by Bakeboss
What does it all mean away? We are born and then we die. In between, for a brief moment in time we are given the illusion we have control of our fate. In the end, all we have control of is the gift of being kind to one another. What is hateful to you, don't do to someone else.
... I'm named after my father's brother. He died in WWII. Panther fan.
My Father also served in WW2. He was a dispatch rider in Italy. The only story he ever told was when he made a mistake and ended up behind the German lines. Didn't get captured though. The name of the book is correct; That was the "greatest generation". Thank you for that story Bakeboss. We need to be reminded from time to time. Jim
My grandafther served for several years in the Australian Army in New Guinea in WWII. He never talked about his time there and passed away many years ago. To this day nobody in the family knows what he or his comrades did while serving, and all that is left is two shell casings turned into vases for flowers, made during his 'down time" in New Guinea. Would have been nice to know more.
May we always be blessed by those unsung heroes and heroines. May we have the courage and conviction to serve in a similar capacity if and when we should be called upon to do so.
In April of 1942 my Grandfather re-enlisted in the United States Army. He served in the Army Air Forces from 1942-1945.
What was never spoken about until going through things in a trunk after my Grandmother had passed was a box of letters and an Army discharge from 1922. My Grandfather virtually never talked about the time he spent from 1917-1922; as a driver of horse drawn field artillery. In 2 wars he did what was necessary.
My father enlisted immediately after war was declared. He was underage but they accepted him. He enlisted in Northern Alberta, Canada and chose the Navy as he had never seen the ocean. He spent the war in the belly of a Corvette, Canada's plywood version of a PT boat. He kept the engine running while the boat circled Allied supply convoys in the North Atlantic. The Corvette was used to pick up survivors when ships were sunk. He spent the war doing the same job as an engineer 3rd class. He would joke about it being 'a day out on the boat' and only admitted, late in life, that he had been capsized a number of times by the waves and near miss shells. As with so many others, he received no special recognition, medals or citations.
Is a wwII vet. He never talked about his experiances as we were children even though asked, but now at 85 is finally talking. Because he is in excellent condition both phyically and mentally has become much in demand by the various groups trying to preserve this history and has appeared on numerous TV and radio show as well as schools and video sessions for the mobile history vehicles. Decorated, captured during the Battle of the Bulge and a POW in 5 stalags this info is frequently not easy to come by. I understand. Mike in Missouri
Well said ,my family have served the british army for well over 200 years its a strange thing but we never talk about what we have done ,how it was how we felt ,the friends we made and lost ;I retired in 2004 i served from the "troubles" and in most of the little nasty places and hot spots all the way to afghanistan and yet im sure i havent told those i love about my life,i think i will ,my sons are now following in the family bizz so i will talk to them about things ,you never know they may see that thier old man was once a lot like they are now and may be learn from my mistakes . The man who wrote the post made a good point we should talk .
Well done for using this forum to spread the word on this matter just that little bit further.
Nitpick--it's Corps not Core
You gave me the push to get going and do something I've thought about for years. I'm a WWII and Korean veteran in my mid 80's and should start writing down some of the stuff that happened in those years. Not so much the earth shaking stuff, but the every day fun stuff GI's were always getting into trouble over. Because of the nature of the stuff I did, I never talked about it to my family. It's a life they might find interesting. And the authorities can't shoot me when I'm in my grave.
I could write one story a day. Leave it on my computer, and it might be fun for my kids to read after I'm gone.