Interesting Real War Story Read

Wasn't that 'particularly rough patch' known as 'the start of the war' with Japan?

My father-in-law entered the Army Air Corps (which became the Air Force) in 1940. He had a choice between the Philippines and Hawaii / Hickam Field (Pearl Harbor). He chose Hickam Field. He sustained numerous injuries during the Dec. 7th attack and spent a few months in a hospital, but went on to serve in a number of battles in the Pacific. Despite his wounds, which lasted the rest of his life (RIP), he was always glad he chose Hawaii over the Philippines, where he would likely have died in the 'Bataan Death March'.

A WWII book I'd strongly recommend is 'Intrepid Aviators'. I liked it better than the more well known 'Unbroken'.

I'll take a look at the one you recommend.

Great post! I have three Uncles that all served during World War 2 and though they have passed I shall never forget their stories.

One of the few humorous stories was by my Uncle Val (Stem) Murray (a foot soldier) when he was in the fight to take Berlin.

He and his buddy took refuge behind a small room/building up on the roof of another building to avoid live rifle fire from three German soldiers.

One of the German soldiers threw a hand grenade and destroyed the small building plastering my Uncle and his buddy with poop but not wounding either.

That really pissed my Uncle off so he jumped up and charged the Germans succeeding in taking all three of them out before they could react.

He had several medals but never would show them to anyone other than some of the family.

When he was still alive my favorite times were going to visit him and getting in his old Ford Galaxy to make the rounds visiting his military buddies.

We would pull up to an old country store or a beer joint where I would stand or sit on the ground or sometimes at someone's home I would get to sit on a porch listening to them revisit their experiences.

Many times it caused a lump in my throat and sometimes a few tears.

All of my Uncles who served my country are my heroes but my Uncle "Stem" really helped me get my mind straight when I was 20 and I owe him a debt I could never pay.

Anyone and everyone that has ever served or is serving this country in the military are my real heroes.

My father in law was awarded the Purple Heart, a couple citations, and a bunch of battle stars. But he never talked much about his war experiences, just funny stories about other things that happened. If anyone saw his medals and called him a hero, he'd always say no, the real heroes never made it back.

Yep, my Uncles all said the same thing.

I used to buy apples from a another genuine hero who was farmer up North where I used to live and we became good friends.

The man's name is Richard Hext and he was a foot soldier in World War 2.

Dick walked the entire length of Africa from South to North in a very wide zigzag pattern pushing Rommel out of the continent and clear back into Germany.

He wasn't sure exactly how many miles he walked but he did say that he walked so much that he will not ever walk anywhere he can ride or drive.

I looked at the few records available and he walked at least 2500 miles from where they disembarked in South Africa up to Berlin.

I have covered some decent cross-country distances with a 40# pack but nowhere near anything like he did.

That generation was extremely tough as they did not have the high-tech equipment, clothing, weapons, or shoes that later generations had so they did almost everything in the field by hand.

He was a true gentleman and scholar with high moral values.

I miss him dearly.

I just gave your father-in-law a GA!.

Those of us who were young kids during WWII, but knew some who served in it, can sometimes honor them with recalls. One of my stories of that type (guys waiting in the ocean for a rescue ship after their destroyer was hit by a torpedo) is included as part of a tribute at http://jlf.jameslfarrell.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/ted.txt .

My dad and uncle both served in WWII; both are still with us and still active although not as much as they'd like to be! Neither have ever offered up anything except the funny stories from their days in the service; you can tell there's other tales to be told from the look in their eyes, but those will probably never be heard. Truly these gentlemen were a part of the "Greatest Generation".

My dad, a Navy medic with the Fleet Marines, worked his way across the Pacific to find himself on an LST that was to be in the first wave to hit of the Japan homeland invasion. In a timing is everything situation, they were hit by a typhoon as the fleet was assembling at Okinawa from which the invasion (I believe "Operation Downfall") was to be staged. The damage to ships, including the aircraft carriers, was so severe that it (and the final Japanese resistance on Okinawa) set back the schedule enough that the A-bomb project gained strategic ascendancy in the war effort.

Dad said they knew something was up when at the big 4 JULY 1945 gathering on Okinawa, the rumors were "We are standing down because..." with any number of reasons such as the Russians will invade first, the Emperor has been assassinated, etc., but he does not recall the A-bomb being on the list. He credits the bomb with saving his life and that of at least 100,000 Americans had the invasion occurred. Many historians concur that the total fatalities of the A-bomb were considerably less than had the War ended with the invasion.

Thanks for the heads up on the book Lyn.

I have ordered it.

Another good book I recently read was about the USS Indianapolis which delivered the components for Fat Man and Big Boy, the 2 A-bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was torpedoed by a Japanese sub, went down in less than 15 minutes with over 300 crew lost at that time and over the next 4 days 600 more perished from hypothermia, exposure and shark attacks.

