I met an old fellow at the store who was wearing a USS Pueblo cap.

[benburch]

I asked him "You were on the Pueblo?", and he replied "Yes I was, and I was in the crew who were captured."

I was in awe. All I could think of to say was "Thank you for your service! May I shake your hand?" And I did.

Not every day you meet living history!

I should have asked his name, I suppose, but at the moment I was speechless.

[Cooley Hurd]

1. I felt that way when I met my first Pearl Harbor survivor...

He was a kindly old gent who mowed the lawns at Mt Hawley Airport in Peoria, IL (when I ran the flight line at the FBO). He was on the USS Helena (which took a Japanese fish at 1010 dock).

[Hobarticus]

12. I met a Navy vet who was at both at Pearl Harbor AND Tokyo Bay!

Imagine the history that passed before his eyes, from the start of the Pacific campaign to the end...

[seemunkee]

13. I had a great aunt that lived next to that airport

and I have 5 generations of ancestors at Mt Hawley cemetary. You from Peoria?

[Cooley Hurd]

16. Nope...was just passing thru...

I got my private, instrument and commercial tickets from ol' Denny Driscoll at 3MY (I paid for it by being his slave at Mt Hawley).:)

[maveric]

18. One of my patients was a Bataan Death March survivor.

On way to Japan, after the march, via tanker, the ship was hit and sunk. He survived that too but was recaptured and sent to Japan to work slave labor in a factory. He stayed in the USMC, fighting at Inchon, then Viet Nam at Khe Sahn.
Think of what that man witnessed.

[ChickMagic]

24. My dad is a Death March survivor

His ship was bombed, but didn't sink. He was forced to work
in the Mitsubishi coal mines.

[maveric]

25. Does he talk about it?

This gentleman told me that he couldnt talk about his war experiences till after his wife died. Why then? He didnt elaborate. When I worked with him, he was alone. His daughter was in AZ (this was in San Diego), and didnt come by often.So we would talk.
I told him that he was a hero in my eyes. He said to "save it, with the hero shit". "The guys who died there are the heroes".

[ChickMagic]

29. He does now

but doesn't go into great detail. He never did while I was growing up.
He took a trip back to the Phillipines a number of years ago with some
war buddies and that seemed to have tripped a switch. He goes to high
schools to talk of his experiences and has been the grand marshall of the
Veteran's Day parade.

[murielm99]

28. My husband's uncle was a Bataan Death March survivor.

He had been a veterinarian, caring for the army animals.

He spoke about his experiences often. He went to all the reunions, and appeared in several books about the death march and the prison camp. He was in a prison camp until it was liberated.

He was a practicing veterinarian in California until he was in his eighties. Then he retired to Arizona. He dies when he was 92. His name was Herbert Ott.

[driver8]

31. Wow...I'm sure your father has some stories. One of our neighbors

lost her first husband on the Death March.

[HeeBGBz]

38. My uncle was a POW and a Bataan Death March survivor

He lost a lung to TB in the process.

[Horse with no Name]

19. My 7th grade teacher was stationed at Pearl Harbor

He brought an artillery shell for us to look at. I'll never forget that.

[moc]

37. My grandfather commanded a ship at Pearl Harbor.

USS Lamberton. Fortunately, they were outside the harbor when the attack occurred, so they were safe. However, Grandad used to tell the story of 2 young midshipmen that he had to send to "the brig" because there was no brig on the Lamberton. The brig he sent them to was on the USS Arizona. :( He was heartsick when they were able to reenter the harbor and he saw the Arizona was sunk. Two weeks later, when he was on shore, the two midshipmen came up behind him. Apparently, they had escaped.

My dad was 9yo and living in Honolulu during the attack. They were given gas masks and had air raid drills. About 4 months after the bombing, a Japanese Kamakaze plane dropped a bomb in a school yard about 2 blocks from where Dad was living with his mom and two brothers.

[Hobarticus]

2. That is pretty amazing...

To cross paths with guys like that is rare, anymore. What are the odds?

[Cooley Hurd]

5. USS Pueblo was a tiny ship...

If you've seen the movie Mister Roberts, the Pueblo was the same class of ship (except decked out with electronic surveillance equipment), so to meet a Pueblo crewman is rare!

[BOSSHOG]

3. My late father in law

was in the Army, landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day and lost his left arm after being hit with shrapnel in a small French Village in August 1944. He was my hero. I truly loved and admired the man. Younger members of the family have no appreciation of what he and his teammates had done.

[Cooley Hurd]

8. My Uncle Bill took shrapnel in the tookus on Omaha Beach...

...ouch!:(

[Minnesota Libra]

4. I understand the "I was in awe" part and being speechless, I've........

....been in that position a time or two and ended up just as speechless too.:pals: Maybe if you frequent that particular place a little more you will meet the guy again someday. Hey, stranger things have happened.

[Speck Tater]

6. When I was kid, back in the 50's...

The old man who owned the deli down the street had a number tattooed on his arm. I'll never forget the day I asked him what the tattoo was for, and he told me about his expeiences in a German concentration camp.

It's moments like those that make all that "boring history stuff" in the classroom suddenly come alive.

[Democrats_win]

7. Only U.S. Navy ship on roster, but not in custody--museum in N. Korea.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385072449/sr=8-1/qid=1145380966/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-7193577-5758238?%5Fencoding=UTF8

Bucher: My Story,
by Lloyd M., Bucher (Pete Bucher, commander of the U.S.S. Pueblo)


As a young kid fascinated with navy ships I read this account. I can still remember the scene of the Pueblo sailing through Puget Sound and the sense of crisis as the crew had to let the invaders on board.

