My grandfather was there as well. Never wanted to talk about it. What I've been able to to piece together was the he hit Normandy after the initial beach landings (lucky!), then spent the next six months fighting the Wehrmacht and ultimately ended up being wounded by shrapnel in the Ardennes in 12/44, which ended his European tour.

I wish I could have got more details from him but that's just not something you press someone on.

It's unfortunate that as the last of those who remember are leaving us that we have others who deny what happened.

My grandad was eager to talk about it. He got blew up by mines in a Navy ship twice, he was on the ground as a amphib crewman and got stuck on Betio with his landing craft and fought with the Marines for the last push in the Battle of Tarawa.

My mother has compiled his stories and medals and is writing a book about it.

My ex-wife's grandpa was a gunner on I don't remember which ship. He didn't mind talking about it either. I have to wonder if there's a difference between Army and Navy experience? Conceptually, there's a difference between shooting down a vessel or aircraft vs. starting down the sights at another human being?

(August 6, 2016 at 12:58 am)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote: My ex-wife's grandpa was a gunner on I don't remember which ship. He didn't mind talking about it either. I have to wonder if there's a difference between Army and Navy experience? Conceptually, there's a difference between shooting down a vessel or aircraft vs. starting down the sights at another human being?

I would imagine so. Naval Warfare was brutal in WWII, but it was brutal for different reasons. Fear mainly. You could run over a mine or get hit by a torpedo or enter into an engagement at any minute. Marines in the Pacific Theater and the Army on the European Eastern front was another planet for brutality. Got worse in some places in Vietnam. Carnage is something that can never be prepared for. There's a reason we don't do warfare like that anymore.

My grandad rarely talked about the war.
Two things - he said he was lucky to be a farmer because as a POW he got to be a farmer surrounded by German women guards.
He had a toothache so they took a few POW's into the nearest town and sat them on the footpath outside the dentist and the dentist ripped the teeth out without painkillers.

(August 6, 2016 at 12:26 am)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote: My grandfather was there as well.  Never wanted to talk about it.  What I've been able to to piece together was the he hit Normandy after the initial beach landings (lucky!), then spent the next six months fighting the Wehrmacht and ultimately ended up being wounded by shrapnel  in the Ardennes in 12/44, which ended his European tour.

I wish I could have got more details from him but that's just not something you press someone on.

It's unfortunate that as the last of those who remember are leaving us that we have others who deny what happened.

Yea the Holocaust deniers are sick, not just "flat earth" sick, lack of compassion sick.

(August 5, 2016 at 10:45 pm)Sterben Wrote: Listen to her, listen to her wisdom, a person that as seen the very most elements of human brutality and came out to try to live a normal life. You have a rare chance to learn history as history should be taught. Just a suggestion for you as well, write down what you can from your talks; hold this knowledge as your own and shape your life around the proper treatment of those around you that you hold close.

It's rehab, not history class. She said the standard things in a very short conversation, they "the Nazis" treated them like animals, and that she had several family members who died by their hands. I didn't push it because some people respond differently to being witness to violence than others.

(August 6, 2016 at 12:48 am)SteelCurtain Wrote: My grandad was eager to talk about it. He got blew up by mines in a Navy ship twice, he was on the ground as a amphib crewman and got stuck on Betio with his landing craft and fought with the Marines for the last push in the Battle of Tarawa.

My mother has compiled his stories and medals and is writing a book about it.

You just reminded of a funny story.

In the late 70's while I was with the IRS I accompanied another officer to Fire Island.  He was an older guy, joined the NYPD after the war and when he did his 20 years at that he went to work for the IRS. 

Now Fire Island is not strictly gay. There are straight communities as well and they are not contiguous.  There are wilderness areas between the communities and we were walking along the beach from one to another.  As we walked through the sand he said "I'm getting too old for this.  This reminds me of hitting the beach at Tarawa."

Not ten seconds later we came up a dune and practically stumbled across two broads sunning themselves au naturel.  They were both sound asleep so we walked by quietly.  After we passed them I asked "did the Japs have anything like that on Tarawa?"

After a pause he said "if they did I would have surrendered."

(August 6, 2016 at 12:26 am)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote: My grandfather was there as well.  Never wanted to talk about it.  What I've been able to to piece together was the he hit Normandy after the initial beach landings (lucky!), then spent the next six months fighting the Wehrmacht and ultimately ended up being wounded by shrapnel  in the Ardennes in 12/44, which ended his European tour.

I wish I could have got more details from him but that's just not something you press someone on.

It's unfortunate that as the last of those who remember are leaving us that we have others who deny what happened.

lol I've never met a veteran who you had to pry details out of.  Just ask a couple questions, listen respectfully, and get ready for the stories of a lifetime.

(August 8, 2016 at 8:49 am)bennyboy Wrote: lol I've never met a veteran who you had to pry details out of.  Just ask a couple questions, listen respectfully, and get ready for the stories of a lifetime.

Most I've met don't want talk about it.