Do you know any WWII veterans?

My Dad(USMC) and Uncle(USAF) both served in World War II, my dad is still alive and will turn 92 this month. My uncle passed away years back. I go to the VA hospital twice a week and talk with several WW II vets but most of them are Vietnam Vets. I as did leatherneck and my two brothers served during Vietnam all (USMC). Thanks for everyone who has posted love to read and hear these stories. JD

Originally Posted by Clyde

Very handsome man . Clark Gable -ish.

Thanks, many people have made the same comparison.

I forgot to mention my dad was a Major in the Air Force.

My late father joined the Navy after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He was assigned to the USS Honolulu , a light cruiser(8 Battle Stars, Navy Unit Commendation).He was a gunners mate on the anti-aircraft guns and had seen plenty of action in the South Pacific. His ship fought at Midway,Kiska and screened the initial American landings in the Aleutians at Adak.Then the ship was ordered to the Solomons where 0n Nov. 30, 1942 fought the battle of Tassafaronga, in which the NORTHAMPTON was lost and NEW ORLEANS,MINNEAPOLIS and PENSACOLA were severly damaged.The HONOLULU had been hit in the bow with a dud torpedo that caused little damage. The ship was repaired in drydock and after 4 months was again fighting in the war.The ship then went to the Philippines, where the HONOLULU was hit by an ariel torpedo. Sixty officers and men were killed.Before the wounded cruiser could move away from the area,she was hit by "friendly" gunfire and five more were killed. On 17 Nov 1949 the HONOLULU was sold for scrap.

Originally Posted by hoosierbirdfan

My late father joined the Navy after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He was assigned to the USS Honolulu , a light cruiser(8 Battle Stars, Navy Unit Commendation).He was a gunners mate on the anti-aircraft guns and had seen plenty of action in the South Pacific. His ship fought at Midway,Kiska and screened the initial American landings in the Aleutians at Adak.Then the ship was ordered to the Solomons where 0n Nov. 30, 1942 fought the battle of Tassafaronga, in which the NORTHAMPTON was lost and NEW ORLEANS,MINNEAPOLIS and PENSACOLA were severly damaged.The HONOLULU had been hit in the bow with a dud torpedo that caused little damage. The ship was repaired in drydock and after 4 months was again fighting in the war.The ship then went to the Philippines, where the HONOLULU was hit by an ariel torpedo. Sixty officers and men were killed.Before the wounded cruiser could move away from the area,she was hit by "friendly" gunfire and five more were killed. On 17 Nov 1949 the HONOLULU was sold for scrap.

My grandfather's destroyer was up in the Aleutians at the same time as your father's ship. His ship fought in the battle for the island Attu, and then was stationed briefly at Kiska immediately following that island's takeover by the Allied forces.

Originally Posted by Watusi

"I met a very nice gentleman at the WWII Memorial in Washington, DC this summer. I introduced myself to him and asked him if he served in WWII. His son told us that he had served in the US Navy, and was from Missouri. His son swelled with pride when he told us his dad was there on D-Day when we stormed the beaches at Normandy. This Veteran was humble and polite throughout the whole exchange."


My boys and I shook his hand, thanked him for his service to our country, and left him with his family to his remembrances.

It made me wonder how many WWII vets are left in our own communities and how many of us take the time to thank them and recognize them for their significant contributions to our lives as we know it.

Do any of you have any family members that served in WWII? If so, please mention them in this thread, post a picture, tell their story. We need to recognize these veterans.

My Grandpa O'Hara was in the Navy and was on a Scout sea plane. He loved to tell stories about their deployments. I really liked going to Pearl Harbor w/ him and listening to the Vets share their stories. He passed away in 2006 one day AFTER my Grandma. 56 years together, 24 hours apart.

Originally Posted by mexitucky

My Grandpa O'Hara was in the Navy and was on a Scout sea plane. He loved to tell stories about their deployments. I really liked going to Pearl Harbor w/ him and listening to the Vets share their stories. He passed away in 2006 one day AFTER my Grandma. 56 years together, 24 hours apart.

One of the harder stories for my grandpa to tell was about a Scout sea plane that flew off of the USS San Francisco. His ship and the San Francisco had been patrolling Ironbottom Sound (so-called for the 47 ships and countless planes that sank there during the Guadalcanal campaign) for survivors in the vicinity of Savo Island in the days following the battle of Guadalcanal. My grandpa, having a good vantage point from his fire control deck, had been in direct radio communication with the pilots of the San Francisco's Scout plane all day as they would locate floating survivors and casualties and radio their locations to the pilots of the Higgins and Yard Patrol boats that were actually plucking them out of the water. As the operation was wrapping up for the day, the Scout plane pilot took the plane on a run down the side of the boat in order to wave thank you to my grandpa. Just as the plane passed the end of the ship, it inexplicably dove immediately down into the water. They were able to recover most of the wreckage from the plane, but the bodies of the men on the plane were never found.

Originally Posted by leatherneck

My father, who passed away one year ago this Sunday, served in the Marines during WWII. He was involved in several landings in the Pacific as part of the 6th Marine Division. Carried a flame thrower for the first couple of landings and then switched to carrying an air cooled machine gun for the Okinawa landing. Suffered a pretty severe head wound on Okinawa and "sported" a metal plate on the side of the head the rest of his life.