"Unbroken" is another good read. It is about Louis Zamperini and another flight crew member who spent 47 days on the water before being "resucued" by the Japanese and sent the rest of the war in a POW camp where he was mercilessly treated.

"Fearless" is also a great read about a Navy SEAL by the name of Adam Brown.

I am thankful for these young men, primarily, who acted with courage, in spite of being scared to death. We still have men and women who are standing on the wall of freedom who also need our support and prayers.

Yes, thanks.

The Indianapolis story is a sad one, indeed. Too much secrecy killed those survivors.

A footnote on the South From Corregidor book.

Although CMDR Morrill intended for the proceeds of the book to be divided evenly among the 18 men, his wife sued and was awarded all the money from the sales of the book.

My uncle lived on Guam and Sipan most of the rest of his life working first in the Navy and then for the US government.

He retired to Hot Springs Ark. when he was 70ish and he and I went to many horse races at Oaklawn Park together one year when I lived there too.

Like many others, he never spoke of his ordeals in the Navy.

Hot Springs, Arkansas was where Adam Brown was from, in "Fearless".

For sure the Indianapolis story is tragic and made even more so because of as you said secrecy but also incompetance on the Navy's part.

These recollections contain a ton of explanations about strength of the U.S. For centuries and now up to the present our country has consistently come up with the best troops on this planet. I wish I could say the same about our business world. I have a signed copy from a coauthor of Rasor and Bauman: "Betraying our troops - the destructive results of privatizing war" (2007). That should be required reading for any politician who sends our troops into harm's way. For years I've contacted dozens and dozens in government plus business plus academia, writing to all about this incredible disgrace - for example http://jlf.jameslfarrell.com/seeing-the-invisible/ I don't know what it would take for today's citizens to provide our troops with the support we owe them.

Dick Cheney and George W. Bush deserve to be jailed for their part in declaring an unfunded war that killed thousands of soldiers needlessly.

There's some major incompetence for you.

The fact of weapons of mass destruction seems to get lost on many people. Sadaam Hussein used chemical weapons on the Kurds in northern Iraq who resisted him.

There was a lot of evidence that when they, the Iraqi's were given all kinds of advance warning that they moved much of their wmd's out to other countries.

There is always plenty of blame to go around when there is war. And war is tragic. There are also times when it is necessary. History is replete with those instances where free people needed to stand up to tyranny. Good people with honor and integrity who stand up and act in those instances usually pay a dear price for their honorable actions.

Unfortunately, mankind has never learned any lessons from history.

I recall nuclear weapons of mass destruction being discussed at the time.

It's too late now.

Yes, just prior to the 2003 invasion Saddam moved his Nerve Agents (mainly VX and Sarin) and Chemical Weapons (mainly Mustard Gas, ie, Blistering agents) to Syria so Assad could safeguard them, all with the complicit help of Russian Spetsnaz troops (Russian Federal Special Forces).

Now ISIS has gotten a hold of a small number of the canisters and shells which the U.N. (with our help) didn't confiscate....

Feeling safe yet?

Ever wonder how many of the chemical weapons fired by Syria and ISIS have "Made in Iraq" on them?

Hear! Hear! Great post!

That unfunded war is also the largest contributor to our current financial crisis and why we owe China so much money.

Funny how so few know this simple truth and those that know but will not admit it.

And WWII was funded?

What do you think got this country out of the Depression?

Bush requested, and obtained the approval of Congress before declaring war. The vote was almost unanimous, ten everybody "was for it before he/she was against it".

Everybody swore Saddam was hiding WMD's.

I'm glad I looked back on some of the older discussions and found the reference to the book. Sounds like a good read.

Might provide some answers to questions that only got a general answer when I was younger. Nobody alive to talk to.

For you to, in any way, compare what happened in WWII to the debacle started by Bush/Cheney is ridiculous and irresponsible.

If you are suggesting that the US is in any way better off for what happened in these modern wars is also completely wrong.

I knew personally people who blew their brains out after coming back from Iraq because there was no reason for them to go over there and kill innocent people who were absolutely never any threat to them of us.

If my Uncle Raid were here, he'd kick your ass for saying what you just did.

Nothing personal, but, that's the truth of it.

The reason for people commiting suicide is not because of the reason the war is being fought. There are a myriad of reasons why people choose that way to end their lives. It is tragic that this is happening with such frequency. I don't know if the training for our military people is not strong enough or if our families are raising weaker people mentally or what.

I do think we are becoming softer as a society which lends itself to people not knowing how to handle and work through adversity as well.

How could you possibly know that "The reason for people commiting suicide is not because of the reason the war is being fought".

Never said it was the reason, you said that.

The reason the war was fought is because Cheney (Bush's brain) wanted it fought.

What I said was that they felt "there was no reason for them to go over there and kill innocent people".

Again there is no comparison to WWII, when the war was coming to us, unless we stopped it before it got here.

