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Re: D-Day [Re: Finster] #7280786
06/06/21 02:16 PM
06/06/21 02:16 PM
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,664
Wisconsin
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Green Bay Offline
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Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,664
Wisconsin
My Great Uncle Went in with the 5th Armored Division at D Day. Didn't talk much about the war but everyone said he came back different from the war. Today we would say PTSD. The guy was a great trapper and hunter.


Author of The Lure Hunter: A Guide to Finding Fishing Lures
Re: D-Day [Re: Finster] #7280789
06/06/21 02:21 PM
06/06/21 02:21 PM
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 2,892
new york
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mike mason Offline
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mike mason  Offline
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Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 2,892
new york
Lost an uncle at Bastogne and 3 uncles were in the Pacific fighting the Japs. Two came home in bad shape and my Grandmother quit medical school to take care of the them(her brothers) and nurse them back to health.

Re: D-Day [Re: beaverpeeler] #7280804
06/06/21 02:50 PM
06/06/21 02:50 PM
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 785
Labrador, Canada
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crosspatch Offline
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crosspatch  Offline
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Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 785
Labrador, Canada
Originally Posted by beaverpeeler
Like Cedar, I have had the pleasure of having a great friend who was a tail gunner on the bombers in the Pacific. Lewis Bailey. He was also a smaller stature, wiry type. He had washed out of pilot school because his math skills weren't good enough. He had a ton of stories that he shared about his days in the Pacific. Sometimes they had him filming instead of manning the guns.

One quick story:

They were on a hunt and destroy mission looking for the Japanese fleet but it was cloudy and they couldn't find anything. But suddenly the cloud cover lifted and they discovered the Japanese fleet below so they all picked targets and dove down with torpedo bombs. Lew's crew missed their target and so when they got back up out of harms way the pilot asked what should they do? Most crews just dropped their extra torpedo and went back home since a second dive was far more dangerous than the first as the Japs would be ready.

So Lew said: "I say Uncle Sam gave us a job to do so let's go back down and drop the second one". They all concurred and the second torpedo hit its mark and eventually sunk a Japanese ship. After dropping it they stayed down low just over the waves to keep from getting shot as they ascended. On their way back to flat top it had moved on thinking that Lew's plain had been lost since everybody else had long since returned. They were desperately low on fuel by then and when they finally landed the plain engines sputtered dead just as they touched down.

Lew died a couple of years ago at the age of 95. When he was 89 he shot an elk at 400 yards with an open sight octagonal barrel 30-30 and dropped it on the spot.


Interesting on the flat top moving. Knew a man who was a Corsair fighter pilot in the Pacific at the tail end of the war. He was on carriers first he said but got transferred to an island base as soon as he could. Said a lot of guys were lost cause they could not find the carriers on the way back at times cause the carriers had moved.

Told me too they knew when Japan had surrendered but was told to keep shooting at Japanese boats anyway. He found a Japanese boat a bit later but did not try to shoot it up as could have been dangerous for him and what was the point anymore where he had survived so far. He said he did not report it when he landed as could have got in trouble.

Last edited by crosspatch; 06/06/21 02:54 PM.
Re: D-Day [Re: Finster] #7280868
06/06/21 05:45 PM
06/06/21 05:45 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 11,293
East-Central Wisconsin
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bblwi Offline
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bblwi  Offline
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 11,293
East-Central Wisconsin
My father was in the Pacific. He left with the Red Arrow Division in late April of 1942 and came home October of 1945. My mom's two brothers were drafted in 42, one went to Europe and one to the Pacific. Most said very little unless they were with others that were there and it was ear opening to hear the situations and conditions. some pretty hefty scars came home with them too.

Bryce

Re: D-Day [Re: Finster] #7280954
06/06/21 08:35 PM
06/06/21 08:35 PM
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 206
Ridgefield, WA
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Bearguy Offline
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 206
Ridgefield, WA
One of my uncles was trained as a combat engineer and his first job in the war was to land at Omaha Beach before the actual landing party and blow up the beach obstacles. He said their rubber raft swamped and he swam to shore and hid behind one of the obstacles he had been tasked to blow up. He waited for the invasion force to arrive, and survived the day. He found himself in the infantry for the rest of the war. He was placed in three different companies in two weeks after everyone else was killed or wounded. He survived and witnessed the surrender of Berlin.


