The Greatest Generation

[huntindude]

LAST EDITED ON Nov-15-07 AT 04:38PM (MST)[p] I've been a WWII buff since I was a kid, my dad and all of his brothers served in the pacific campaign and my grandmother welded on ships in the Portland ship yards. I know most of the history but if you watched the shows PBS had on recently they did a great job of showing the war and the way it effected the people who lived through it, and the ones who didn't.

It made me realize what great people they were and how easy it is to forget how great they were and what they did for us. it's sad how many are dying every day and soon they'll all be gone, it's a loss to all of us. WWII was a joint effort like the world had never seen and probably never will again, everyone alive at the time was envolved in some way and made sacrifices.

My point to all of this is it's easy to ignore the old geezers sitting on the porch or the blue hairs holding you up on the hiway but some of them are the greatest Americans who ever lived, I need to remind myself of that from time to time.

 

[overton]

Dude

I agree also. That generation really saw some bad times but in the end came out stonger for it. My dad was 4th Army. Won't talk about it much, bad memories.
Almost all my uncles were in the war also and I had 13 uncles ( big families). Not one killed but many wounded. One uncle shot down over Ploesti, Romania during the oil refinery bombing raid. Spent the rest of the war in a stalag. He was the only survivor of his crew.
Thanks for posting this topic.


Ransom

 

[Cornhusker]

I have a guy talk to my class ever year who was in the first day at D-Day and made it through till he was wounded at the Battle of the Bulge. He has a bunch of metals but never brings them or talks about them. When asked he simply says everyone who was there deserved a medal. Comes off as just an old rancher not anybody who did anything special. Another one was in Okinawa and Iwo with the original landing Day one, he brags a lot about it but I figure maybe as good as those guys were a little of that is ok. PBS did a great job on that show. We do a lot on WWII a proud time for the U.S. as well as Nebraska as Roosevelt called Nebraska the fortress of the U.S. because of bomber and munition plants located in the state.

 

[YukonDall]

I AGREE BIG TIME.....I HAD AN UNCLE WHO WAS A MARINE, AND IS THE MOST UNIQUE PERSON I HAVE EVER MET. HE WAS FROM A SMALL MISSOURI TOWN & THOUGHT THE WAR WAS THE MOST FUN A GUY COULD EVER HAVE. I HAVE HEARD HIS WAR STORIES AROUND ELK CAMP, AND THEY WERE UNBELIEVABLE TO SAY THE LEAST. HE GOT WOUNDED THROUGH THE LEG AND REFUSED TO GO HOME, HE WAS BACK IN 3 WEEKS. A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO HE GOT IN A CAR WRECK & REFUSED TO STAY IN THE HOSPITAL OVER NIGHT FOR OBSERVATION. PUT HIS CLOTHES ON & WALKED OUT OF THE HOSPITAL, WENT HOME...WENT TO SLEEP...& DIED IN HIS SLEEP. (BLEED OUT). HE WAS A HELL OF A MARINE...AS I UNDERSTAND IT.......YD.

 

[eelgrass]

I'm a big WWII history buff too Hdude!

All of those WWII vets had lived through the Depression, so most of them knew what really hard times were.

Just real breif........My dad dropped out of high school in 1938 to help support his family. He learned how to weld on a farm and got a job in the shipyards in Oakland. That's where he was when the war broke out. He was eligable for a deferment but joined the Army instead. He ended up in an Engineer regiment that landed on Utah beach, Normandy. They went up to LaHarve, France and tried opening the railroad, but it was so heavily defended and mined they lost too many men and had to abandon the idea. From then on they followed the infantry through France chasing Germans. He helped build bridges (Bailey bridges as they were called) across rivers and put up communications lines, etc. His best buddy was killed by a sniper right next to him as they were welding on a bridge at night. They stayed with the front lines all the way to Berlin. When Germany surrendered they were informed that they would be going home and would not be part of the occupation forces. Then they said that after a 30 day leave they would begin training for the invasion of Japan. While he was home on leave, the A-bomb was dropped. I don't think he killed any Germans but he helped. So many stories, I wish I could share more.......my dad is still alive and is physically in good shape. His memory is failing fast so I'm glad that I was able to record on tape his recounting of WWII years ago. I have his uniform, medals, memorbelia, etc.

My uncle (Moms brother) flew 33 missions as a turret gunner on a B-24 in the Pacific (CBI). He shot at a lot of enemy planes on those 33 missions but no confirmed kills (he shot like me I guess) He died three years ago.

Given similar circumstances, I have no doubt todays young people would rise to the occassion just like they did back then.

Thanks for the thoughts Huntndude!

