Did your WW II vet dad ever talk about his experiences ?

[steve2470]

I've always wondered about this. My dad said very little about his experiences, and he was in the Artillery behind the lines. He rose to the rank of Captain and actually was the military mayor of a town in Germany for a while. At any rate, compared to some older guys on documentaries, my dad is practically mute. Trust me, I've tried to get him to talk about it. Is this common ?

[malmapus]

1. My great uncle was something of a hero from our county

He would take about parts of his experience, but stop at others (which is undersandable now to me, but at the time I couldn't comprehend). People just have different ways of dealing with what they live through. I guess to some talking about experiences is a way of therapy or helpful while others its just something too personal to share.

EDIT: I have another uncle who was in Vietnam (signal guy for arty at a firebase). He will talk about things, I still remember story of how he lost his units mail over the jungle (the bag fell out of the helo), and then he got run over by a Jeep a buddy was driving, luckily it was monsoon season and all it did was push him in the mud and rolled over his leg.

[abbeyco]

22. Won't talk at all about it

We know he was held in a camp and spent considerable time in Europe, but other than that, none of us knows a thing.

He never used the threat of sending my brothers to military school - back when they were young hell-raisers most of their friends heard this from their Dads.

When I was of college age, he would not even allow me to consider the Naval Academy - said over his dead body and no way in hell.

Guess I know all I need to know.....

[demnan]

2. Oh yes

my Dad was an Army Captain of a trucking company on Guatal Canal for nearly 3 years. His trucking company was all black. He had a black lt who told him, "Remember they don't have as much to fight for as you do".

Yes they were fired on, he got malaria and lost sight in one of his eyes, but he came back alive. He also took some interesting pictures of the natives, all naked just like out of a page of National Geographic. It was funny to see him in a picture with them (all posing very dignified there was no making fun of them).

[ewagner]

3. Very common

My Dad never said a word.

I found the citations for his air medals (5) and DFC in his drawer....all I could say was WOW! He got pissed that I found them. He was on a PBY in the Pacific....as near as I can tell he was at Okinawa during the height of the Kamakazi attacks.

[steve2470]

what is pby ? nt

[ewagner]

9. One of these

Used in the Soloman's to intercept Japanese resupply....used a lot for anti-sub warfare, but toward the end of the war used primarily for air/sea rescue...that's what the DFC was for.

[Coastie for Truth]

11. A small, slow, twin prop

amphibian (could land on land and sea). My dad flew one too.

<>

[justinsb]

4. My dad did 2 tours in Veitnam

and not a word, everything I've heard has been second hand.

[LSparkle]

5. Mine hasn't talked much, either

I know he was stationed in Belgium for a while, but my mother has also mentioned that he helped to liberate a concentration camp (were there any camps in Belgium or were they only in Germany?). When "Saving Private Ryan" came out, my parents wouldn't go see it because my mother was afraid she'd have to take my dad out of the theater.

On the positive side, he was also in Paris for its liberation and was there when they turned the lights on again for the first time. He talks about THAT part of his war experience, but not the negative stuff.

[KarenInMA]

6. My granddad has never said more than a few words

about it.

We think he was one of the first divisions into one of the camps, but that's just speculation.

[dflprincess]

7. No - only things like what celebs he saw in a USO tour

or stuff like that. He died when he was only 45 so I don't know if he might have opened up more as time went on.

He enlisted the day after Pearl Harbor and was so anxious to get over and fight that he refused pilot and officer's training. He would up being a rear gunner on B25 bomber in the pacific and, according to my parents wedding announcement, flew 56 missions (I've noticed hometown wedding announcements right after the war always seem to mention the groom's service.)

Despite how anxious he had been to get into the war, he apparently changed his mind. He told both his mother and my mom he would never go to war again and no son of his would ever go to war for any reason. He said (and I've said this before on this board) that is was always people who hadn't been to war that were anxious to start new ones. My mother says he'd be absolutely apoplectic if he knew about Bush and the rest of the Chickenhawks.

[edbermac]

8. My dad's general was Patton...

He said the guy was a lunatic...