[Democrats_win]

14. Pueblo commander Pete Bucher attended Father Flanagan´s Boys Town

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commander_Lloyd_M._Bucher

--snip
Following the release, Commander Bucher was subjected to a court of inquiry by the Navy. A court martial was recommended. However the Secretary of the Navy, John H. Chafee, intervened on Bucher's behalf and no action was taken against Commander Bucher. Many believe that Bucher was treated badly by the government. Bucher followed his orders to not start any international incidents, and he felt that while a ship could be replaced, lives could not. Bucher succeeded in his task, as war did not result from the unprovoked attack on Pueblo. The US Government finally recognized the crew's sacrifice and granted Prisoner of War medals to the crew in 1989.

[patcox2]

21. So did Charles Manson

So much for Boys Town, huh?

[benburch]

35. He lasted FOUR DAYS there.

Nice way to slur a fine institution.

You should be ashamed of yourself!

[Bandit]

9. Because of how the Pueblo was handled when the SS Mayaguez

was captured Ford immediately dispatched troops to rescue the crew. My respect for him grew immensely after that. He got our guys back within hours. Ford was a Republican but he also got a bad rap for his time in office. IMO he kept things going smooth and that was his downfall. The rap against him was nothing happens under Ford. It was boring so replace him. :shrug:

[Cooley Hurd]

10. Except he pardoned the nitwit who gave the present players their balls...

...and that only enboldened them. :grr:

[acmejack]

23. No, he immediately dispatched my ship to get the Mayaguez back!

Look us up sometime! USS Harold E Holt DE 1074 we towed the Mayaguez away


Along side.

Boarding

Away we go

[chaumont58]

11. Commander Lloyd Bucher(sp?)

If I remember right, the captain's name was Lloyd Bucher. That small spy ship was captured about the time of the '68 Tet Offense in VietNam. I once worked a retired Navy Seal. Supposedly, he had a lot of combat time. He really had some bad things to say about the crew of the Pueblo. He thought they should have died before surrendering. Bullshit! I don't think Seals play with a full deck. Interestingly enough though, this guy claimed to have spent seven years, off and on, in Viet Nam and he claimed he knew the US couldn't win as early as '63.

[rucky]

15. My friend's dad fought in the Battle of the Bulge

he's got some stories.

[Cooley Hurd]

20. My Dad was with the 551st AAA AW BN and was at BotB...

...however, he died when I was 3 years old, so I never had the chance to query him about it. Here's a great pic of him in Regensburg, Germany in 1945:

He's the corporal closest to the camera...

[patcox2]

22. My uncle was there, cut off, driving a gasoline tanker.

He ran into Patton once, Patton was up on a jeep directing traffic, cursing at everyone, just like the scene in the movie.

[lumberjack_jeff]

34. Dad said that he remembers Patton stopping his troops...

... tanks and all, at an intersection to allow the ambulances (including the one dad was riding in) to pass. Dad said that Patton saluted the wounded. It apparently left an impression.

[lumberjack_jeff]

33. My dad was shot there, he wore a steel plate in his head after that.

My stepmother once asked him if he wanted to go vacationing in Europe. His reply: "I've been there and the people aren't particularly friendly"

:D

He died in '94 but he had some great (and some really scary) stories. I get my politics from him.

[moc]

36. My father in law was at the Battle of the Bulge. Unfortunately, he

would not talk about his war experiences. Now that he's passed away, we'll not have a chance to hear his stories.

[Hobarticus]

17. I do WW2 re-enacting, I meet a lot of vets from all sides...

It is truly amazing to just sit and listen to these guys tell their stories....and that's all they want, is someone to listen and understand and appreciate what they went through. It's so sad to see this history passing on with them.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

26. My Dad was a nose-gunner in a B-24 that flew out of Italy in 1944....

...and 1945 over targets in Rumania, Bulgaria, Austria, and Germany...he'll be 86 next month, and most of his plane crew is still alive today. Dad's younger brother was on a destroyer in the Pacific from 1942-1945...he survived near misses by torpedoes and kamakazis, and two typhoons that sunk quite a few ships. Dad's twin first cousins were in the Rangers...one won the Silver Star in North Africa, and the other won the Silver Star in Italy.

My Mom's two brothers also fought in WWII. One was with an Army airfield construction and repair company that worked all over North Africa and Italy. The other brother was a radio operator with the unarmed supply planes that "Flew the Hump" from Burma over the Himalayas into China...he flew more than 80 missions and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, and the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster.

I've also met Pearl Harbor survivors as well as a survivor from the sinking of the USS Yorktown who still had scars on his palms from sliding down a rope into the ocean.

The truth of the matter is that anyone who fought in WWII is a survivor. The vast majority of the veterans I've met do not look upon themselves as heroes, but as ordinary people that did their duty as well as they could. If you had a chance to meet survivors of the Soviet Army, or the British Army, or the French Army, or any other army, you would probably hear the same thing. Even the majority of the survivors of the Italian, German, and Japanese armies would tell pretty much the same stories.

[maveric]

27. My uncle Louis was a marine at Iwo Jima.

Never talked about the war. Couldnt bring himself to attend Memorial day and 4th of July celebrations/fireworks.
He died three years ago and when my cousin cleaned his house out she found a silver star and two bronze stars tucked away in box.

[driver8]

30. My father was a Crypto Tech in the Navy and had 3 friends on the Pueblo.

One of his friends, James Layton, was in the infamous picture of the guys holding up their middle fingers. When the Koreans asked what it meant, the men told them "it means 'good luck' in Hawaiian." Layton told my father that when the North Koreans found out what it really meant, life became very unpleasant for those men.

My father also had friends on the USS Liberty.

[Neil Lisst]

32. wow, there's a slice of history

The next year, 1969, the North Koreans shot down a spy plane, an EC-121.