All you "Woke" people need to go back to sleep!
Re: D-Day [Re: Bearguy] #7280970
06/06/21 09:14 PM
06/06/21 09:14 PM
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 2,874
Adirondacks, NY
Fisher Man Offline
trapper
Fisher Man  Offline
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Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 2,874
Adirondacks, NY
My father in law landed in France on D Day in a glider.. 82nd airborne. He went all the way to Berlin.
I also had a cousin that was a Navy medic on guadalcanal.
I can remember, as a boy, seeing the streams of red cross ambulances shuttling wounded from hospital ships to a hospital near where I lived.

Re: D-Day [Re: Finster] #7280991
06/06/21 09:29 PM
06/06/21 09:29 PM
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 15,530
Champaign County, Ohio.
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KeithC Online content
trapper
KeithC  Online Content
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K

Joined: May 2009
Posts: 15,530
Champaign County, Ohio.
My maternal grandfather lied about his age and enlisted at 16. He was at D Day. He hated the Russians. Later during WWII he was assigned assigned a post on one side of a river with Russians on the other. He said the Russians would laugh and shoot at the dead men and injured men in the river, not caring who they were.

My paternal grandfather was studying to be a surgeon at Loyola University. He quit school and joined up as a medic. He was stationed in the Philippines. He got shot in the hand, while carrying a wounded GI and stayed in. He later contacted malaria. With the hand injury and malaria he lost the hand control needed to be a surgeon and had to find another career. My father never knew he had a lot of medals, until he found them in grandpa's desk drawer when my dad was in college.

Neither of my grandfathers hardly ever talked about the war. Princeton High School interviewed my maternal grandfather, for several hours about his experiences in WWII, in the eighties. I would like to get a copy of it. My paternal grandfather told me he had to kill a Japanese soldier who ran up on them and tried to blow himself and the Americans up. My paternal grandfather never hunted again after WWII and gave away his guns.

Keith

Re: D-Day [Re: Cedar Hacker] #7281040
06/06/21 10:37 PM
06/06/21 10:37 PM
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 3,897
minnesota
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mnsota Offline
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mnsota  Offline
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 3,897
minnesota
Originally Posted by Cedar Hacker
[quote=Finster]Today is D-day. If you still know any WWII vets alive, maybe give them a call or a visit it you have time. Above all, give them your thanks and prayers to the ones that fell or are no longer with us.



I"ll be seeing the one on the left today. He was a ball turret gunner on a B17. He flew on 23 missions and was discharged from service on his 20th. birthday.
He says he got that job because he was so little and skinny. Ha Ha, and he is still skinny.
The one on the right was in the infantry and is still alive.
under the 8th
The ball turret gunner was one of the most dangerous assignments in World War II. Ball Turret Gunners on B-17 bombers were protected only by a glass bubble jutting out from the bowels of the plane. Permanently fixed and unable to be retracted, there was no hiding from enemy attack.
A ball turret was a Plexiglas sphere set into the belly of a B-17 or B-24, and inhabited by two .50 caliber machine guns and one man, a short small man. When this gunner tracked with his machine guns a fighter attacking his bomber from below, he revolved with the turret; hunched upside-down in his little sphere, he looked like the fetus in the womb. The fighters which attacked him were armed with cannon firing explosive shells.

Thanks for this post and thank that skinny guy for his service to our country. my father was a staff Sargent crew chief with the 8th army air force,..didn't talk much about service but did relate a few times about the position turret gunners found themselves in. A horrible ending when the aircraft had no recourse on crash landings.

Re: D-Day [Re: Finster] #7281075
06/06/21 11:56 PM
06/06/21 11:56 PM
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 5,536
fayette,al.
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grisseldog Offline
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Posts: 5,536
fayette,al.
Great stories
Thanks

Re: D-Day [Re: Finster] #7281091
06/07/21 12:33 AM
06/07/21 12:33 AM
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 3,897
minnesota
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mnsota Offline
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 3,897
minnesota
A great article pertinent to this thread :https://www.liherald.com/stories/the-life-of-a-ball-turret-gunner,15799

Re: D-Day [Re: Finster] #7281105
06/07/21 02:43 AM
06/07/21 02:43 AM
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 20,238
The Hill Country of Texas
Leftlane Offline
"HOSS"
Leftlane  Offline
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 20,238
The Hill Country of Texas
My buddies grandpa just passed away this spring at 102. He was a Navy man in WW2 It reminded me how few
of these heros are still around to thank. His stories of winning the battle for the So Pacific are the things they make movies about with top of the line actors like Glenn Ford (on of my all time favs)

Was it not for them we would not have the freedom to fight the "hope and change" promised by self serving leftist candidates. If you do love your freedoms thank the veterans you meet


“What’s good for me may not be good for the weak minded.”
Captain Gus McCrae- Texas Rangers


Re: D-Day [Re: Finster] #7281120
06/07/21 04:38 AM
06/07/21 04:38 AM
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 4,790
M.T.V. Alaska
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yukonjeff Offline
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yukonjeff  Offline
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Y

Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 4,790
M.T.V. Alaska
My Dad was a MP in France in WW II

His brother Loise landed on the beach and didnt make it.