[puerco-bellies]

My Grandfather served in the Navy during WWII

He never spoke to us (grandma, my mom, us grandkids), but we had heard from his younger brother (Tieo Chente' to us) secondhand tid-bits. He passed a couple of years ago and it fell to me to deliver his eulogy. It turned out he and his ship earned 4 Battle Stars, a Presidential Unit Citation, and the Philippine Campaign Ribbon. He participated in the battle of Samar I, one of the most lopsided battles between the U.S. and Imperial Japan's navies. We had only a inkling of the horror's he bore witness too. It is the same for my uncles on the other side of my family who were in WWII and Korea.

edited because I don't pay attention to what spell check is doing.

[leftchick]

10. my Dad spent 6 years in the Navy

He talks quite openly about it. The most traumatic event for him was 6 mos. after he left his first ship, The USS Vincences, for a re-assignment it was sunk . He lost a lot of his friends and shipmates. :(

He is disgusted by how the US Military has benn destroyed by bushco**.

[Goldmund]

12. My Grandfather did, ad nauseum

Did you know that he, for example, threw a hand grenade into the turret of a German tank? :rofl:

[ulysses]

13. my dad just missed WWII.

Born in 1929. He volunteered for the postwar navy, got discharged early as the military downsized, then got drafted back into the army when Korea started and was sent to replace occupying forces sent from Germany to SE Asia. He left the army as a recon sgt.

He and I talked just a couple of weeks ago about his dad, who was a machine gun company captain in France in 1918. Grandpa evidently never talked much about his experiences during that war.

[Scurrilous]

14. My Dad was in the Army...

..fought in N. Africa and France, was wounded and spent 2 months in the hospital. Never talked about it.

[shraby]

15. Mine was at the Battle of the Bulge and I never

knew it until a very few years ago. He would never talk about it, only in very general terms.."they shot at us and we shot at them" kind of thing. I'm in my 60s.

[steve2470]

19. so was mine. It must have been pretty horrible nt

[emcguffie]

16. He finallty did.

But only after I was in my thirties, I think. Or at least my twenties.

He really didn't like it. He signed up with the Army Air Corps because he wanted to stay out of the "trenches", after what happened in World War I. Of course, then, in WWII, a bomber was just about the most dangerous place to be.

They were not shot down, but they did have to jump out behind enemy lines on their 24th mission (you only had to fly 25; once you were shot down or otherwise had to jump, you didn't have to fly anymore).

They had to throw the youngest crew member out, becaues he was too scared to jump. He made it. The Captain landed in a tree and broke his neck. But everyone else made it. They were in Yugoslavia, behind enemy lines, and had to get back to Italy.

But first, when my dad hit the ground, he was dragged backwards with his face in the mud. When he opened his eyes and saw black, for a moment he thought he had died. But he hadn't! He didn't like jumping out of an airplane. And of course, that was the first and last time he ever did it.

He said on one of their bombing runs he saw one of "our" pursuit planes -- I can't remember the one, but it was unmistakeable, with two fuselages -- shoot down one of our own bombers. Of course, it horrified him. He was sure it was deliberate.

He flew in one of the two planes that the Group Leader flew in, so they had radar instead of a gunner in the -- belly? -- of the plane. So they were frequently a target, but remained lucky.

This "group leader" would periodically take one of those planes, strip it of equipment, make as much room as possible, and fly to Cuba, and stock up on goodies, like rum. Or maybe they flew to Cuba, and then stripped the plane? I don't know, he's gone, I can't ask him anymore.

He stayed pretty much scared shitless of flying for the rest of his life.

When he finally talked to me about all this, I was surprised. I hadn't thought of it before, and at that point I may have initiated the conversation, but then in retrospect it was remarkable how he had NEVER talked about it.

Then they tried to get him back in for Korea. No, no, no. Not for him.

The survival rates for guys in bombers was incredibly low.

[johncoby2]

17. No, he didnt until late in life

He was a medic on one of the beaches on D-Day. He still didnt talk about the landing. He went back to France on the 50th anniversary. Had a real hard time with it.

