OT: Wounded Vet

mb58 · Jul 22, 2013

My 92 year old neighbor passed away last week. ( He was working in his garden and had a stroke!)We've been neighbors since 1986. I have visited with him many times over the years and knew he was a WW2 vet. He was a great talker but rarely mentioned being in the "war" unless it was some funny story he would tell me. Somehow, I got the eroneous idea that he never left the States during his time in service. You can image my shock when after he passed, I found out he was a wounded vet. Seems they were crossing through the Dragon's teeth (Siegfried line) into Germany following a taped-off path through a mine field, when some idiot stepped over the tape and exploded a mine. My neighbor recived shrapnel from it. One completely through the leg and another lodged in his back. It was his "million dollar wound" and he was sent back to the USA.
At the funeral service his oldest son (who told me the story) had a shadow box with the Purple Heart medal and the piece of shrapnel. The shrapnel appeared to be a roller out of a ball-bearing of the cylindrical style about 1/2" long and 1/4" diameter. Wish I had known about this while he was still alive. I know he would have told me the story but he wasn't the kind that was going to bring it up on his own.

sd pete · Jul 22, 2013

The real HERO's do very little if any bragging about their exploits. My Dad is 93 and I had the honor to accompany him in 2010 on an Honor Flight to Washington DC.

Tim Barnes · Jul 22, 2013

mb, my father was a Buck S/gt. infantry squad leader in the South Pacific, served in New Guinea, Borneo and the Philippines. I learned about what he did through reading his units history on the net. From what I seen at the VFW Post, those WWll guys didn't talk about what they did much, except among them selves.

Billy Shafer · Jul 22, 2013

My Dad was on a Fleet Tug in 1944-45. During the Kamikase attacks on the fleet. Made all the island attacks.He never spoke of it until about a year before he died.Worked with two guys that made it through D day and the end of the war. We used to find one crying at times. Never asked why and he never told us why. Real men never brag.

671DKS · Jul 22, 2013

You never really know, My dad told me of his duty in the Navy during wwII 3 mos before he died back in 97, all our lives we never knew of what he had gone through. Sure explained a lot tho.
Kent

ben there · Jul 22, 2013

exactly,guys that were in the trenches very rarely say much...my dad was lucky and went up the hill day after D-Day but the memory of fallen men still on the beach haunted him till his dying day.

sd pete · Jul 22, 2013

My Dad went in 2nd day also. He was in the 90th division.

ben there · Jul 22, 2013

he never mentioned which outfit he was with,just Army...i've got his dd-214...will check and see.

Ivan in Mich · Jul 22, 2013

My dad died in 1999 and he was a WW 2 vet. He never talked about what he did or saw but anytime he did talk it was always how hard the people had it where he was at. He was in new guniea and the phillipines. After he died we found out that he had 4 bronze stars.

randaleky · Jul 22, 2013

all they will say is that the real heros are the ones that gave all they had ! !

Tim Barnes · Jul 22, 2013

(quoted from post at 18:13:44 07/22/13) My dad died in 1999 and he was a WW 2 vet. He never talked about what he did or saw but anytime he did talk it was always how hard the people had it where he was at. He was in new guniea and the phillipines. After he died we found out that he had 4 bronze stars.

.
Ivan, my father served in the same actions with the Army's 31st Infantry Division, AKA The Dixie Division. He actually enlisted in Jan. 1940, went into The Mississippi National Guard, almost a year before Pearl Harbor. He enlisted for the 28 bucks a month, which was better pay than he could earn picking cotton. He sent $18.00 a month home to his family, according to my Grandma.
.
If I may ask...Ivan, what unit was your Dad with?

pete black · Jul 22, 2013

my dad entered ww2 at Anzio, Italy, the FIRST beachhead landing of the war. pushed up the length of italy, into southern france and then into the rhineland of germandy. wounded two times in italy, two times in france and critically wounded two times near the rhine river where he was captured and held pow by the germans until liberated by the british at the end of the war. never knew it until way after i was married and had children of my own. even mom never mentioned it. dad, a partial disabled vet died 20 years ago this coming december. THE GREATEST GENERATION.

mb58 · Jul 22, 2013

My grandmother's brother served in the 31st "Double Dixie" division. He was a member of the La. National Gaurd before the war. When the war started, the La. regiment was taken out of the division and redesignated as an MP unit. Why? Because, being from Louisiana it was thought that they had enough members who spoke French that it would be an asset to send them to Europe as MP's. My uncle couldn't speak a word of French. Just one of those odd military ideas.

Ultradog MN · Jul 22, 2013

[i:654c4848f0]the FIRST beachhead landing of the war.[/i:654c4848f0]

Not to take away from your father's sacrifice and heroism here but the above statement is simply incorrect.
The invasion of Sicily occured a over a year before Anzio.
The Anzio landing took place I think Sept of 1944.
If you include the Pacific Theater a whole host of landings took place starting in August of 1942 - on Guadalcanal, Adak, Attu, Bougainville, The Gilberts, The Marshall Is. Marianas Is. Paulaus Is just to name a few that occured before Sept 1944.

Wile E · Jul 22, 2013

I really think that the reason the old guys do not bring up their service in the war is cause it was a painful time for them. Think of it this way:
You are 19 years old, get drafted, face the horrors of war, and you thank God that you got to come home and raise a family. I have a friend whose dad was on the Omaha beach landing, he went nuts. He had to be put in an asylum for a while, he got out a year later or something. Can you imagine seeing one of your buddies get their leg blown off 15 minutes after the beach landing.

pete black · Jul 22, 2013

it was meant to illustrate there were landings other than D Day. thanks for the correct history.

Billy NY · Jul 22, 2013

My great uncle fought in the pacific until it was over, when he came home, they were brought to Fort Hamilton near the Verazzano bridge, in harsh winter weather, shivering in a tent with a stove, my grandad met him and brought his comrades as much liquor as he could carry. He stayed in NYC for over a year to filter out the awful things that were related to his combat experience in the war, and eventually came home and had a family of 8 or 9, I can't recall, but the age group was from the end of the war spanning to my cousin who is just a tad younger than I. None of these Vets I have known really spoke of anything of those days, I have politely and respectfully spoken with an in law who was a bomber pilot, also flew fighters, about a few things, but this was not a good time for any, its hard to preserve the sacrifice they made when they don't speak of it, I suppose there is a time and place or just let it be, and know what the bigger picture was, with the enemy that was ultimately defeated by that requires the lives of so many.

A good example of a someone most will remember, who did not want any notoriety, about his service which spanned a career in the military, was Jimmy Stewart, the well known actor. He was adamant about this too.

IH2444 · Jul 22, 2013

WW2 vets did not seem to need special liscence plates. I wonder why? NOt picking on vets in any way, just humankind in general.

Billy Shafer · Jul 22, 2013

Old girlfriend of mine. Her father was at Bataan when it fell. Made it through the war as a POW.Last time I saw him in 1968. He was home on leave from the hospital for Christmas. He never did get over it.

oldtanker · Jul 22, 2013

My dad was a grunt with the 6th division, New Guiney and the Philippine landings. Lost his left leg between the knee and ankle. I knew he was a hero as a kid growing up because he stayed in the Army until June of 71. I knew what a Bronze and Silver Star. and Purple heart were as a kid. He refused to talk about the fighting until I had been in the Army for quite some time and he thought we were about to get into something.

Rick

OT: Wounded Vet

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