Today, June 6th Is The 80th Anniversary Of D-Day!

[GoDadGo]

I'm Reviving This Thread From 5 Years Ago!
.Please Remember Always What This Generation Did For Us!


Did You Know Anyone Special Who Served During WW-II

Sherman Hernandez
I was fortunate enough to know my Uncle Sherman who was a flight engineer on a C-47.
He was part of the D-Day invasion transporting paratroopers behind enemy lines.
He was a tall man, nearly 6'4" who always sat on his parachute since he was a very long legged fellow.
That parachute saved his life when a piece of shrapnel came through the underside of the plane lodging in his chute.
He never talked much about the war, but did talk about the fun they had when they toted Bob Hope for a few of his U.S.O. shows.
The flight crews even got together with Mr. Hope when he reigned as King Baccus during Mardi-Gras in the early 1970's.

Victor Henderson
Paw Paw Victor (Mrs. Go-Dad's Grandfather) was a Tank Crew Member & Mechanic who land landed at Normandy on that fateful day.
The only thing he ever told me about the War was that it was Bad, Really Bad!
He did say how sloppy drunk they got when they eventually made it to Paris.
Paw-Paw Victor was the kindest man I think I've ever met.
He Was Truly A Man For All Seasons!

Edward Wilbanks
My Uncle Ed wasn't there for D-Day, but served in the South Pacific and was a gunner on a Destroyer.
His legs were scared in many places and the only thing he ever told me was that was where they got him at General Custer's Last Stand.
He passed away in 1973 when I was 10, from a heart attack, and this was the 1st time that I saw my father cry.
I was about 7 or 8 when I found out how he really got those scars.

[Presto51]

Harvey Harmon.

I was his helper, and he was the talented autobody painter of the Chevrolet dealership where we worked. Taught me how to paint in the collision repair world the old school way. Which means that you had to prove yourself worthy, before he would teach/instruct, man did he and I clash a lot of times, until I got it through my thick head what was what. I still think about him and still miss him, after almost thirty years.

Like most of the Greatest Generation, he didn't talk much about WW II, but I do know that at the old age of eighteen, that he was on one of landing craft, hitting Omaha beach with the groups fifty cal machine gun, thinking how to make off the beach in one piece. After the landing, when they were reforming the shattered groups, they were looking for anyone who had heavy truck driving experience, to run supplies behind the lines, Harvey volunteered to drive, thinking that he's survived the beach, the push in land to secure the landing, he wasn't going to push his luck if he didn't have too.

So he drove supplies behind the lines, attached to Patton's 3rd Army, driving towards Bastogne, to relieve the town. He laughed when he called it a nice safe job, driving supply truck behind the lines.

He also said the Holocaust was real, very real, after seeing what he saw when they moved nearer to Germany.

Harvey Harmon, hard as nails, but I still miss him.

Ron

[SerpantFL]

Hi Steve, my dad was a USAF flight navigator stationed in the Philippines and was part of the occupation forces in Japan after the armistice. He flew countless flights around the Pacific ferrying men and materiel to various places.
He is still kicking at 96, and I visit him weekly. At this point, the stories are fascinating and just wonder how they did it without complaint, and made the world safe from communism. Hope we never have to do that again.
God bless those who served and continue to do so. We do appreciate your efforts and sacrifices.
Safe driving, Anthony

[Bob-STL]

Robert Hassett

My Father.
B25 pilot, VMB 612, Marines, Okinawa.
Fine example from Greatest Generation.

Bob

[Derald Rice]

My father-in-law was a B-24 crew chief on Guam. He often told us that there was only one crew that went down due to a mechanical problem, and the memory of their fate was on his mind until the day he died.

My father was trained to parachute into Japan, and then set up a radio beacon for the pre-invasion bombers to fly in on. The bombs negated any need to invade Japan, and he never had to fulfill his training. He was then assigned to the occupation forces.

[wallace18]

My father in the Pacific- Marine Corp, My uncle Mike in Europe in B-17's- Army Air Corp. My Mom and aunts built Corsair machine guns in Allentown PA during the war.