He was interviewed by a San Antonio paper after he watched Saving Private Ryan. He agreed with the brutality of the events of D-Day, but also said it didnt give enough emphasis on the air and water attack.

Other than that he didnt talk much about it. Even in bed dying from cancer for over 8 months. Never talked about it.

[WeRQ4U]

18. My father in law talks about his experiences in Vietnam quite sparingly..

And from the stories that he HAS told, I can definitely tell why. I would try to repress every single memory I had, if they were the ones he has. To this day he can't watch movies that reenact war. He told me once that he went to Platoon in the movie theater, but had to leave during the first scene. He said he could smell Vietnam. He could feel it. He said that he left after he noticed that he was both crying and sweating.

I don't pry.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

20. I had two great uncles who served in WWII.

One died before I was born, and the other one never, ever talked about it.

I knew two Vietnam vets at my last job. One of them always chatted about his time in Vietnam like it was a vacation: he
refueled aircraft at an airbase that was well out of any major combat zones. His (near) exact words were: "We get up early, refuel and
re-arm a shitload of aircraft, and go get shitfaced every night."

The other one was a soldier on the ground. He never, ever talked about Vietnam. He couldn't stand how the other guy always chatted it up.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

21. That's the way my dad was

He served in the Pacific and the only thing he ever said about the whole thing was that the native girls were ugly, a statement designed to shut down the conversation. He would never talk about combat or tell any stories about the guys he served with (at least not to us kids, maybe he talked to our mother but she never talked either), and this was a guy who loved to tell a good story. All I know is that he took his gun and broke it up and hid the pieces so no one would never find it. He loved WWII movies but he hated John Wayne ("that pissant"). I have some photos of him in boot camp. And that's all I know.

Edit to add: And during the Viet Nam War, he was ready to send his draft-age son to Canada if that's what would have kept him out of the army. He said if the war continued he would send all three his boys to Canada. Fortunately it didn't come to that.

[smoogatz]

23. My Dad had a lot of stories

about funny stuff that happened, and the guys in his outfit. He was island-hopping in the Pacific, from New Guinea to Japan, and would have been part of the invasion force if not for Hiroshima/Nagasaki and the Japanese surrender. He saw a LOT of combat, but didn't talk much about that.

[jane_pippin]

24. My Grandpa was at Normandy and all he ever said was

"There's nothing fun about war."

(This was prompted by my brother and I asking when we were about 5 or 6 to "tell us about the fun parts.")

About 10 years later, right before he died, he showed us his medals. That was it.

My dad said Grampa never said a thing about it to him either.

[lisa58]

25. No...

he would refuse when asked except for anecdotal stories of the lighter times and when we all laughed (he included) at Hogan's Heros he made a point of telling us not to think that that was what war was like.

[w8liftinglady]

26. I have had 2 patients who were POWs in WW2

By the time they get to me,most of my patients are at the end of their lives.These guys finally opened up and told me,and their families-what it was like for them during ww2 in the Japanese prison camps...a lot of torture and mind games.Most of these guys I see now were only 17 0r 18 when they were in the War.One of my patients said when he was liberated,one of those "desk generals" wanted to dress him down for some thing to do with his uniform.He said "I turned and walked away from him.That coward didn't scare me-I'd lived through the worst"What a hero.He pretty much had the same to say about Bush.Most of my WW2 patients think Bush sucks.

[MADem]

27. I had to pull it out of him and the rest of my relatives who served

Easier to do when in uniform than as a youngster...some very ugly, frightening episodes, the odd moments of accidental heroism which at the time were regarded as simply doing one's duty, a great deal of edgy boredom, and an overwhelming sense of relief followed by giddy, delerious joy once it was all done.

Then, for the most part, they drew a line under that period of their lives and moved forward.

[Coastie for Truth]

28. Three categories of things

1. Every poker hand, quick bios of everybody else in the squadron, etc. - I think my sister and I had these stories memorized.

