Memorial Day Memories

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SunnyJim
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Memorial Day Memories

Post by SunnyJim »

Once again we honor those who served our country and were killed in action.

Many confuse Memorial Day and Veteran's Day. Veteran's day is for those who served.

My father served as a Marine in WWII but he survived without a scratch. Although you could argue that what he experienced
could be counted as scars.

My grandfather served in the Army in WWI and was wounded at the Battle of Soissons in July of 1918.

He spent the duration of the war recovering from his wounds.

Any stories to tell?

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CardsofSTL
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Re: Memorial Day Memories

Post by CardsofSTL »

A lot of family were in various branches of service but we were all lucky enough to avoid any severe casualties. My Grandfather was career military, first Army Air Corps and then Air Force when the branches split. There was one story when he was in Vietnam toward the end of his career; he had been assigned to a patrol but at the last minute they pulled him off it to meet a plane that was coming in(his primary occupation was plane mechanic) and that whole patrol got wiped out. Narrow escape.

My brother and I were both Army, my dad and his brothers were Army National Guard. I had some relatives that went Navy as well.

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G. Keenan
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Re: Memorial Day Memories

Post by G. Keenan »

My dad's side of the family has a long history of military service, but not in the United States. My father is English. My grandfather was a career policeman in England, but joined the Royal Navy during WWII and piloted landing craft during D Day. While he was deployed, my grandmother was living in London during the Blitz and twice got bombed out by German V2 rockets. We have a bit of a family legend about the second time because she was pregnant with my father at that point. My grandfather's ship was in port up north when their apartment building got destroyed. She told him she was ok and not to take leave to come see her, but he insisted. While he was away, his ship was in harbor and got torpedoed by a German Uboat and sank.

My great grandfather was a Royal Marine who falsified his age to enlist at like 16. When my grandmother died about 10 years ago, my dad was clearing out her things and found my great grandfather's diaries from WWI. At one point his ship was patrolling off the coast of Brazil when they encountered a German ship and engaged it. His diary recounts how they disabled the German ship with their naval artillery and then boarded it, and looted it. The British officers kept all the most valuable things like silver for themselves, and the enlisted guys got to take what they wanted from what was left over. Not sure what happened to all the German sailors . . .

In a later entry, he was part of the battle for Constantinople, back when it was still called Constantinople. Pretty wild stuff.

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SunnyJim
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Re: Memorial Day Memories

Post by SunnyJim »

G. Keenan wrote:
May 29 21, 3:05 pm
My dad's side of the family has a long history of military service, but not in the United States. My father is English. My grandfather was a career policeman in England, but joined the Royal Navy during WWII and piloted landing craft during D Day. While he was deployed, my grandmother was living in London during the Blitz and twice got bombed out by German V2 rockets. We have a bit of a family legend about the second time because she was pregnant with my father at that point. My grandfather's ship was in port up north when their apartment building got destroyed. She told him she was ok and not to take leave to come see her, but he insisted. While he was away, his ship was in harbor and got torpedoed by a German Uboat and sank.

My great grandfather was a Royal Marine who falsified his age to enlist at like 16. When my grandmother died about 10 years ago, my dad was clearing out her things and found my great grandfather's diaries from WWI. At one point his ship was patrolling off the coast of Brazil when they encountered a German ship and engaged it. His diary recounts how they disabled the German ship with their naval artillery and then boarded it, and looted it. The British officers kept all the most valuable things like silver for themselves, and the enlisted guys got to take what they wanted from what was left over. Not sure what happened to all the German sailors . . .

In a later entry, he was part of the battle for Constantinople, back when it was still called Constantinople. Pretty wild stuff.
Wow! Neat story!

My grandfather lied about his age to join the Army in 1916. Got tired of working at Brown Shoe and giving money to his parents.

Went on to serve at the Mexican Border with Pershing before heading over to France.

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SunnyJim
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Re: Memorial Day Memories

Post by SunnyJim »

Image

My Grandfather before he shipped out.

Freed Roger
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Re: Memorial Day Memories

Post by Freed Roger »

I have a great uncle (grandpas brother ) that died in France in WW I.

