I spent with him than in all the years growing up as a kid.

George thank you for this post. When you get a chance tell your Father thank you for me.

This guy was there. I knew him fairly well,....6th infantry under General Walter Krueger,...Graduated Alamo Scout training,...did some stuff with 'em.

Never said much about it,......reckon he didn't consider it all that much out of the ordinary considering the circumstances.

He kinda got that Indian thing goin' on,...said there was some in the family.

It never was much of an issue, however.

George - thanks for the bit of living history. Tell your dad hello and thanks from me. Where did he teach? Best, John

Dad brought home some *found items* as he called them, that he *picked up* in Biak, Siapan, New Guinea and Philippines. Wish he would have written more down as he also had malaria and dysentery. He wouldn't talk much about anything he went through other than his hatred for the ones he was fighting.

As Lott so very aptly put, "Treasure him while you have him." Dad (92)will be gone two years this summer and still miss his voice and calm most days.

Same here George...

My uncle was a POW of the Japanese in that war...he got to see man's inhumanity to man reach new heigths...

Thanks to all you guys sharing with us the memories of your loved ones. It is heart warming and humbling to read of the sacrifices they made and the lives they built out of the ashes of war.

I dunno if the old man had any souvenirs or not.

He went from the depression era cottonfields of southeastern Missouri to the CCC to the Ft Leonard Wood infantry to New Guinea/Phillipines,...

Hit the jungle at age 17,...got out at 21,... 4 years of combat before age 21,...the troop ship dropped him off in California with everything he owned in a duffle bag.

He said he got tired of packin' it around and dropped it on the street,...found a bar to hang out in.

I showed up about 11 years later,....

Great photos and story.
Thanks much for sharing, George.

Thanks for sharing that, George. You're fortunate to still have your parents. Sorry to hear your Dad's memory is fading, but will pray and believe any declination will cease. Blessings to your family and you, my friend.

Dad's been gone 20yrs now. He'd have been 93 last November. North Africa/Sicily/Italy. May your dad's remaining days, short or long, be peaceful.

Great story and thanks.

That is some great family history thanks for posting...

Thanks for an interesting story. I grew up around WWII vets from all branches. My dad would have been 88 this summer. He was a radioman on the USS Marblehead. But he was on it after it was brought back to the states and patched up. He was still in high school when it was nearly sunk in the S. Pacific. It was an older cruiser (launched 1924), and when it got rebuilt it got the newer, more up to date radar and lots of other upgrades. My dad did convoy duty in the N. Atlantic on it and less than a month before his 20th birthday he witnessed the vast fleet of small craft crossing the English Channel on D-Day. Then a couple months later witnessed the "invasion" of southern France which turned out to be only lightly defended. After the war Uncle Sam sold the Marblehead and lots of other older ships for scrap. The joke back then was: "they're gonna make razor blades outa this thing and every time you shave for the rest or your life you can think of this ship". Thanks again for the interesting post.

George, thank you. I appreciate knowing a bit about your dad and his war history - as well as his educational life. Echoing your sentiment, I miss my dad terrbily, but am so glad that he does not have to be here to see the mess we have come to in this country in our current condition.

The rotten politcs, the cheating and rule-breaking, the undermining of the Constitution, and on and on. Those folks that built this country and gave so much to insure our freedoms should not have to know what we have let it become - and I sure hope that we can get it back to some semblance of what they built.

My dad was stationed in the Philippines too. He is gone now, but not forgotten. Our fishing trips were always something special. He would call them fishing expeditions. A very special generation for sure.

Thanks George for sharing...

My dad is 85, still in relative good health, and he also served in WWII. He was in the Navy, served in the Pacific, and wont talk about it. I know he was somewhere out there when they dropped the atomic bombs and the war ended. He was stationed on a small island after the war. It had a landing strip and a hospital. The wounded servicemen that needed medical attention and couldnt make the trip home, were flown to this island. Dad and 3 other servicemen were responsible for keeping the generators running for the hospital. Dad is the last of them. Before Mom passed away, she told me that Dad, a doctor, and a few patients rode out a hurricane (typhoon) on the island. The patients were in too bad shape to move, the doctor wouldnt leave the patients, and Dad volunteered to stay and try to keep the power going.

The men of that generation were special!!

Excellent thread.

These breaks from our usual cyber-rasslin' provide a welcome respite.

My Dad is 86 also, living with his wonderful 81 year old girlfriend. Dad has Alzheimer's and she is a marvelous caregiver. I speak to them every evening on the phone. His physical health is good and his Alzheimer's seems to have stabilized for the past 3 years or so. He still enjoys life and even jokes about his memory loss.

Dad was on a minesweeper during the war. He experienced Kamikaze attacks off Okinawa and the great typhoon that ravaged Halsey's fleet. His ship was assigned minesweeping duties at both Hiroshima and Nagasaki shortly after the surrender. The ship's crew was actually granted liberty in both cities.

