The Greatest Generation - Stories

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Smoove_B
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Re: The Greatest Generation - Stories

Post by Smoove_B »

Interesting - thanks!
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Re: The Greatest Generation - Stories

Post by Kraken »

Holman wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 9:17 pm Most of the homeless didn't want to be thieves; they just wanted to have an opportunity to maintain themselves.
Hoboes weren't bums. Nowadays we call them itinerant workers.
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Re: The Greatest Generation - Stories

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Holman wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 9:17 pm Part of the effect of this was to eliminate chicken theft. Most of the homeless didn't want to be thieves;
One of my great uncles was killed by a chicken thief. One of his brothers died in army camp from the Spanish Flu. The other brother was an MP in France during The Great War.

My one uncle was a Marine serving on Iwo Jima, and Tarawa(I think). I think he landed on Iwo Jima on +2 or +3. My other uncle was a combat engineer in the European Theatre. My dad was an air cadet in the Army Air Corps taking flight training, but once the powers that be knew the end was near he ended up packing parachutes. One of my dad's high school classmates was also a Marine on Iwo Jima. He was buried by a mortar round, but luckily somebody dug him out. I'm pretty sure he thenceforth suffered from what we now call PTSD.
Technically, he shouldn't be here.
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Re: The Greatest Generation - Stories

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After my dad got out of he army he got a job as a magazine salesman. He'd drive a bunch of other guys all over the south dropping them off so they could sell magazines and then pick them up and drive them to a motel.
A job not offered today.
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Re: The Greatest Generation - Stories

Post by Madmarcus »

My dad, FIL, and both of my grandfathers missed out on WWI and WWII by virtue of being too young or too old although my FIL did get drafted for the Korean war to work at Oak Ridge. My dad was somewhat of a hillbilly type himself. He's too young to remember the Depression but has lots of stories about how hard it was after WWII when all of the good jobs working on the war effort went away
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Re: The Greatest Generation - Stories

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My dad wasn't born in a hospital and didn't get a birth certificate until long after the fact. He maintained that, according to his mother, he was a year older than the date on the certificate and got cheated out of a year of Social Security (IDK how the discrepancy arose in the first place). But he was the last of 11 children so his mother's word was untrustworthy. He didn't have a middle name because she was plumb out by the time he was born. Oh, and she misspelled his first name as "Loyd" with one L. She wasn't trying to be creative.

At least one of my uncles never got a birth certificate or Social Security card and worked "under the table" for cash so that he never paid income taxes. He was invisible to the system. I wonder if that would even be possible today.
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Re: The Greatest Generation - Stories

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My father would have been 14 when it ended. He did serve two tours in the army in Korea, though. His father would have been 33 when it started. I'm guessing that he didn't go in because he was the sole bread winner for his wife and nine kids (although I don't know for sure - I don't think it ever came up in conversation.)
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Re: The Greatest Generation - Stories

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Madmarcus wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 12:04 am My dad, FIL, and both of my grandfathers missed out on WWI and WWII by virtue of being too young or too old although my FIL did get drafted for the Korean war to work at Oak Ridge. My dad was somewhat of a hillbilly type himself. He's too young to remember the Depression but has lots of stories about how hard it was after WWII when all of the good jobs working on the war effort went away
My father was in college during the Korean war, but as he tells it they lost his deferment. When it looked like he might get drafted he joined the Air Force. He spent Korea in Alaska leading a crew that loaded nuclear bombs onto B52s just in case they needed them.
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em2nought
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Re: The Greatest Generation - Stories

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em2nought wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 10:56 pm
My one uncle was a Marine serving on Iwo Jima, and Tarawa(I think).
Iwo Jima and Saipan actually. 4th Marine Division. Two of his high school friends died on Iwo Jima.
Technically, he shouldn't be here.
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Re: The Greatest Generation - Stories

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My great uncle was a Pearl Harbor survivor who went on to be part of the team working on the Manhattan project. He also lived in Washington along a river near St. Helens. When I visited in the late 90s he showed me pictures of the area before the eruption. He had stairs leading down to the river bank that had been on the hillside. My sister took a picture of me standing on the stairs holding my hand up so that you could see my fingers above the edge of the trench he had dug to get back down to the stairs.
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Re: The Greatest Generation - Stories

Post by Scraper »

This guy lives in my town. I'm in the local Rotary with him. He's 96 years old and still super active. His story is really good. It's about the Battle of the Bulge