2. Family things - When Dad ran into his brother in Manila, and when Dad ran into my Mom's cousin at Treasure Island - knew these.

3. The Stuff He Only Told Me The Night Before I Went In The Service

a). The traditional "Live Cowards and Dead Heroes" talk..
b). Followed by the "Don't volunteer" talk.
c). I sort of knew that after VJ Day Dad had been one of many "War Crimes Investigators" - that night he blurted out that the war crimes he had investigated were US crimes against Filipinos and against Japanese - then he abruptly changed the subject. Never talked about it again.
d). I had to do a CACO for a service member killed by "friendly fire" - this was about two weeks after the Army confirmed (what we had suspected all along) - that my cousin had been killed by "friendly fire." We had a long talk about a lot of things (my cousin was like an older brother to me).

[steve2470]

29. what's a CACO ? nt

[Coastie for Truth]

31. Casualty Assistance

Can be two things:
1. The team that tells the family that their loved one has been killed. (Did that once)

2. The bureaucrats who subsequently help them with the paperwork - and the VA paperwork, and the State paper work, and the Social Security paperwork (that's what I did several times).

[steve2470]

33. thanks for the info ! nt

[Cooley Hurd]

30. I was quite young when my Dad died (3rd Army Battle of the Bulge vet)

...but my uncle, who drove a landing craft onto Omaha beach at Normandy, told me about that day. He didn't go into detail, but told me about how awesome it was to see the English Channel full of boats and ships. Strangely, he didn't even talk about his own wound (in the butt), but said that he knew we would win when he saw all the ships, boats and planes on our side.

He's since passed...:(

[steve2470]

43. sorry about your dad, mine was lucky to survive it

:-(

[Cooley Hurd]

44. Dad survived the battle, but died 23 years later saving my sister...

...from drowning. He saved her, but became tangled in the weeds and was drowned himself.

I was 2 1/2 when it (my Dad's death) happened, so it's not something that's affected me (pushing 40 now).

[Enraged_Ape]

32. My grandfather landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day...

and NEVER discussed anything about WWII. He might talk occasionally about USO shows and the like, but if it had anything to do with actual combat, he absolutely refused to discuss it.

I have found that most real veterans of combat action are this way. It was terrible enough the first time, so why relive it?

[yorkiemommie1]

34. my dad was on the ship that led the invasion of Okinawa

i guess the head honcho general was on the ship.

he was drafted after Pearl Harbor ( both my parents witnessed Pearl Harbor, saw the planes flying in, etc ). The only thing he ever said about his experience was that he was put in charge of the gambling aboard ship because he was the only Asian American and had higher visibility. i guess he did clerical things over there.

when he developed brain cancer in the late 80s he would get delusional about being drafted so i think he suppressed a lot of fears. now that he's gone, it's too late ; i wish i'd asked him more.

He remained a staunch Republican though.

[fairfaxvadem]

35. Only in general terms...

My dad and his brother signed up in April '42 and stayed until late '45, early '46. North Africa, Europe...Dad didn't get too explicit. He was mostly in the rear, but he saw a lot in 3+ years.

Mom was Army Lt., Army Hospital, England, during the lead up to Normandy and after the invasion. All she said was "we slept very little."

Mom's brothers were in the Pacific and Europe.

Amazingly, they all made it through.

But, I do have an entire photo album of WWII from my folks and one uncle from basic training, England, France, North Africa and the Pacific They are incredible and a cherished possession.

All my dad's postcards are censored on the back, deleting where they were.

[danalytical]

36. My grandfather won't say much but

He has told me some things. He told me that he hid in a fox hole with a water buffalo during a shelling in an Island off Japan. He got sick because it was filled with water and there were dead things in the hole as well. He recalled it with detail and told me he almost died. When asked about the decision to drop the bomb, he told me I probably wouldn't have been born without it, and neither would my father. Most WWII vets from the Pacific still hate the Japanese to this day because of their war crimes. It seems most of these men are very quiet about WWII.

