Whats a military family worth ?

[patrickg]

Redman, I sure hope you were able to tell your dad how much he was appreciated.

One of my friends drove landing barges on D Day. He made three trips into point Du Hoc (spelling??) ferrying rangers who were to take out some artillery emplacements. Later, in the pacific his ship was sunk and he spent a night treading water while sharks were feeding among the men. He then volunteered to be a frog man. Now in summer he is a volunteer ranger at a lake near San Diego and a volunteer docent at a truck museum near San Diego. He just keeps on doing what he can.

Another man, a buisness associate, was WW II navy and had three ships sunk out from under him (two in one day). He was a plane captain on a carrier at the battle of Midway.

Another was a B-17 tail gunner who beat the odds and survived, his only physical injuries being frostbite on his hands because they only wore silk gloves to keep their hands from freezing to the machine guns and couldn't wear heavy mits and shoot AND he got his two front teeth knocked out and broke both arms when his tail gun was so heavily shot up by enemy fire that it fell off the aircraft when they landed. He went on to crew chief behind the lines landings in support of the partisans and after the war was a fireman. These guys are fine examples of American citizens. Tough to find their kind looking for entitlements, or other unearned handouts.

I've been priveleged to know others but this sample gives the flavor of what I am trying to say.

I still see a Pearl Harbor Survivor or Purple Heart lisc plate once in a great while and try to always honk and flash the "V" for victory.

"Whats a military family worth ?" What is our way of life worth? What is our freedom worth?

Patrick

 

[cp1969]

My father never talked about his experience, either. Maybe it's a father/son thing. Thanks to the internet and other stuff I inherited, I've been able to figure out the exact route his unit took. He landed at Salerno and Anzio--I wonder if their paths crossed?

 

[EdDekker]

Patrick,

Your message left me thinking about my father. What he went through is far beyond my experience.

My father was a Bombardier on a B-24 flying out of England. He completed 30 missions and was in Texas waiting for retraining for a tour of the Pacific when the war ended. He flew 30 missions. The average was that in each mission one out of twenty planes (and crews) would not return many Missions (and weeks) were far worse than the average.

Until he retired he traveled on business (he was a sales manager for a Steel Company) and therefore had to fly. He would become visibly disturbed days before he had to get on an airplane. After he retired he would not get on an airplane. Deep inside when he thought of flying there were too many memories of sitting in the clear plastic nose of that airplane, freezing and watching the German fighters and flak try to kill him.

He didn't talk much about his experience until late in his life. Even than he never said much.

Growing up I knew that he had trouble in the winter with his toes from the frostbite he got in the war. I later learned that on one flight his electrically heated socks, gloves and underwear failed. The flight must have been around 25 to 30 below zero and he was in the plane for 7 hours after the failure.

One of the few reveling conversations happened one day when there was a B-25 on the TV. He talked for a few minutes about the time his damaged B-24 landed at a B-25 base and had to wait a few days for repairs. He would not say anything about the battle damage to his plane, if any of the crew was injured, or any part of what had happened in the air. He did talk about being on the B-25 base and said that several B-25s crashed on takeoff. He and his crew were appalled by the frequency of the B-25 crashes and impressed that most of the crew members got out of the crashed B-25s alive. He added that the crew never got out alive when a B-24 crashed on takeoff. He would not say any more about the B-24 crashes. Talking about the B-25 crashes was possible but he would (or could) not talk about the B-24 crashes he saw.

Another day he talked about the first time he saw a jet aircraft. He was at 25,000 feet over Germany and high above the formation there were two contrails. That night back at base the Pilot, co-pilot, navigator and my father took one of the base intelligence officers out, got him drunk and learned about the German jet program.

 

[Redman59]

No doubt about it - these guys were STUDS. I did tell my dad how much I appreciated him. My plebe year at the Naval Academy, my English teacher was James Webb. Mr Webb was a platoon commander in Vietnam who, because of his wounds was medically retired. He went on to complete Law School, wrote a book Fields of Fire, went on to become the Asst SecDef, and later SecNav. At the end of the semester, I bought Fields of Fire, had it autographed by Mr Webb. Mr Webb wrote about how he appreciated my dad's contribution in WWII. It meant a lot to my dad, and even more as Mr Webb went on to serve as SecNav.

I highly recommend reading Fields of Fire. It will give you faith in what Marine Corps Boot Camp is able to do in a man's life.

Some of my best grunts were inner city kids or farm boys who were just plain tough. They only needed direction and discipline. I suspect that there are boys growing up in the hills around my place who will be able to stand in the line when the time comes.

I pray that my two boys(8 &5) will never need to fight, but that I will instill in them the necessary grit to rise to the occasion when the time comes. My kids are bred for the fight like a bird dog is bred for hunting. Deep down, I suspect that they will be irresistably drawn to the USMC just as I was.

"Nobody wants to fight, but someone has to know how" Marine recruiting slogan

Every one of our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Coast Guard etc is priceless, but then again, so is freedom.

Semper Fi,
Redman

 

[patrickg]

dekker, Thanks so much for sharing the info re your dad. I'm sure I'm not the only one who appreciated it.

My friend, James Smith (now deceased), the B-17 tail gunner flew in the 8th Air Force out of England. We became very good friends and he was like an older brother to me even though old enough to be my dad. This relationship is probably why he confided in me with more of his memories than is typical with sons. He flew all the mandatory missions, sometimes two in a day. Brief, take off, fly over the channel, bomb the enemy shooting at the fighters that prefer to take out the tail gunner (leaves the bomber defenseless),fly home to England. While you are briefing for the next raid the ground crews remove the dead bodies, hose out the blood, refuel, patch battle damage and you go do it again.

After flying his quota he was transferred to "the Pathfinders", radar equipped aircraft who, at that time, were leading the raids. Since it was a different outfit, they "zeroed" his mission count and started him over again. (Shades of "Catch 22").

As he had lied about his age to join up, flew so many missions in various capacities (some really hairy stuff with the partisans, decorated by the French) he was released from active duty prior to the end of the war. Back in the states, working as a fireman, on occasion took guff from the uninformed who assumed he was a "slacker". Why wouldn't a young able bodied man be off to war.

He was fiercely patriotic but not a flag waver. Really believed in the American ideals of hard work, fair play, compassion for the needy, etc. Probably had more spunk than the entire graduating class of "Communist Martyr's High School". (With apologies to the "Fire Sign Theater.")

Patrick