SO WHAT DID YOUR PARENTS DO IN THE BIG WAR

David Hartung added these comments in the current discussion du
jour ...

HEMI-Powered wrote:
My father was over 30 when he was drafted into the Marines in
mid- 1943, I was born in 1947. Many of my friends' fathers
were much younger, so it was their grandfather that fought in
WWII. All of my uncles on both sides of my family were WWII
vets. One was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge, all the
others were in the Navy. My Uncle Joe was the 20mm gunner on
the bow of the USS Massachusetts.

My Dad's dad served in the Marines during WWI.

WWI?! Wow, he must've been even older than my father, who was
born in 1913 and passed away in 1998.

To my knowledge, he never saw combat. My Mom's dad was
a Lutheran
school principle, and my guess is that he was on the high side
of 40 in 1941. He also had, at that time, 5 kids. I'm not
certain if that had any bearing on his service status or not.

If you really meant WWII, yes, I believe that the draft extended
to about 42, although I didn't think the Marines took men that
old. 30-ish is VERY old to withstand the rigors of WWII-style
Boot Camp, which was 11 weeks long, and in those days, DIs could
actually hit a boot. Not to injure them, of course, but they
might cold cock an errant trainee. And, in them days, they
definitely marched boots in either the desert areas of San Diego,
where my father went, or the swamps of Parris Island with the
proverbial bucket over their head. Sometime in the late
1950s/early 1960s the corporal punishment was banned as was a
bucket on the head after several boots fell in a hole in the
Parris Island swamp and drowned.

I also remember my father telling stories even as I was a young
child in the early 1950s to wit "we have only 11 weeks to train
you to fight an enemy that's been training for 20 or 30 years.
And, in those days, just about everyone also went to Infantry
training at Camp Pendleton. As you probably know, ALL Marines,
regardless of actual training specialty - my father was a "6x6" 2
1/2 ton truck driver - were riflemen. The reason he wound up in
Shrier's patrol that assaulted Mt. Suribachi is that there was
little for a truck driver to do prior to it's being taken. AFAIK,
he then was assigned to assist the Navy Sea Bees to build runways
and a transportation system. I have documented proof that he was
also still on Iwo on 21May45, two months after the island was
secured. He first supported Marines on occupation duty and later
Army personnel. I also remember his stories that into at least
April, maybe May, he would occasionally get sniped at driving on
cat eyes at night.

--
HP, aka Jerry

Eric added these comments in the current discussion du jour ...

I lost him when I was 7 and my grandfather when I was 43. My
grandfather never said anything other they worked for the
"government."

I'm very sorry to hear about your loss at such a tender age,
Eric. In my case, my mother used to say that my father's Guardian
Angel was watching over him. He was a part of the larger 5th
Marine Amphibious Corps which was slated to invade the southern
most island of Japan on 1Nov45, and undoubtedly the atomic bombs
saved him. It is hard for me to believe he could beat the odds of
neither being killed (obviously, else I wouldn't be here) or
wounded a 4th time.

If you have ANY documentation about your relatives, you can write
to the Marines for such things as their discharge certificates,
re-issue of medals, combat ribbons, unit citations, and the like.
In my case, that stuff survived but I am still trying to get more
documentation that can only be found in what were then called
"muster reports", what was later called a "morning report" when I
was in the Army circa 1970-72, basically who was present in which
unit(s), campaigns, etc.

I never found out exactly what my father did, other than he
and my grandfather were electricians for the "government"
(as they called it) in New Mexico during the last couple
years of the war. I have several pictures of them in the
desert without any sort of landmarks in the shots.

Eric, did you suffer the loss of your father either during
the war or when you were too young to remember his story?

--
HP, aka Jerry

Frank from Deeetroit added these comments in the current
discussion du jour ...

My mother rivited radio operators seat mounts and camera
mounts in B-24's at the Willow Run Bomber Plant. She gave a
speech at the Yankee Air Museum, across the field from the
Willow Run Bomber Plant when the US Postal Service issued a
commerative stamp to honor all of the "Rosie the Riviters" in
1999. She also appeard in a Modern Marvels episode about
aircraft production in WWII.

Willow Run is about 30 miles SW of me. I live in a NNW suburb of
Detroit, MI, about 19 miles from the Detroit River.

My uncle was a B-17 flight engineer in New Mexico under the
command of the late singer John Denver's father.

Now this is an interesting piece of information!

Another uncle landed at Normandy and fought to, and through
the Battle of the Bulge.

One aunt worked at Packard Motor's plant in Detroit making
Rolls Royce Merlin engine cylinder heads. Two other aunts
worked at Ford Rouge making other items for the war effort,
possibly making machine gun mounts.

My father was still living in Ireland during WWII.

--
HP, aka Jerry

"HEMI-Powered" wrote in message
...
David Hartung added these comments in the current discussion du
jour ...

