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Family Stories

Winchester67

Winchester67

Professional
My "weirdo" Uncle Bill was not nearly as much of a part of my life as I wish he was. I remember he had Army Tattoos on one arm and Marine Tattoos on another. Upon his passing, I started to understand. He was one of the Chosin Frozen. The scar above his eye that as children we were forbidden to ask about? From the time a Chi Com literally fell into his foxhole, his fixed bayonet grazing my Uncle and Uncle Bill killed him with his knife. The Army and Marine tattoos came from the fact that Uncle Bill enlisted in the Army, then learned the Marines were tougher so he enlisted with them after his army stint was up. My grandmother, without question the hardest woman I ever met, just knew Uncle Bill was not dead at the Chosen, even though all the mail was not good. Her and Grandpa bought him a new hottest available Oldsmobile when they ruled the road and wrote to him all the time even though the outlook was grim. He came home to collect that Oldsmobile. I wish I had the foresight to know him better. He was very smart and got in on the ground floor of computers. Made him rich, but he still saw Korea at night. I not only wish I knew him better, but we understood more about the human mind back then. So the reason for the story? Get to know ALL of your relatives. Listen and understand the stories, record them if you can, to pass on to the future generations. Your family is your strength. Draw from it, and pass it on.
 
Winchester67 said:
My "weirdo" Uncle Bill was not nearly as much of a part of my life as I wish he was. I remember he had Army Tattoos on one arm and Marine Tattoos on another. Upon his passing, I started to understand. He was one of the Chosin Frozen. The scar above his eye that as children we were forbidden to ask about? From the time a Chi Com literally fell into his foxhole, his fixed bayonet grazing my Uncle and Uncle Bill killed him with his knife. The Army and Marine tattoos came from the fact that Uncle Bill enlisted in the Army, then learned the Marines were tougher so he enlisted with them after his army stint was up. My grandmother, without question the hardest woman I ever met, just knew Uncle Bill was not dead at the Chosen, even though all the mail was not good. Her and Grandpa bought him a new hottest available Oldsmobile when they ruled the road and wrote to him all the time even though the outlook was grim. He came home to collect that Oldsmobile. I wish I had the foresight to know him better. He was very smart and got in on the ground floor of computers. Made him rich, but he still saw Korea at night. I not only wish I knew him better, but we understood more about the human mind back then. So the reason for the story? Get to know ALL of your relatives. Listen and understand the stories, record them if you can, to pass on to the future generations. Your family is your strength. Draw from it, and pass it on.
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Good story, sadly all my relatives have passed, but my dad had funny stories to tell when he was on an aircraft carrier during WWII, he was a radar tech. I remember one of his stories when he was qualifying with his Garand, and was doing better then most till the, sgt came up and told him to take out the padding under his shirt and try again, funny thing was, a couple others were doing the same thing, only one of them got away with it.
 
Dad never talked much about WW II. What I know of his service was put together from little bits of info he let slip over the years. A simple farm boy, he was drafted in 1942. He was the gunner on a M1919 machine gun crew.
I'm not absolutely sure, but I think he got in on the tail end of the North African campaign. I know he fought all the way through Sicily and Italy. He went ashore in the first wave at Omaha Beach with the 29th Infantry Div.
Somewhere about half way across France, the Germans couldn't get past his machine gun. So, they called in an artillery strike and damned near blew him to pieces. They didn't think he'd make it to First Aid station, much less survive. But he did. Although the highest rank he ever achieved was PFC, at the time he was hit, he was the acting Platoon Sergeant.
He spent a year and a half in an Army hospital in Waco, TX. But his injuries haunted him for the rest of his life. In the late 1960s they eventually cost him the lower half of his right leg.
He was as tough as they come. Death came for him 7 times in various forms before it finally won. He passed in 1987 at the age of 66.
He led a full life and never complained. I'm proud of my old man! (y)
 
Winchester67 said:
See, that is perfect. I absolutely love those "slice of life" stories like that. My Black Sheep Brother (a liberal) had the foresight to record my grandparents on VHS. Folks, PLEASE do this for the next generation. It is amazing to have them talk to the future from beyond the grave.
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Do I have to use VHS 😬😬

All jokes aside, yes, talk with those willing to talk in the family. Not all want to discuss their past though. Tougher than you think
 
My hometown (population 998 when the town dog is within the city limits) erected a memorial "wall" on the courthouse lawn listing all residents of the county (past and present) who served in one conflict or another going all the way back to the Civil War. There was one name under the "Civil War". By far, the longest list of names was that of WWII veterans. It is one of those Mayberry kind of places where everyone knows everyone else and "family roots run deep", but what I never knew until the construction of the memorial is how MANY had served. I knew most of them personally, but I never heard them speak of their service. They just returned from overseas (most of them, anyway) and lived quiet but productive and honorable lives. I truly hope that their respective families kept some sort of history, even if it was just pieced together from conversation snippets.
 