He has suffered from skin cancer for many years and if it wasn't for the fact that one of his best friends was a dermatologist, he would have died from it long ago. He has a spot of cancer cut off his head about every 4 months. Of course, we are sure his cancer stems from the radiation he was exposed to in Japan.

He is one of those who made his generation the greatest.

My dad is 89 and in a hospital bed as I type. A total of 5 weeks so far this year but is supposed to come home tomorrow. My wife and sister in law got dad to write down some of his numerous stories of growing up on a farm during the 1920's and 30's as well as his war experiences.

Drafted in December 1942 after graduation he served most of his time in the states, but went to Europe as a replacement during the Battle of the Bulge and stayed until the Spring of 1946. It was nearly a year after the war ended before he came home.

My wife compiled his stories and numerous family photos into a book which we had enough copies printed for all the kids and grandkids to own. I'm not tryng to sell it, we wouldn't make anything anyway, but the 1st 15 of about 150 pages plus the front and back covers can be viewed here. It is amazing what can be done today.

http://www.blurb.com/books/1731636

I'm glad we were able to put this together for my dad while he is still with us. He shows his copy to everyone. If you still have family living from that era get them to put as much down as they can and put together something like this.

What a treasure trove Sir. My Dad never spoke of the war and we never found anything in his stuff save a picture of him at Ft. Jackson, SC in 1943 while recovering and waiting for reassignment as a Tech Sgt. training G.I.'s in the Linn halftrack. I do know he was in N. Africa and then after recuperating from wounds was back in Europe till the end of the war.

wonderful story, George. they are leaving us so fast now.....lost Daddy on Good Friday. The only time he was in the Phillipines was after they were secured....he got dengue fever and they sent him to a tent hospital on Luzon. RIP.

+ 2

a hardy respectful salute to him...

Many thanks gents for the comments and for sharing your stories.

Ingwe, and the rest too, you must read UNBROKEN by Laura Hillendbrand. This a WWII epic story told by an author who writes a "page turner." If that isn't enough, it's all true -- one of the most compelling books I've read in a long time.

George..if its about Americans that were Japanese POWs..I'll probably pass...
Read one called " Prisoners of the Japanese" by Gavin Dawes..true stories, my uncle was even mentioned.
Until I read that book I didnt know the printed word could bring a grown man to tears....

It is about Americans imprisoned by the Japanese. But it's so much more than that - Paul Harvey would say "it's the rest of the story". I couldn't put it down.

I appreciate your sharing with us. Ken

George,
thanks for sharing such a wonderful post....It's good to be reminded what others have given for this great country...you sure have a dad to be proud of.

Yea Ingwe, I understand that now too. Western Judeo-Christian ethics have permeated our culture, laws, amd conventions; thus, we treated our prisoners relatively well. Ironically, the diabolical Nazis, other than the Gestapo and SS, had some sense of propriety too at least for American prisoners. This was not so of the Japenese as reflected in their treatment of Those they captured.

My uncle, the medic, who was held two years never was talkative about these things but I got the impression Germans treated medics a bit better yet. He finally got a message out to an underground contact who had a contact who....had a short wave radio and broadcast to the states that he was safe amd well. It filtered down to his parents, my grandparents.

My dad and his brothers were all sensitive, brooding types, intellegent, and in some cases with fragile psyches. As i mentioned my uncle who served on the USS Marblehead was reclusive afterward and i think suffered greatly of traumatic stress syndrome.

tip of the hat to a hero

Thank you for posting, and for sharing the story. Your father sounds like a great man.

I agree completely.

John, my dad came home amd went on to school on the GI bill. Taught high school, then college, going to graduate school along the way at the Universary of Iowa, some at the Univ of Wyoming, and Princeton. He then taught some thirty years in the history department at Northwestern College in Orange City, IA. It is a small but very highly rated liberal arts college.

I lost my dad 10 years ago next month to prostate cancer. He was 80, and served in the Army Air Corps in New Guinea and the Philippines. Just like your dad, he didn't talk about the war, and he had a box of souvenirs, much like your dad's. I am thankful he was in pretty good health when he went, and did not suffer long. I am looking forward to meeting him and my mom (whom I lost in 1968 at age 46 to breast cancer) in heaven when I die. I have no fear of death, only a positive looking forward to of inheritance of my mansion in my Father's House.

Dad joined ten days after the Japs hit Pearl. My Uncle was already in the Marines and had left Pearl only a few days before the attack. His brother, my other Uncle, was at Omaha Beach. Another Uncle served in the Navy.

About a year ago I was speaking with another of my Uncles who'd never spoken about the war much. It turned out that he'd crossed the Rhine with Patton.

Another good read is "Hell's Guests" by Glenn D. Frazier. We knew him as Dowling Frazier and he was from my home town of Fort Deposit, AL. The book is about the Bataan death march.

