Remember Pearl Harbor

[thistlebloom]

That's so sad.

 

[valley ranch]

Johnie, my brother was at Pearl, assigned to the USS Saratoga Uncle Joe, who lived on the folks ranch with us was drafted at the age of 47 he was a journeyman mechanic, gave him a commission Tecnical Seargent and sent him to North Africa to run operation of Tank repair, once we had all those needed, the draft age was lowered. All my cousins & uncles went to different parts of the world, no one in sight of the other.

As for dropping the bomb, we've never thought it necessary to apologize after the sneak attack, stab in the back, no class killing of our people, all this while they had people here in Washington promising they had no intent of aggression against us.

That the reason they were jumping off cliffs rather than surrender, was not honor, they were told and could imagine what we would do if we caught them. Once they realized we were the civilized they begin to quit the hand it over. We treated those who surrendered with kindness, not like they treated our guys and the English~marching them to death and worse.
Giving them the bomb was the thing to do. There was no reason to take a million casualties on their mainland like, like we did on each island and rock to get close enough for a one way flight.

Remember Pearl Harbor~ and all our people who died there and on the other attacks it the days that followed.

 

[so lucky]

My dad was in the European Theater, a tank mechanic. He rarely wanted to talk about his experiences there, either. He had his service pay sent home every month--he was planning to marry his sweetheart after the war. Instead of saving the money for him, his mother spent it.
So he and Mom hardly had two cents to rub together when they got married. But they had each other, for 65 more years.
Before he got drafted, Dad was in the CCC. Anyone else's Dad in the Civilian Conservation Corps?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Dad planted trees in Oregon in the CCC's. He was on the dry side.

 

[digitS']

Dad probably should have gone into the CCC . He was a farm kid who came to Los Angeles and went to work as a short-order cook. He didn't like to talk about that either ...

He was in until the end...

Dad was there after the end. Mom said that she was so happy when the war ended. Her job assembling wiring harness for bombers also ended. They had only been married a little over a year before he left the states but it was months and months after armistice was signed in Tokyo and he still wasn't home. Her parents were in Canada.

She had what she was told was "a nervous breakdown." We kidded her about showing us which nerve broke down and she would laugh. But, with a husband and 3 brothers in the military, and pretty much alone, it all was too difficult for her. Dad was able to take a flight home from the South Pacific and discharged after 5 years, 11 months, x days." I bet he could still tell us the number of days.

the drill sergeant teaching them to jump off a platform so they would know how to land broke his leg when he demonstrated

My Uncle Ed was shot through the leg while still descending with the parachute.

My father had a older brother who was killed in war. I guess it was very hard on my grandmother

My grandmother had a strange dependence on Ed after he came home. Dad said she went kind of crazy when he was away from her very long. She lived into her 90's and lived right around the corner from Ed and his family. Ed had cancer in his 60's but no one was to tell Grandmother. It was with great relief to the family that she died about a year before he did.

The local VFW has teams that go out and do that. Mom got the flag that was on the casket

My Uncle Rob, along with the other "3 little boys," defied his mother by joining the Navy. That sounds like it might have been safer than being a foot soldier but he was big and strong and was trained as a radioman. They sent him with the Marines to Guadalcanal. He was very sympathetic towards the Japanese who were killed, doing what they were told to do.

Back home, Uncle Robin died in his 50's. I felt sorry for the old guy folding the flag from his casket in the severe December cold. Hearing taps played by a bugler on the other side of the cemetery was sad.

Steve

 

[valley ranch]

Quote so lucky: My dad was in the European Theater, a tank mechanic.

Bet your father and uncle Joe knew each other!

 

[valley ranch]

Quote Steve:My Uncle Rob, along with the other "3 little boys," defied his mother by joining the Navy. That sounds like it might have been safer than being a foot soldier but he was big and strong and was trained as a radioman. They sent him with the Marines to Guadalcanal. He was very sympathetic towards the Japanese who were killed, doing what they were told to do.


Guadalcanal~I think that's where Ernie Pile was killed, he was well read, right on the front lines with the guys.

 

[baymule]

My Daddy was in the Navy before the war and was still in the Navy after the war, He had enlisted for 8 years. He had quite a few war wound scars from bullets and shrapnel.

My brother was born on December 7. He would have been 68.

 

[jackb]

My cousin Al lived upstairs from us and was the big brother I did not have. Al lost his life on April 10,1945 shortly before the war ended. I can still recall the day the telegram came from the war department informing us that Al's bomber had been shot down over Germany. Several years ago I spoke to a crew member who survived and was taken prisoner. He said he was forced to bury Al and two other crew members; he told me Al looked like he was sleeping and that he had fallen 15,000 feet to his death. More than a decade after the war ended Al's body was returned to this country and he was buried in Louisville, KY hundreds of miles from his home. I was shocked to find that Al did not get his own grave, but was buried in the same grave with two other crew members. When I was researching Al's service I found that the warehouse where the records were stored had burned and most of the records were lost in the fire. He received no medal or recognition for his service that I am aware of.

On the other hand, the man who was responsible for Al's death, Walter Schuck, had also shot down 209 aircraft and received great acclaim. He wrote a book, available on Amazon for about seventy dollars, and had his photo taken with movie stars. He passed away at age 94 in March 2015 after a long life with much attention.

Life is not fair...
jackb

 

[so lucky]

No, life is not fair. But, you know, our war heros who killed lots of enemies probably cause the same sorrowful reaction on the other side. War is just a sad business. I don't know how we can call ourselves civilized when the "powers that be" still allow war.