Eel

 

[ClorideRUS]

Good post hdude! Eel, I'm not so sure today?s youngsters are up to the challenge & here is why; having been raised by the greatest generation, I am humbled by their innocence. It is an innocence that I fear has been lost forever. My parents were never troubled by CNN or the internet. Opinion polls consisted of what they heard in church. When they were called to service, they did so without question and with full conviction. The world has moved on, perhaps not for the better. There are just as many good people in my generation and my children?s generation as my parents; however we seem to become more and more jaded as time goes on. When my dad came back from Germany, the 1st thing he did was take the G.I. bill money he received and build a modest home for my mom and older sister. My mom still lives in that home. Point is; priorities have changed so much over the last 60 years or so. Technology has corrupted our values. The attitude has changed. It's no longer ?how much can I give?? it's ??how much I can get?

Oh crud, rambling again, sorry.

RUS

 

[overton]

>Good post hdude! Eel, I'm not
>so sure today?s youngsters are
>up to the challenge &
>here is why; having been
>raised by the greatest generation,
>I am humbled by their
>innocence. It is an innocence
>that I fear has been
>lost forever. My parents were
>never troubled by CNN or
>the internet. Opinion polls consisted
>of what they heard in
>church. When they were called
>to service, they did so
>without question and with full
>conviction. The world has moved
>on, perhaps not for the
>better. There are just as
>many good people in my
>generation and my children?s generation
>as my parents; however we
>seem to become more and
>more jaded as time goes
>on. When my dad came
>back from Germany, the 1st
>thing he did was take
>the G.I. bill money he
>received and build a modest
>home for my mom and
>older sister. My mom still
>lives in that home. Point
>is; priorities have changed so
>much over the last 60
>years or so. Technology has
>corrupted our values. The attitude
>has changed. It's no longer
>?how much can I give??
>it's ??how much I can
>get?
>
>Oh crud, rambling again, sorry.
>
>RUS

RUS

Rambling? Maybe but right? Absolutely!


Ransom

 

[Oakbuck]

Good topic Dude. That war series was well done.
RUS, couldn't agree more.

My Uncle was KIA in Okinawa May 1945. This nation offered up its best in that war.

My Father in law lied about his age to join the Navy. He never talks about his Pacific voyages because to him it's just what everybody did and his war stories were no different than anyone elses. A couple of years back my wife and I took him to Omaha to see his boat in dry dock. It was the first time he opened up about his war experiences and we got it all on video.

 

[nickman]

Without question. WWll was an era that unified Americans like nothing before or since.

My father and all my uncles were in the Navy...some had ships sunk under them, one uncle 3 times. Most of my relatives from that time had some hand in helping the war effort.

I had a serious jolt of reality when I joined the air Navy and went to VietNam and it wasn't glorious at all when I came home. Busted up. Twice. America wasn't unified for that particular event.

I watch what is happening now and it will be worse for the Servicemen and Servicewomen when this Iraq thing is swept under the rug.

In a few short years, we will be at it again with someone else and I don't know who we're going to get to volunteer.

 

[Longun]

As being a veteran myself it is amazing the people you run into that were in WWII and you look at them and hear their stories (if they chose to talk about them} you wouldn't even think that person would of done what he or she did. We just honored to WWII veterans at our program here in LaBarge. One was at Utah Beach on D-Day-made it all the way thru the European Campaign unhurt. The other was in the Phillipines and ended up being a Top Sargent in the Army made and it thru unscathed. They are both 85 and still going strong. Had a great uncle who was a Navy Aviation Ordnance men at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked. I asked him what did you do? "Nothing I could do-our planes were destroyed right off the get-go."

 

[202typical]

Yes Hdude I agree that was a great generation. One tough determined bunch. From the guys who landed on D-Day and all the marines that waded a shore all those god foresaken islands. A tough breed no doubt.

I think the Generation that served in Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War 1 are great generations as well. I believe the current Generation of those serving is a great if not the geatest generation ever. No military ever in history has had so many rules of engagement placed upon them, no other military in history has ever had the scrutiny this one has had, no other military in history has been watched so closely by the media, no other military in history has ever been so critisized by the rest of the world. With all this thrust upon them just look at what a fine job they are doing. Top it off with all volunteers and that is a hard generation to beat. This military we are putting out there is also by far the best trained, best equiped, best personnell ever assembled on a battle feild, bar none.

Someone above mentioned technology corrupting this generation. I could not disagree more. In fact I think it is just the opposite. I believe it makes us better, stronger.


?Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but in finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong.?
---Theodore Roosevelt,

 

[overton]

>Yes Hdude I agree that was
>a great generation. One tough
>determined bunch. From the guys
>who landed on D-Day and
>all the marines that waded
>a shore all those god
>foresaken islands. A tough breed
>no doubt.
>
>I think the Generation that served
>in Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War
>1 are great generations as
>well. I believe the current
>Generation of those serving is
>a great if not the
>geatest generation ever. No military
>ever in history has had
>so many rules of engagement
>placed upon them, no other
>military in history has ever
>had the scrutiny this one
>has had, no other military
>in history has been watched
>so closely by the media,
>no other military in history
>has ever been so
>critisized by the rest of
>the world. With all this
>thrust upon them just look
>at what a fine job
>they are doing. Top it
>off with all volunteers and
>that is a hard generation
>to beat. This military we
>are putting out there is
>also by far the best
>trained, best equiped, best personnell
>ever assembled on a battle
>feild, bar none.
>
>Someone above mentioned technology corrupting this
>generation. I could not disagree
>more. In fact I think
>it is just the opposite.
>I believe it makes us
>better, stronger.
>
>
>?Justice consists not in being neutral
>between right and wrong, but
>in finding out the right
>and upholding it, wherever found,
>against the wrong.?
>---Theodore Roosevelt,


202

I think the generation now serving is great also. It's us back home that's lacking.


Ransom

 

[202typical]

Some are but not all



?Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but in finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong.?
---Theodore Roosevelt,

 

[Anaconda]

Good stuff Dude.
My father was a medic in England. One of my friends father was a fighter pilot, in both theaters. Man that guy had some stories. Nothing but respect for the ?Best Genaration?.

 

[manny15]

I lost my old man alittle over a week ago, he was in WWII...

 

[nickman]

Manny, sorry to hear that. Mine has been gone 30 years....I still miss him.

 

[Cookie2]

LAST EDITED ON Nov-16-07 AT 10:21AM (MST)[p]Lost my grandfather about two months ago... Bataan Death March survivor.... I admire that man. He never talked about it. I think he was too busy living his life to spend any more time thinking about it.
Manny, sorry to hear it...

 

[tylercreek2]

great post,,,,, one of the best i've had the pleasure of reading,,,, when i was a kid i had a really good friend who went all the way across Europe,,, he never said much about it but one day i was helping him move something heavy (thats about all i'm good for) and i noticed a silver star citation on his wall, turns out he ran up and hopped on a tank opened her up and dropped in a grenade, the tank had them pinned down and was firing on them ,,,, when i asked him about it,,, i said something like holy cow how did you do that? he just looked at me and said well what did you expect me to do? he was a really special dude whom i was a pallbearer for ,,,, he just thought he was a reguler guy who was just doing his job,,,, really neat post HD

 

[huntindude]

That's amazing anyone lived that long who'ld been through Bataan. I had a relative who survived it but died before I was born, he never really regained his health although he lived 12 years after coming home. my dad said even seeing someone who looked oreintal would set him off in a rage, hard to blame him after what they endured.

Manny, that's a shame.

 

[NeMont]

My Grandpa served in the Navy in the Pacific theater. His ship was kamikazied while on radar picket duty on the coast of Okinawa. He was down in the engine room and had to swim out the hole the bomb made in order to escape.

He was severly burned and had the scars to prove it. He never really talked about it until he was about 70 years old. Even then he could only talk about it for a short time before completely choking up.

He was one of the toughest guys I ever knew. He returned from the war and built up a large ranch that is still in the family. He was a great grandpa and a great American. We lost him 5 years ago at the age of 79 and not a day goes by that I don't think about the lessons he taught me or the stories he loved to tell.


Nemont

 

[buglinbull2]

Great post Dude. A good friend of the family survived Bataan. Great guy. Died just a few years ago. I have a sword taken off a Jap officer, by one of my great uncles. Tough old coots. Gotta love em. Of course we got a good batch of young warriors out killing terrorists right now. I admire all guys, past and present, who wore the uniform and did what was asked, PC or not.

 

[woodruffhunter]

A great post; I still think about my grandpa almost everyday.
He served in the Navy. My grandma was was close to giving birth
and raising 3 small sons. The oldest had polio and my grandpa was told he did not have to go. He refused this and went anyway.

What makes this generation so great was that not only the soldiers, but the people at home helped win that war. God
bless all Vets!!!!

 

[MortgageMan]

This is a great thread. My grandfather was in the Korean War. It's amazing the stories that he tells his grandkids. Although they are few and far between. They are really some special people that all of us should be very greatful for. You are right, sometimes we get caught up in this crazy world and never get a chance to sit down and really think, and appreciate what these people have done for us. The very same goes for our soldiers over seas and at home. Without all of them we would not be the great country that we are.