I was shocked to learn that the march only lasted six days. I knew of a couple of men from Greenville who were also on the march.

Dowling wrote of his hatred of the Japanese but also wrote of his ability to forgive after he became a Christian. It's a powerful book.
He threw his dog tags into a mass grave (I can't remember the exact reason he gave) but his father never believed that he was dead. When he got back to the states he called home and three of the females in his household fainted, one by one, when they heard his voice. Then his father got on the phone and told Dowling that he knew, somehow, that he was not dead, but he had three women laid out in the kitchen that looked like they were.

I knew MANY Bataan vets, when I was young - 10%, or so, came from New Mexico. I'll never forget the hollow, sunken eyes. Most carried a special "look".
Mark

I was born on VE Day, and grew up with the greatest generation. They were in charge of things when I began my working life. As they retired from the scene, things began to deteriorate, until by the time I retired they were sorely missed. These were people forged in the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl and by doing difficult work well. They knew things, they could do things, they didn't whine, but they did on occasion sit staring off into a distance that may have held dreams of what could have been.

My father was not of the Greatest Generation, he predated it having been born in 1893. He served in The Great War, in the Army Flying Corps, and during World War II built landing craft for the Pacific Theater. My mother was born in 1908, she welded those same landing craft together. Yet my father suffered from what today we call PTSD, as evidenced by his nightmares. He died when I was ten years old. We can only offer our love and honor to these great individuals, yet that will never be enough to heal their scars or quite the nightmares. I rest assured that they are held in the loving arms of their Father where all wounds are healed, their mind set at peace, and the heart is once again made blameless.

If there is one simple statement that can be said, it would be: Well done.

I had one Uncle that fought in WWI. We were just up by his grave the other day.

My dad would have been 85 now hes been gone be 3 years May 8th, was in the Navy, but was stuck in the Aleain Islands near Dutch harbor. Im about 1/2 as tough, he and his gen was. and my god, seems each gen. is worse, Thanks for the post, tell you father Thanks, and take care!

Thank you for posting pictures of your Father and the things he brought back from the war. Both of my Grandfathers served in the Army during the war, and both ended up in Italy. My Maternal Grandfather, whom I lost in April of 2000, was the best friend I ever had. I call him The Indian in my stories now, because it seems so much of what I know, I learned from following that man around. He was in the 88th Infantry Division, "The Bluedevils" which was in the 5th Army, under General Mark Clark. Papaw is on the Right in the top photo and on the left in the bottom pic.





I have a few pictures of my Paternal Grandfather, but I haven't had my scanner hooked up in some time. I'll have to get those pictures uploaded soon.

My undying thanks to the men and women who gave so much of themselves so that I could be raised an American.

My father 89 also served in WWII. Starting in the Spring of '43 he was a Flying 8 Ball (8th Air Force) (still has a couple of the shoulder patches). Ball turret gunner on B-24's out of Shipdam, England. Flew 32 daylight missions over Europe; mostly in the ball some as tail or nose gunner. We've got the press release onion skin and pic for when he received the Airman's Medal. He's got a DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross) but has never told me or my sisters how he earned it. Pretty sure they didn't just hand those out. The state of AR has a special tag for those that qualify. See pic. Only cost him like $3.25 a year. He has been blessed with exceptional health for a man his age. In the 2 weeks after his 89th B-Day last Nov. he killed an 8 point and a 10 point buck with his trusty Rem. 760 .270 pump rifle. Now there's a goal for all us; to be 89 and still able to deer hunt and shoot well enough to be successful at it. We have been blessed to still have him in our lives.

May he hunt for as long as his heart desires. God Bless him.

My Dad Delbert Earl Frey



My Uncle Clarence Meyers

Terry you look just like your Dad and your Uncle. Stong family resemblance.

I don't have any WWII pics of my father...wish I did. I've posted before that he was in the European Theatre, a Combat Engineer with the 69th Infantry division. His unit was one of the first in to liberate Buchenwald,he ( they) tried like hell to blow up the Bridge at Remagen, and they met the Russians at the River Elbe for VE day...
A source of enormous pride...
He left the party wayyyyy too early, over thirty years ago....

I'm pretty sure there was an old man in Somerset, KY. That was in that outfit. He was a barber I used to go to, when I had more hair and lived over that way. Told alot of stories about Remagen, and building the pontoon bridge across the Rhine. I don't know if he is still living or not though. It has been several years since I sat in his chair.

Cool....I had the pleasure 20 years ago of running into an old dude that was on his way home from a 69th reunion, a cannon cocker. He said he was surprised the Russians would even speak to us when they finally met up...not knowing who they were, and thinking they were Germans, he said the shelled the hell out of them for awhile before VE day.....doh!
Dad had brought back some souveniers, and I had the unmitigated pleasure of giving this guy a Nazi dress dagger dad brought home. Told him I'm sure dad would want him to have it....