2 great uncles I was around quite a bit growing up served in WW 2 pacific, Island hopping - including Guadalcanal.
Their sister, my Grandma, was like their mother to them, and they both lived at her home for long periods. Thus, I was around them, but they were mystery men to me growing up, because they were extremely reclusive and bachelors for life. They'd come in the door from work or whatnot and go straight upstairs away from everybody. The war really messed them up - and they occassionally showed tempers towards my cousins. But myself and siblings they were nice to, because they revered my dad who was toddler when they went to WWII, and he was like a son to them. One couldn't remember all of our names, so when did talk to us, he called us Tommy (my dad's name)

One was in the barracks at Pearl Harbor on that day. he were a couple more brothers (big family) to them that also served in the Pacific in different units. Family legend - is that the brothers were aware of each other being on an island together in the pacific, and snuck away from their units at night to meet up. One of the 2 one re-enlisted and served in North Korea. He achieved highest level award for marksmanship, and was proud of his medals and awards. Neither talked about the war with family.

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SunnyJim
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Re: Memorial Day Memories

Post by SunnyJim »

Freed Roger wrote:
May 29 21, 5:20 pm
I have a great uncle (grandpas brother ) that died in France in WW I.

2 great uncles I was around quite a bit growing up served in WW 2 pacific, Island hopping - including Guadalcanal.
Their sister, my Grandma, was like their mother to them, and they both lived at her home for long periods. Thus, I was around them, but they were mystery men to me growing up, because they were extremely reclusive and bachelors for life. They'd come in the door from work or whatnot and go straight upstairs away from everybody. The war really messed them up - and they occassionally showed tempers towards my cousins. But myself and siblings they were nice to, because they revered my dad who was toddler when they went to WWII, and he was like a son to them. One couldn't remember all of our names, so when did talk to us, he called us Tommy (my dad's name)

One was in the barracks at Pearl Harbor on that day. he were a couple more brothers (big family) to them that also served in the Pacific in different units. Family legend - is that the brothers were aware of each other being on an island together in the pacific, and snuck away from their units at night to meet up. One of the 2 one re-enlisted and served in North Korea. He achieved highest level award for marksmanship, and was proud of his medals and awards. Neither talked about the war with family.
When I would ask my Dad what it was like all he would say was 'It was rough.'

We were watching the movie Beau Geste back in the 60s. In that movie the bodies of the dead Legionnares catch fire.

My Dad remarked that he could never forget the smell of burning flesh.

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Radbird
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Re: Memorial Day Memories

Post by Radbird »

My mom’s first husband was a B-24 navigator whose plane crashed over North Africa on Feb 6, 1944. Mom turned 20 two days later and that August my sister was born. He is buried at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy along the coast south of Rome.
We had planned a trip to take my sister to Italy in March 2020 which of course was canceled. We hope to reschedule for later this year or early 2022.

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sighyoung
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Re: Memorial Day Memories

Post by sighyoung »

I have one distant relative, Samuel Cole, who served with the 28th U.S. Colored Infantry during the Civil War. He died at Petersburg, Virginia: I don't know if he died in the Battle of the Crater, though, but he could have been one of the unlucky soldiers that Ambrose Burnside marched right in: https://www.lawrencelore.org/portee-cemetery-c1rf0

Another relative, my great-great uncle Charles D. Anderson, was a Confederate general from Georgia. I don't know much about him, but he survived the war and died in 1901, apparently. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_D._Anderson

My grandfather enlisted and served during World War I. He was a member of the 809th Pioneer Infantry, which was a unit trained in infantry tactics and combat engineering such as building roads and prefabricated structures, but in practical terms, he likely performed all kinds of physical labor, including loading and unloading ships. He set out for France in September 1918 at the height of the deadly influenza pandemic, and may have been aboard the ship in which several pioneer infantrymen died from the flu. He didn't see combat, but served honorably and was discharged in July 1919. His effects are held in the Veterans Memorial Museum of Terre Haute:
https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... e=60DACAEE

https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... e=60DA475E

My great-uncle Rufus Atwood earned a Bronze Star during World War I--here's the story: https://blackquotidian.supdigital.org/b ... ber-2-1933
He made it back home, and later served as president of Kentucky State University for more than 30 years: https://www.kysu.edu/academics/atwood/o ... atwood.php

My father was drafted during the Korean Conflict from 1952-54, but didn't see combat at all.

AWvsCBsteeeerike3
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Re: Memorial Day Memories

Post by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 »

My grandpa served in Korea working mostly in communications (intercepting enemy transmissions) but didn't say much about it other than that. He made it back and had a long life as a civilian doing a myriad of things including raising 5 children including my mom.

Mrs. AW's grandpa was a U2 pilot during the cold war and crashed on what was scheduled to be one of his last flights. The official story was recapped a couple years ago in their local paper. He was 32 and Mrs. AW's mom was 2 or 3 when he passed away. https://www.thetowntalk.com/story/news/ ... /86988808/

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