HEMI-Powered wrote:
My father was over 30 when he was drafted into the Marines in
mid- 1943, I was born in 1947. Many of my friends' fathers
were much younger, so it was their grandfather that fought in
WWII. All of my uncles on both sides of my family were WWII
vets. One was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge, all the
others were in the Navy. My Uncle Joe was the 20mm gunner on
the bow of the USS Massachusetts.

My Dad's dad served in the Marines during WWI.

WWI?! Wow, he must've been even older than my father, who was
born in 1913 and passed away in 1998.

To my knowledge, he never saw combat. My Mom's dad was
a Lutheran
school principle, and my guess is that he was on the high side
of 40 in 1941. He also had, at that time, 5 kids. I'm not
certain if that had any bearing on his service status or not.

If you really meant WWII, yes, I believe that the draft extended
to about 42, although I didn't think the Marines took men that
old. 30-ish is VERY old to withstand the rigors of WWII-style
Boot Camp, which was 11 weeks long, and in those days, DIs could
actually hit a boot. Not to injure them, of course, but they
might cold cock an errant trainee. And, in them days, they
definitely marched boots in either the desert areas of San Diego,
where my father went, or the swamps of Parris Island with the
proverbial bucket over their head. Sometime in the late
1950s/early 1960s the corporal punishment was banned as was a
bucket on the head after several boots fell in a hole in the
Parris Island swamp and drowned.

I also remember my father telling stories even as I was a young
child in the early 1950s to wit "we have only 11 weeks to train
you to fight an enemy that's been training for 20 or 30 years.
And, in those days, just about everyone also went to Infantry
training at Camp Pendleton. As you probably know, ALL Marines,
regardless of actual training specialty - my father was a "6x6" 2
1/2 ton truck driver - were riflemen. The reason he wound up in
Shrier's patrol that assaulted Mt. Suribachi is that there was
little for a truck driver to do prior to it's being taken. AFAIK,
he then was assigned to assist the Navy Sea Bees to build runways
and a transportation system. I have documented proof that he was
also still on Iwo on 21May45, two months after the island was
secured. He first supported Marines on occupation duty and later
Army personnel. I also remember his stories that into at least
April, maybe May, he would occasionally get sniped at driving on
cat eyes at night.

--
HP, aka Jerry

Ooops, forgot about my 90 year old uncle in southern Michigan.

He was in the Army from 1935'ish to 1938'ish, stationed in Hawaii, Honorably
Discharged, and was drafted back into the Army in 1942 to 1945. He trained
in Southern California and served in several locations in the South Pacific.

He still has his Campaign hat from his first tour in the Army, saw it 3
weeks ago.

SHIVER ME TIMBERS wrote in
:

Well after watching the Ken Burns series THE WAR ad naseum ad naseum,
I thought I'd come into the group today with one of my curious
questions.

What did your parents, family, etc. do in the big WWII.

Mine worked at the Canada Car foundry in what was then called
Fort William, Ontario.

They were inspectors helping to make Hawker Hurricanes and later other
types of figthers including the Curtis Helldiver.

How about your folks.....


My Dad was a coast artilleryman assigned to Ft Derussy in Hawaii on Dec
7th, served in Hawaii the entire war. 55h Coast Artillery.

my mom was a member of the Woman's aux. in Hawaii until 1943 when she
withdrew to marry.

my fathers sister sewed fabric for the Grumman aircraft control surfaces
produced in New York. her husband worked for ASR in the smelter
producing Copper My wifes dad worked of aluminum producers making parts
for the B-29.

John Szalay wrote in
My Dad was a coast artilleryman assigned to Ft Derussy in Hawaii on Dec
7th, served in Hawaii the entire war. 55h Coast Artillery.


Forgot the photo. he is front row, third from the truck.

John Szalay wrote in
42:

John Szalay wrote in
My Dad was a coast artilleryman assigned to Ft Derussy in Hawaii on Dec
7th, served in Hawaii the entire war. 55h Coast Artillery.


Forgot the photo. he is front row, third from the truck.
1940

ooops too big.. resized..

SHIVER ME TIMBERS a écrit :
Well after watching the Ken Burns series THE WAR ad naseum ad naseum,
I thought I'd come into the group today with one of my curious questions.

What did your parents, family, etc. do in the big WWII.

Mine worked at the Canada Car foundry in what was then called
Fort William, Ontario.

They were inspectors helping to make Hawker Hurricanes and later other
types of figthers including the Curtis Helldiver.

How about your folks.....

My Grand father was french resistant
chief of the ftp's bataillon of chabenet
he was re integraded in the army after the war with the rank of captain

regars

"SHIVER ME TIMBERS" wrote in message
...

Born in December of 1931, my father was too young to serve during the
big war. He enlisted in the newly formed U.S. Air Force in Jun, 1949. Dad
served 20 years before retiring and starting his second career in 1970 as a
state police officer here in Idaho.
Mother was born in Sept of 1935 and only had distant memories of the
days of the big war.
Myself and both of my brothers all served in the USAF as well, although
none of us did 20 years.


Luke