KillerFord1977 said:
Do I have to use VHS 😬😬

All jokes aside, yes, talk with those willing to talk in the family. Not all want to discuss their past though. Tougher than you think
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Yes, it is hard to get most of 'em talking at length. The key is to ask questions from time to time, and write down their responses. Unfortunately for me, I learned that lesson way too late in my own life. I grew up amongst family and friends who had LIVED a lot of history.
 
My Dad was in the 14th Air Force in China from ‘42-‘45. Never talked much about serious stuff from the war. My uncle was a beachmaster in the Pacific. Made 5 amphibious assaults. When Dad was way up in his 80’s he and my Uncle got talking and I was privileged to hear things I’d never before heard mention. I saw my Dad tell about he and a friend walking into town. They heard an aircraft running rough. A P40 shot to pieces. Plane crash landed in a rice paddy and Dad and his buddy went running over to try an get the pilot out. The plane burst into flames and they couldn’t get to the pilot who was trapped inside. Pilot burned to death. 60 years later as Dad’s talking about it tears are pouring down his face (and my Dad did NOT cry). Memories stored inside for all those years. Those WW2 vets were truly “the greatest generation”, and we ‘re not likely to see their like ever again.
 
My Uncle had told some about WWII, including the specifics of getting shot in Knee at Bulge .

After he passed , the family was contacted by an amateur historian from Belgum . He metal detects the battlefield, and when he finds identifying artifacts , he researches the person , and contacts the family if they're findable . He found Uncle's dogtag , and one shoe .

Nobody had known that he recieved the Silver Star for single handedly taking out two German machine gun nests by running between them while they were both shooting at him .
 
My dad's mom had 4 brothers that were in both sides of the USA coast war. I don't know much other than the brother that was in the navy hated water.....well deep large bodies of it. She told me 1 brother drove for Patton at 1 time (don't know any dates). All were drafted and as far as i know all returned home alive. 1 might have received a purple heart, but I'm not for sure? My dad's dad was to old for the draft and don't know about any of his siblings?
 
My dad was a 16 year old merchant seaman in 1943. In 1945 he was on a merchant ship that followed the third fleet across the pacific and through several typhoons. He also did not like the ocean. He had an aversion to bologna. Seems in the storms they had to turn off the stoves and only had bologna sandwichs for several days. He said dozens of sea sick sailors puking bolgna was something he couldn't forget. He said the smell of bologna was still sickening to him. Wheel house duty was best because only those who were not sick were there. He was anchored in Buckner Bay when the war ended.
 
BruceMc said:
My dad was a 16 year old merchant seaman in 1943. In 1945 he was on a merchant ship that followed the third fleet across the pacific and through several typhoons. He also did not like the ocean. He had an aversion to bologna. Seems in the storms they had to turn off the stoves and only had bologna sandwichs for several days. He said dozens of sea sick sailors puking bolgna was something he couldn't forget. He said the smell of bologna was still sickening to him. Wheel house duty was best because only those who were not sick were there. He was anchored in Buckner Bay when the war ended.
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Not all heroic service is glamorous...
 
My father was in the navy during Viet Nam. He enlisted rather than get drafted so he could graduate college and enter OCS. He figured it might be safer on a boat than jungle warfare. Did several tours on the Gearing class destroyer Cecil. He talked of participating in a (failed) experiment of dropping torpedos from remote-controlled helicopters flown off the fantail. Pretty cool stuff, even if the idea was scrapped. The two 5" guns (used for shelling inland N. Viet Nam) caused hearing damage for almost everyone onboard, he mentioned. No official hearing protection at the time except cotton balls or wadded up cloth. He also circumnavigated the globe 4 times (iirc) on multiple tours on several ships. Without direct-combat PTSD, he's more than willing to talk to anyone about his experiences.
 
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