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_WCZUMtMKo
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Re: The Greatest Generation - Stories

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My brother interviewed my grandfather in the late 1980s about his experience in WW2 for a school paper (either 7th or 8th grade - we can't remember).
I joined the Navy in May of 1943 (Ed: at age 18). A group of us (the new recruits) were sent to Samson, New York. There was a shipping station there that served as our training grounds. We stayed in Samson for about eight weeks of intense, vigorous training. We left Samson and were shipped out to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. We were assigned to what was called the Armed Guard. This was a fleet of merchant chips with aircraft and surface guns manned strictly by the Navy. The rest of the crew was the merchant crew. They took care of everything below decks. They were not allowed into any action above deck.

We were then sent to Baltimore, Maryland. We were assigned to the ship, the James Guthrie. When we left Maryland, we were a convoy of about 150 ships. Some of us were bound for England, others were going to Russia and other places. In this convoy, the regular Navy would provide for a destroyer for protection. They normally would put, depending on the size of the convoy, a certain number of destroyers and destroyer escorts, known as DDE's, around the convoy. A certain group of destroyers would be paced at the front of the convoy, others to the port and starboard sides, and a last group in the aft section of the convoy.

We sailed for about two days. At this time, we neared Nova Scotia. Here was our first contact with enemy fire. They really started to give us trouble with their submarines. They would have a submarine attack at the front of the convoy. As a result, the port and starboard destroyers would break the formation and sail around to the front to help the destroyers there. After they had left their positions, other subs were then able to come in from the sides and begin to pick off the merchant ships one by one. Now some of those ships were carrying ammunition, so if one of them got hit, you really knew it. Now the thing that you have to realize is that if a convoy meets up with enemy fire the ships do not stop. They keep right on their course and can't stop to help the ships that are getting attacked. So you can see that they are pretty hard to defend.

With great effort we were able to dispose of the submarines and continue on our journey. We reached England in a fair amount of time. We arrived at Plymouth which was a large naval base. It was the transition point for in-going and out-going supplies. We unloaded our cargo in Plymouth and then stopped in Scotland for a layover. Finally we returned to the United States. Now if you can imagine this convoy of such large ships; they were only traveling at about ten or eleven knots. So you can see that it took quite a long time to make it back to the United States.

Once back in the States, we were given new orders, and new destinations. Our ship was reloaded, this time with all kinds of ammunition. Anyway, we set sail from Baltimore again. in about 30 days, we were in the Canary Islands. There we had some small encounters with the enemy. We were a convoy of about 100 ships. My ship was positioned toward the center of the convoy due to the fact that we carried some pretty heavy ammunition. We proceeded through the Rock of Gibraltar. That was pretty scary because the action became really intense. The destroyers and the DDE's were kept very busy. You could see spots in the water where depth charges had been dropped. Depth charger were just about everywhere in sight.

We proceeded on our mission until we came to Sicily. This was one of our stops. We got to unload some of our ammunition at a naval port there as well as get resupplied. From where we were, we could see mount Etna. It was a very active volcano. It was shooting out ashes like you couldn't believe. We were in Sicily for about three days. Each day, when we woke up, we would see that the decks were totally covered with ashes. We'd have to swab the deck and clean out all of the weaponry. Needless to say, it was very difficult to keep the place clean.

We then continued onto Naples, Italy. We arrived in Naples and unloaded the rest of our ammunition cargo. We were there for about two days. Then, much to our dismay, we were attacked by JU-88s or what they called Junker-88s - the German bombers. They bombed the city for some time concentrating a lot of their fire on the harbor and loading dock area. We took 14 direct hits by, I think, 150 pound bombs. I was really startled when I heard the alarm sound. I put on my life jack and ran through the halls to get to my station; I was a gunner on the anti-aircraft guns on the starboard side. When I got above decks, I saw a couple of JU-88s still firing. I got to my station where I was finally able to start doing something. They just kept coming in. Finally, I heard the sound of "All Clear." This gave us the opportunity to clean up our guns and to get ready to get back into action again.

The fact that we were hit by bombs caused us to move out of the harbor. We went about two miles out to a place where we could get repaired. You can imagine that there was some extensive ship damage after being hit by 14 bombs. We stayed in that area for about 40 days. During about 30 of those days we had air raids. The raids were absolutely horrible. bombs whistled as they fell, people were screaming and running through the streets crying. It was probably the most terrifying sight that anyone could endure. You would think that a couple of days wouldn't be so bad, but after 30 days of intense bombing, it kind of gets to you. There were many, many people killed in the raids. Just to walk in the streets was a horrifying experience.