Even though I also served in the Marines, my father would never share what he experienced, but I sensed it wasn't, as they say, pretty because of his refusal to discuss his experiences other than to cryptically say " in the Marines, you do what you are told to do". Years after I'm off active duty, my eldest son has to interview a WWII veteran as an elementary school class project. Asks if he could interview Grandpa. I told him I doubt that Dad would agree to it, but I'd check. Called Mom to see what she thought, as I didn't want to put Dad on the spot. She checks with Dad and to my surprise, he agrees. We go up and I listen in as my son interviews Dad in the next room. Learned a lot about his experiences during a 30 minute interview. For whatever reason, the interview loosened Dad up. When he and I were alone on subsequent occassions, I'd get the unsanitized version of what he had told my son. I came to realize why he had held back for so long. War is brutal and I'll leave it at that. Dad joined the Marines when he was 17. To do so, a parent had to sign the enlistment papers. If you had known my Dad you wouldn't have been surprised to learn that he forged his Mother's signature. Dad went on to live until he was almost 85 years old. Life wasn't always easy but he thoroughly enjoyed life as he knew it very easy could have ended when he was 17.

My father in law is also a WWII veteran and served in the Army. Fortunately, he didn't have so serve in combat and have the experiences and see the things my Dad did.

Thanks Toots for starting this thread. If you are fortunate enough to meet a WWII vet, please let him/her know how much you appreciate their sacrifices and service. There aren't many WWII vets around anymore unfortunately and most of them that are, don't have many years left.

There were vietnam vets in my National guard unit. I know one was a medivac chopper pilot, and one other was the recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor.The story of the latter was, he and his platoon was under heavy machine gun fire and this soldier ran up and threw a granade into the nest killing the gooks saving many lives. I learned this through other members of my unit, as this soldier would have ever said anything about it.

LN, like your dad, my dad said little about the war. What information I got from him, I had to pry it out of him. Almost every vet that I have known is the same way. Maybe some vets don't like remembering the horrors that they saw,or some just don't want to seem like they are bragging. Either way we are very proud of the ones that have served and the ones that are serving now. God bless them all!

Well said hoosierbirdfan

Originally Posted by leatherneck

. Dad joined the Marines when he was 17. To do so, a parent had to sign the enlistment papers. If you had known my Dad you wouldn't have been surprised to learn that he forged his Mother's signature.

Great story, Leatherneck. I just recently learned that my dad had a similar story. He enlisted in the Navy at age 17. He lived in a small town, 2 hours away from the bigger city recruitment place. He was at first turned away because he needed his mom's signature. So he hitchhiked the 2 hours back home, got the signature, then hitchhiked back.

The Greatest Generation.....

I have a few friends with WWII veterans in their family. My grandfather was a WWII veteran as well and passed on his birthday in 2002 at the age of 83. I miss him greatly and cherrish the time that I spent with him and listening to his stories doing the many things we used to do. The same is likewise whenever I get to see and talk with the others that I know.

I have a WWII picture on my fb account but I don't know how to share it here. Help?

Originally Posted by hoops5

I have a WWII picture on my fb account but I don't know how to share it here. Help?

Save it to a folder in your desktop.

Apparently my ex-girlfriend's grandfather is the reason that all Allied troops had radio antennas placed on them. From her family's stories, they used to only have that antenna on the one tank with the radio, but after his suggeestion, they put the same antennas on all of the tanks so that the enemy would not be able to target one specifically. Always thought that was a pretty cool story.

My dad served in World War II. Still alive and in his 90's

For those of you interested, you can obtain your loved ones' service records here. It's free, but the documents only become available 62 years after they got out of the military - so right now it basically only applies to veterans from WWII and earlier.

You need to be next of kin (spouse, child, sibling), or need to have the actual veteran sign the form, but there is an additional form you can fill out here if you are not the next of kin which will still enable you to obtain the records.

Originally Posted by Jim Schue

Used to well, until my Grandpa died. I still kick myself for not approaching him about telling his stories then, but I'm a much different person now from when he was alive.

I'd like to get involved with the local group that helps take those guys to DC on a regular basis.

Those are "Angel Flights". The trips don't cost the veteran anything and volunteers go along to help with their needs on the trips. I think most states have active groups. Indiana had a flight about a week ago.

Originally Posted by Jim Schue

Used to well, until my Grandpa died. I still kick myself for not approaching him about telling his stories then, but I'm a much different person now from when he was alive.

I'd like to get involved with the local group that helps take those guys to DC on a regular basis.

Originally Posted by Jaysie

Those are "Angel Flights". The trips don't cost the veteran anything and volunteers go along to help with their needs on the trips. I think most states have active groups. Indiana had a flight about a week ago.

Honor Flights are scheduled for Sept. 25 and Oct. 30 from CVG.
Check out their website:
www.honorflighttristate.com
The Sept. 25 trip will host about half WWII vets and half those who served in Korea.
My dad had the opportunity to go on an Honor's Flight last year out of Milwaukee. The homecoming celebration upon return was amazing. Men and women in uniform lined the airport hallways saluting the vets. Then crowds and crowds of families waving flags and holding up posters with pictures of their special veteran greeted them as these heroes walked or were wheeled past.
I am going to try to get to CVG for one of these homecomings. It is just incredibly awesome to participate. Very uplifting.