Here we go again.

The book is a good, easy read, more interesting to me because my uncle was a part of it.

You say, "I knew personally people who blew their brains out after coming back from Iraq because there was no reason for them to go over there and kill innocent people who were absolutely never any threat to them of us."

That statement you made seems to me like the reason for the war was why they took their own lives. There will always be innocents killed in any kind of war. The purpose of the military was not and is not to go and "kill innocent people who were of no threat to them".

Why people take their own lives is hard to understand because it never makes sense to those who love them.

"Again there is no comparison to WWII, when the war was coming to us, unless we stopped it before it got here." This war has come to us. The battlefield is not as it was in WWII. There are no "front lines" as it was in much of that war. This war is non-traditional and it has been coming to us since the first Trade Tower bombing many years ago. It is either take the fight there, away from our homeland, or we fight it here. It is better to battle evil wherever it exists. That will mean we go wherever we need to go, along with other countries who are also threatened.

OK.

A better comparison would be the Viet Nam war and the Iraq war.

We really didn't belong in either place.

Technically the only reason we were in the ETO, was because that genius Adolph declared war on us and was sinking our ships.

PTO-no question.

Yep.

I don't think there's been a comparison to WWII SINCE WWII!

Up until that comment, I was going to say I actually agree with you!

I spent 14 years in the Navy as an officer, graduating from the Naval Academy 31 years ago. During my life I have met SO many true war heroes.

The book you recommend, I will buy and read! I do appreciate the good word and advice to read it.

Back to current issues.......Do you remember the UN Weapons Inspectors in Iraq under Saddam Hussein? I doubt it. ALL the folks who want to bring up war crimes against W Bush and Cheney never heard of it. (Yet another inconvenient truth....)

We are all entitled to our opinions. That's freedom of speech.

That is what many American service men and women have, and may continue to, fight and die to preserve for us. That right to disagree.

I thank you for your service to our great country.

BINGO!

Even though I was a Ground Pounder, that book looks like a keeper! I will buy as a Christmas present to myself.

A lot of good WWII stories presented here. My maternal Grandfather and his 12 siblings all served in the U.S. Army. 11 of his brothers (9 in the Infantry...all in the European Theater of Operations, and 2 in the Air Corps as B-17 gunners. Again, ETO) and a single sister (a WAC), my great Aunt Nellie....a tiny woman about 4'-9" and 90 pounds. What a tiger she was though! 3 of Grandpa's brothers never returned.

On my mom's side, 4 uncles served in the Army. My Great Uncle Donald was at Scoffield Barracks during the Pearl Harbor attack and survived. He was later transferred top the ETO and participated in D-Day and a great many other battles until the end of the war, including the the Liberation of Paris, the Battle of the Bulge and crossing Rhine River, then liberating a Nazi Concentration camp....I only wish I knew what Division he served in. He served the war, only to die in a farm tractor rollover in the early 1950's. When your time is up.....

My Grandpa jumped into Normandy with the 82nd Airborne, as well as the fiasco Operation Market Garden, wounded 3 times during the European conquest. He never talked about it. I only found out about all of this after he died at age 95 going through his personal effects and his letters home to my Grandma with my parents.

Truly the Greatest Generation. Bless them all.

Did you ever notice the only talking most vets did was general answers to your questions until you got a little older, and even then it was only as much as needed to answer your specific question?

I often wonder as I got older if my Dad's and uncles' "senior moments" were just not wanting to talk about their experiences?

One of my mother's brothers-in-law was a submariner on the Trout when they made this interesting mission into Corregidor during the seige. He survived the war, although the Trout didn't, but was killed in the early '60s when a tree fell on his car during a thunderstorm.

Interesting story. Thanks.

Thanks for the recommend, Lyn.

Dad participated in the Normandy invasion; he never spoke of it.

Un-father-in-law, who passed away just two weeks ago at 98 years young, had a most distinguished WWII career: shot down over China as a member of the 14th Air Force, 308th Bombardment Group, recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, Air Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, China War Medal, Winged Boot, and member of Chennault's Flying Tigers. Am trying to get un-husband to join CR4 to contribute to this thread, as well as other discussions.

Hi, Sue.

Good to hear from you here.

The rock has migrated from my truck to the yard as I had to use it as a truck.

Interesting, though not surprising, that soldiers don't talk too much about the things they saw and did in wars.

I had ordered "South From Corregidor" when Lyn recommended it and have found it a good tale of some of what our soldiers experienced. I appreciate the men like this who served with honor, courage and valor.

It was because of men like this, and men who now serve, that we continue to enjoy a host of freedoms that most of the world has no concept of, or the prosperity that comes with freedom. Check out "The Cycle of the Body Politic" which has been attributed to Benjamin Disraeli. We, the West, are in a downward spiral and need a reawkening, spiritually, socially and morally if we are to survive.