Another uncle on Moms side air dropped in On D day. He just passed this March from covid complications he was 100.

Re: D-Day [Re: Finster] #7281121
06/07/21 05:00 AM
06/07/21 05:00 AM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 29,750
williamsburg ks
D
danny clifton Offline
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 29,750
williamsburg ks
[Linked Image]


JIM White. The old guy in this picture with me was a turret gunner in WWII. Never really said anything about it. He wasnt the first person to tell me what he had done. Asked who told me when I asked him about him about it. Before he died the town had a Veterans day parade and made it about him. He is sitting a little behind me but you can see how small he was. I think that was a requirement. Beaver trapping was his passion. Lived in WY his whole life. Quite a character. Tough as nails. Not many like him in this world.


Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Re: D-Day [Re: Finster] #7281263
06/07/21 11:00 AM
06/07/21 11:00 AM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 494
Underwood,Indiana
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mask bandit Offline
trapper
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 494
Underwood,Indiana
My dad was with the 99th Division and was at the Battle of the Bulge on opening day , was in the Rhur Pocket and Remagen Bridge . Dad had a brother that was blown out of his tank at Normandy and was the only survivor . Dad also had a cousin that died on Normandy and also had a brother in law that was a replacement in the 101st Airborne at Bastogne for only 2 weeks , my uncle said he saw enough fighting in 2 weeks to last a life time .

Re: D-Day [Re: Finster] #7281302
06/07/21 12:44 PM
06/07/21 12:44 PM
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 2,874
Adirondacks, NY
Fisher Man Offline
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Fisher Man  Offline
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Adirondacks, NY
Our pathetic President Biden failed to even mention the anniversary of D Day. What a disgrace! It says a lot about the lack of character of the man.

Re: D-Day [Re: Finster] #7281333
06/07/21 01:48 PM
06/07/21 01:48 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 20,958
St. Louis Co, Mo
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BigBob Online mad
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St. Louis Co, Mo
My VFW Post is slowly but quicker every day running out of "Duece" and Korean War Vet's, and even the "Nam" Vets are getting thinned out.


Every kid needs a Dog and a Curmudgeon.

Remember Bowe Bergdahl, the traitor.

Beware! Jill Pudlewski, Ron Oates and Keven Begesse are liars and thiefs!
Re: D-Day [Re: Fisher Man] #7281335
06/07/21 01:52 PM
06/07/21 01:52 PM
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 4,912
Idaho Falls, ID
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Grandpa Trapper Offline
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Idaho Falls, ID
Originally Posted by Fisher Man
Our pathetic President Biden failed to even mention the anniversary of D Day. What a disgrace! It says a lot about the lack of character of the man.


With his Dementia, I doubt he even remembers there was a World War 2. His aides are either stupid to forget history or did it on purpose to feed their anti-American agenda.

Re: D-Day [Re: Finster] #7281345
06/07/21 02:06 PM
06/07/21 02:06 PM
Joined: Oct 2018
Posts: 5,570
Dunbar, Wisconsin
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Pike River Offline
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Posts: 5,570
Dunbar, Wisconsin
It wasn't D-day but my grandfather was in North Africa and the invasion of Italy where he was injured during the landing.

Re: D-Day [Re: Finster] #7282231
06/09/21 04:34 AM
06/09/21 04:34 AM
Joined: Oct 2018
Posts: 5,570
Dunbar, Wisconsin
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Pike River Offline
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Dunbar, Wisconsin
Lots of folks (including myself) busted the chops of Trump because of his draft deferments. Just read that Biden also had a few reasons for deferment. Maybe his guilt is the reason he didnt recognize D Day

Re: D-Day [Re: Grandpa Trapper] #7282260
06/09/21 06:44 AM
06/09/21 06:44 AM
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 14,804
Greene County,Virginia
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run Offline
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Greene County,Virginia


With his Dementia, I doubt he even remembers there was a World War 2. His aides are either stupid to forget history or did it on purpose to feed their anti-American agenda. [/quote]
X2.


wanna be goat farmer.
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