[KenWilkinson]

Father, PBY air-sea rescue. In flight engineer. Stationed at Sitka Naval Air base.
http://airfields-freeman.com/AK/airfields_AK.htm

He had a pet German Shepard that would ride on the hood of a jeep.

[flynntuna]

My dad was a bosun mate aboard a troop carrier in the Pacific Theater.
My dads brother, also in the Navy was repairing Battle damaged ships on drydocks in various places in the South Pacific.
My dads cousin skippered a tuna boat that the Navy consripted to ferry material for the Navy. In fact most if not all the fleet of tuna boats in southern Ca were conscripted to the war effort.
None of them easily volunteered any stories of their service. I didn't know till after he passed away that my dads cousin was wounded resulting in a loss of a lung when his boat was attacked and large chunk of wood impaled him.

[Mark Eaton]

Steve, I have been lucky enough to know many WW-II veterans! As a vascular surgeon in southern Oregon since 2001 it has been my honor to participate in the healthcare of this amazing generation. As I read your post several of them jumped out in my mind. One couple in particular, Wilbur and Muriel (no last names because of HIPPA), were especially impressive. Wilbur was a pilot in the Pacific and Muriel went to the east coast to participate in the war effort by working in a factory. When my boys were born Wilbur and Muriel gave them each a gift which were wind-up pewter animals, an elephant and a horse. Tom and Nick are now 15 and 13 and those animals are still on their shelves. I took this opportunity to take the animals down and discuss with the boys where they came from and the impact that Wilbur and Muriel's generation had on our world. The boys listened and didn't flinch when my voice cracked.

[UnhipPopano]

My father served in the Air Force, my uncle in the Navy, and my Father in law in the Army. My father in law entered first at the beginning of the war and was in the third wave of the beaches of Normandy. When he made it past the beaches, he could not find any of his unit. He was assigned to a different unit and fought in the Hedgerows until he was shot in the back end. He then spent the remainder of the war guarding Germans. My uncle entered during the middle of the war and fought in the pacific. My father entered the war around the end and worked developing a map of Cuba.

[GoDadGo]

Tomorrow is the 75th anniversary when the world changed.

How will you remember it?

[Jetfuel]

To me everyday is Memorial Day....everyday is Veterans Day...everyday is Thanksgiving Day
I thank each day everyone that served to make this a better place for all.
May them all be Blessed

[jceckard]

Robert Hassett

My Father.
B25 pilot, VMB 612, Marines, Okinawa.
Fine example from Greatest Generation.

Bob

My granddad was also a pilot in VMB612. Winfred Eckard. Like many others he never talked about it until one Thanksgiving when I had to stay at college to finish up a project. Lucky me. I've seen some of the pictures they took from the plane over Tokyo. One time, he had one engine shot up and limped the plane back.

My other granddad was a radar tech on the USS Hornet. He had to go work on a radar on a destroyer and watched the invasion of Iwo Jima from the deck through binoculars. He didn't talk much either, but boy was he proud of his ship.

My grandmother's brother was in EZ Company in D-Day. Troy Decker. He would tell some stories. One jump (can't remember which) he broke his ankle when he landed. Some nuns found him and hid him away until he had healed. He did an anniversary jump when he was in his 70s.

[SSNK4US]

Donald Davies
My father, “Daddy” as known to my brother, sister and I. 304th infantry, Battle of the Bulge....ended up as a sergeant of a heavy machine gun crew. He or his brother never talked about it very much at all. I remember watching the show Combat with him as a kid in the 60’s. I asked him “did you do that?” “did you ride on a tank?” etc etc... but he never really talked about it. I do know that he said his teeth really suffered, his feet really suffered because they never dried out and he was somewhere when they liberated a concentration camp and it was the worst thing he has ever experience in his life and didn’t want to talk about it any more than that. He passed away in 1974 from cancer when I was 13 years old so I feel like I never really got to understand the scope of what he really did. He met my mom when she was in the USO and they bought a house in the late 40’s after the war in California and started a family. I’m the youngest of us three baby boomers lol

Robert Davies
“Uncle Bob” my dads brother. B-17 pilot European theatre. Flew many many missions there. Again didn’t talk about any of it at all. He was shot down, actually bailed out, and ended up in a POW camp in Germany for a couple of years. There was a big front page artical on him in the Los Angeles Times when he came home that was more informative than anything he ever divulged. My sister still has the paper somewhere. He passed away in 2003, eighty something years old.