[bklyncowgirl]

37. Mine never did--at least the combat part.

We'd always assumed that he never went anywhere near a battlefield. He was stationed in Florida for most of the war where he primarily seemed to have played golf, tennis and baseball. Towards the end of the war he was sent to the Phillipines (they were scraping the bottom of the barrel--he'd say) and served on McArthur's staff and was with McArthur later on in Japan.

I'd always assumed that he'd never gone anywhere near a battlefield but one day we were doing a display at the library on D-Day, and were hungry for artifacts. I put his Eisenhower jacket and hat in the case, thinking that no one would ever notice that he was not a veteran of D-Day. Needless to say within a day or two a veteran came up point out that the sergeant who had worn that uniform had not served on D-Day. He correctly pointed out service in Phillipines and Japan and said that he had a personal citation for valor. Another veteran later pointed out the same thing.

I was quite surprised and asked my mother. She said she had never heard anything about it (she was dating him at the time) and assumed that he just had a desk job. His sisters used to tease him about being in the VFW under false pretenses.

Apparently my Dad was something of a war hero and never told anybody.

[ewagner]

38. My neighbor died last November

I knew him for 20 years but didn't know until his funeral


that he had been a Marine
he fought on Iwo Jima
he was wounded TWICE on Iwo
he won the Bronze Star.

I couldn't help it. When I went up to his casket to pay my last respects, I saluted. He deserved it.

[mtnester]

39. My grandpa JUST started talking about his Pacific Theater experiences

this spring...he turned 84 in April. I have NEVER heard him speak about it before, and he even brought out some pictures no one even knew existed.

I know now as an adult what he went through when he came back and how he dealt with it (alcoholism for many years, now a heart damaged from it that will take his life)

Although he has not touched a drop in decades, he is still deeply affected. The things he tells me are frightening to me..I cannot imagine what it is to him. He does not talk about it much, but when he does, we let him go on as long as he needs to, we participate in the discussion, and hug him when he needs it.

Some of the stories are fascinating, others just plain horrific.

[B Calm]

40. My dad was in the infantry artillery. Fought the Germans in France

Holland, Belgum, and North Africa. Dad has never spoke to much about WW2. He is 88 years old now and hates what Bush has done to this country.

[maveric]

41. My Uncle, USMC, Guadalcanal, Iwo...Never talked about it until

his last two years alive. He couldnt go to Memorial Day parades or watch a fireworks show. Just wouldnt, couldnt talk about it till late in his life. He watched 6000 of his fellow marines die at Iwo Jima. Saw the flag go up on Mt Suribachi and just laughed saying that he and his marine buddies thought that the war would never end and their death was just around the corner.

[understandinglife]

42. Refused to discuss any of the combat he witnessed. Navy Officer, '41-'45.

They can't ignore us or shut us down. Thank god for the Internet.

The mainstream media is a propaganda tool for the government. Without the Internet, we wouldn't really know what is going on. We the people have to cause the change. I never got involved before because I didn't know one person could make a difference. But now I know that one person can make a difference. Thanks to all of you.

Cindy Sheehan, blogger conference call, Crawford, TX, August 10, 2005

Matthew Donaldson, an independent visual artist from Auckland. “On this, the 60th anniversary of Hiroshima's bombing, my grief for all of those murdered and yet to be murdered by America's weapons - of mass destruction or otherwise - overwhelms me” said Matt.

It overwhelms me, as well, Mathew.

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - How ever long it takes, the day must come when tens of millions of caring individuals peacefully but persistently defy the dictator, deny the corporatists their cash flow, and halt the evil being done in Iraq and in all the other places the Bu$h neoconster regime is destroying civilization and the environment in the name of "America."

[wli]

45. my grandfather is relatively quiet about it

He didn't actually do much. He got some weird disease that made all his hair fall out (a la Aaron Burr) and so didn't see much combat. What combat he did see must have been rather traumatic.

[livetohike]

46. My Dad rarely talked about his Navy experiences

and he died this past November. He told me about how bad the food was and all the different countries he saw, but nothing about battles. He was in the Pacific theater on Destroyer escorts mostly and that is all I know.