A date which will live in infamy

[3Ts]

My father was in Norway during the **** occupation during WWII. He didn't talk about it either. Late in his life, he shared with me a few experiences (not good). After he passed, I was talking to my mom and found out he never told her any of the stories he told me.

I find it common that folks who have served in combat don't usually talk about their experiences. I think it is because most folks just don't have a clue as to what combat is like, including a spouse. I was in Vietnam (Air Force) and the only one in my family that's been in combat. I don't discuss it with anyone in the family and even very little with my wife. My youngest son was in Iraq, it's still a different war although we've talked some, but found out he never shared any of the stories with his wife.

 

[dragoneggs]

I find it common that folks who have served in combat don't usually talk about their experiences. I think it is because most folks just don't have a clue as to what combat is like, including a spouse. I was in Vietnam (Air Force) and the only one in my family that's been in combat. I don't discuss it with anyone in the family and even very little with my wife. My youngest son was in Iraq, it's still a different war although we've talked some, but found out he never shared any of the stories with his wife.

I can't relate. I haven't experienced anything remotely comparable. But I do have great respect and sympathy for those that served and especially gave more than they deserved. :salute:

 

[weldingisfun]

Eighty years ago, today. Never forget and never, ever let down your guard.

 

[MossRoad]

I saw an interview with some of the survivors this morning. You figure if they were 18 at the time, they're 98 now. Most of them are in their 100's.

An interesting statistic. Of the more than 16million men and women that served during WWII, only about 250,000 are still alive. My dad was drafted into the Army shortly after the U.S. got involved. He would have been 101 this year.

 

[Jstpssng]

A good reminder of why we're here, and how much others gave up so that we can live the way that we do.

 

[MossRoad]

Many years ago, I was talking to my dad about some of his experiences in the south Pacific during WWII. One of the things he had to do was after a battle, they had to go through the dead Japanese soldiers pockets and personal items and such, looking for intelligence info. Many of the bodies were booby trapped, and my dad was a demolitions officer, so he had to deal with that.

He said the thing that struck him the most, was almost to a tee, every one of them had a wallet or billfold with family pictures in it. In the pictures, they were usually dressed in western style clothing, like what a typical American or European would be wearing. They were always with their families, he'd guessed parents, grand parents, sibling, etc., in front of houses, landmarks, parties, typical places and times you'd take a family photo. Those photos could have been taken anywhere in the U.S.

He said it was very disturbing to see these young guys blown to bits (on both sides), and looking at those pictures. He thought about it every day until he passed away.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

My Dad was in his 30's when the war started; I asked him once why he wasn't drafted. Besides being a bit older with 2 children, he was superintendent of an aggregate plant, producing crushed rock which just happened to be going to build runways and such. He said he might as well have been drafted, they basically controlled where he worked. I know we lived in several different places during the war.

He said the only time he balked, was when they tried to send him to Hawaii to build and run a plant there.

 

[MossRoad]

My dad was an architecture student at Notre Dame. Got drafted his sophomore year (I think). Got letters from the Governor of Indiana, and the ND president to get him into officers school. Got put in a combat engineering battalion. Got sent to Texas. They built their own training base. Got sent to small arms training. Had to train his battalion how to use small arms, but first they had to build a rifle range. Got sent to chemical weapons defense training. Had to train his battalion how to defend agains chemical attack. Got sent to demolitions training. Got sent to photography training. Had to take pictures of everything he blew up. Got sent to welding training. Got sent to Australia to build landing craft to invade New Guinea. Had to inspect welds and take pictures of everything. Invaded New Guinea. Had to blow things up, take pictures. Met some head hunters. Took pictures of them, too. Built landing strips. Got sent to the Philippines. Blew things up. Took pictures. Got hit by an army truck and broke his back. Got sent back to Philippines. Took more pictures. War ended. Came back home and finished ND on the GI bill. Stayed in Army reserves working on power plants and munitions factories into the 50s. Got married in 49. Had a pretty good career in architecture. 5 kids. Generally a very decent man, never cussed or drank. Great mentor to many young people in the community. Active in his church, Knights of Columbus, Boy Scouts, Campfire Girls. Mom died in 78 and dad got cancer and died in 95. Both too young. Both missed dearly. Man, it's dusty in here.

 

[5030]

Man, it's dusty in here.

.... and soon enough you too will be part of that dust....

 

[TractorTYMe]

My father was in Norway during the **** occupation during WWII. He didn't talk about it either. Late in his life, he shared with me a few experiences (not good). After he passed, I was talking to my mom and found out he never told her any of the stories he told me.

I'm born and raised in Norway, we have so many traces of German occupation still. We used to find old chache of ammo and potatoe masher grenades still now and then. We used to go fishin with them, a wonder we had all of our limbs left. I now live in the US, and it's my wife's birthday to boot. But I literally lived with those old guys that would sit at the local cafes telling and sharing their stories growing up.