My brother texted me the pictures below of my dads Silver Star recommendation a few years ago... I had no idea about it until then. I’m sorry if they come out sideways or something but I think it’s interesting reading from back then. He was a PFC at that time using a M1918 LMG at that time for cover fire.
I proud to be able to say that my dad and my uncle were part of something that shaped the world as we know it. And Gave us the freedoms that we enjoy today also. Brings tears to my eyes. And to think if he was killed in action over there I wouldn’t be here writing this....something to think about....

I personally have never served... but I wish to thank from the bottom of my heart the men and women that have served, are currently serving and will serve in the future to keep this great country of ours safe for generations to come.....

FE509056-DF87-4C1B-9CDE-4BCE7D843E1A.jpg

5162E384-609B-423B-9965-128B0EAAC35E.jpg

EE130D73-1B53-4E27-B505-DF7F73CD4D10.jpg

[Desert Snake]

William Daugherty

My great uncle fought in the battle of the bulge. He never talked about it. A handful of soldiers who served with him showed up to his funeral. It's hard to comprehend.

[Desert Snake]

Thank you Go Dad Go for starting this thread. We can't ever begin to repay those who serve(d) our country.

[65 Cobra Dude]

Steve,

Great post about our Greatest Generation. I've shared this story before but feel the need to share it again. My father in law, Marcel Meschini was in the European Theater as well. He was a young 19 year old working for Gen Patton's 3rd Army. He was advancing towards Berlin when he heard a whistling sound which was a large round that exploded close to him. He took shrapnel and was killed on the battle field. He remembers feeling no pain and a bright light and warmth. He then said he heard a voice say it's not your time. He argued with that voice saying he liked it there. The voice said you have something to do... He was revived on the battle field and immediately felt the pain and coldness come back. He was evacuated and spent the next year in a hospital in Europe and the States. He was medically retired when he got out of the hospital with a bronze star with a V for valor and a purple heart amongst other medals. He passed away a couple of years ago and I think about him often. Before he passed, I was able to get him a few more medals he earned and build a shadow box for him. I called him from my duty station and read the awards to him. He cried like a little baby. If you need a good tear duct cleaning, watch this video on YouTube. It is me calling him and reading the Good Conduct Medal award which he wanted his whole life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9m7J8IQTbM He died shortly after receiving this award! This is the shadow box with the new medals that he received on that day. It hangs proudly above mine at my house:
Marco's shadow box.jpg

Henry

[SSNK4US]

That’s really cool Henry

[SerpantFL]

Almost forgot, 2 aunts in Marine Intel in D.C. One passed, one still kicking in Calif. The gals were different then too.

[GoDadGo]

I'm reviving this thread from 5 years ago.

[J R Jones]

My father was Navy enlisted and his brother was an Army officer in WWII. I was Air Force enlisted with Interceptors on the perimeter, Alaska, and Asia in the sixties.
We were to my father in law's grave Memorial Day where the headstone reads Army First Infantry Rifleman, Bronze Star and Purple Heart for the Pacific campaign. He was not easy for me to know, I understand now that it was PTSD. In his case the wounds were inside and outside and he took them to his grave.
jim

[flyboyjy]

Frank Westfall

My grandfather who died in 2023 at the age of 98. Was in the US Army special chemical weapons branch, meaning he drove a jeep with a smoke screen generating trailer attached. He was sent to North Africa and later came up through Italy to meet the invasion forces in Europe. Some of the stories he would tell us of being on the front lines were incredible. The night he was generating a smoke screen so the Army Corps of Engineers could assemble a bridge to cross a river and a German tank fired and the shell landed near him, close enough to knock his helmet off. Another night transporting a German prisoner to be interrogated and they ran into a German machine gun nest and turned around and quickly drove off, the German soldier jumped off and ran towards the machine gun nest and was mowed down by his own army.

He was so proud to have served and been part the liberation of Europe.