We were all very, very pleased when we were able to make it back to the States. They put us in our own dry dock to complete the repairs. Because the success of the war really depended on the supplies that were available, we were sent out to sea right away. We sailed back to the Mediterranean region to deliver more supplies. We first stopped in Oran, Africa and then continued on to Italy.

In Italy, we dropped of some supplies in Naples. Then we began our journey back to the United States. During this time, we ran into a horrible storm. We were attacked here. We were hit in the forward and aft and in the starboard sections. The ship literally began to crack. I was close to the bridge so I was able to hear the captain's orders quite well: "All hands abandon ship!" I jumped sixty feet down to the churning waters below me. After much effort I saw a raft that had been launched. The storm was so severe that they were unable to release the boats. Anyhow, I grabbed ahold of the raft and hung on for dear life. When I was able to get into it, I saw the magnitude of the situation. Finally several others were able to swim to my raft. With their combined help, we were able to pull aboard someone who was unconscious.

I was able to see several rafts in the distance, but we were drifting away from them. We were along for about five hours in the cold sea. We sighted a little local ship that simply traveled in the Mediterranean. We were very pleased about that. They came to the raft and pulled us aboard. Needles to say, we were hungry, we were cold, and we were wet, so getting on to that ship was a life saving event.

From this spot, we were taken to the destination of the ship which was Africa. They brought us to an African port and then to a camp in the desert. We remained there for about 12 weeks. The whole time we were considered Missing In Action. We ran into an American army division. They furnished us with a whole new set of clothes - Army clothes of course (remember, I was in the Navy so this was a change). Finally, they made arrangement for us to go home.

Home - the Unites States - it's a wonderful place to be. We were given a 30 day leave and then placed in a rest camp in Florida. From there we traveled to Havana, Cuba and then to Panama. We ran this route for about six months. Finally, two years, four months, and 29 days from the time I joined the Navy, I was discharged. I thank God everyday for the experience that I went through for the goodness that he had for me. Of course, I was deeply sorrowed for those that did die. I do, however, feel that my part in the Navy made me a better man than I ever was before.
I, too, am very glad that little local ship stopped to pull a bunch of Americans out of the Mediterranean and got them safely to Africa.

After he got home, he married my grandmother (whom he knew from school from before the war) and started a Lumber Yard and Hardware store (kind of like a more extensive Ace Hardware). He had gotten a tattoo during his voyages of the US Navy emblem (the one with USN and the anchor) which was misspelled with UNS because they were all so drunk (that always amused me). He passed away from Alzheimer's in the late 90s leaving behind his wife of over 50 years, 5 kids (although he had 6 - one passed away from heart complications at the age of 35), and 11 grandkids.
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Re: The Greatest Generation - Stories

Post by Kraken »

"after 30 days of intense bombing, it kind of gets to you." I imagine it kind of does.
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Re: The Greatest Generation - Stories

Post by dbt1949 »

Ditto.
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Re: The Greatest Generation - Stories

Post by Holman »

Huge numbers of WW2 vets came home with what's now known as PTSD. Most of them self-medicated it with alcohol, and this was a time when there was less stigma about drinking (even on the job). Plus, what happened at home generally stayed secret.
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Re: The Greatest Generation - Stories

Post by RM2 »

I have also read that some outlaw biker gangs such as Hell's Angels got started by WWII vets who felt they no longer fit in "normal" society.
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Re: The Greatest Generation - Stories

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When I got out of the service they sent me a letter telling my they were changing most all of the GI benefits to a lower level. Then they wanted me to sign the letter or they were going to suck me back in the service. I sent the letter back signed the next day.
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Re: The Greatest Generation - Stories

Post by Holman »

RM2 wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 5:22 pm I have also read that some outlaw biker gangs such as Hell's Angels got started by WWII vets who felt they no longer fit in "normal" society.
Also, a lot of the authors that we associate with the 1960s counterculture (e.g. Vonnegut, Heller, Bellow, Burgess, Heinlein, Ballard, etc) were WW2 veterans, and many of the others had grown up in the shadow of the war.

All of the significant science-fiction writers of the 1960s and 1970s--the thinkers rewriting our sense of the future--did so as children of WW2 and young adults of its Cold War aftermath.
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