74 years ago today.

74 years ago today my father was outside of Rome Italy with the U.S. Fifth Army as they were driving the Nazis up the boot of Italy. At the same time men were going ashore at Normandy starting to link up with Paratroops dropped behind enemy lines the night of June 5th.At the same time the Russians were attacking on their drive to Berlin. And 14 days later on the other side in the Pacific the invasion of Saipan began tearing that Island from the grasp of Imperial Japan.In Burma ,Merrills Marauders were finishing their Campaign against the Japanese. The Marauders were so decimated by Disease, Deaths and Fatigue they never again were an effective fighting force.In the Air,Land and Sea Americans were fighting to end tyranny. We can never repay them for what they did. Our only attempt is to remember!

They truly were the greatest generation!

Thanks Mark

I grew up listening to war stories from WW2 veterans. As I grew older and so did they the stories switched from the humorous to the deadly serious. One in particular my dad told was to not be around any Tank American or German . He said when they caught on fire when hit and the ammunition blew they would burn for 3 days! All of my Mothers Cousins served. One flew B24's. He was killed over Munich. The other served with Merrils Marauders in Burma. He suffered from Malaria and other Jungle Diseases until the day he died a young man! I like to attend Air Shows and see the WW2 Aircraft still flying. At one Airshow several years ago I stood by a B17 with a ME 109 that was being restored. A man my Dad's age stood there looking at the B17. I made a remark about the two planes being that close and it was good they were not shooting at each other. He looked at me and said "The last time I saw a B17 this close I was falling away from it from 20,000 ft in the air and I spent over a year as a guest of Adolph Hitler in one of his Hotels"! I shook his hand and thanked him!

Edited by klinemar - 07 Jun 2018 at 10:42am

The guy I knew growing up that went through Bataan etc., when he first got home, he told the stories and talked with people.  He talked less and less about it as the years went by.  By the time I remember him, getting close to 30 years after the war, he rarely spoke of anything about it.  Then, by the time the late 90's rolled around, he started talking again.  He usually wasn't very calm or pleasant about it when he talked, he was downright bitter.  I think he saw people in general forgetting how terrible / remarkable it all was.  He didn't get a dang purple heart until just a couple years before he died.  No purple heart for all the beatings and blindness and stuff that he went through, but for chemical burns from dumping the fuel as their base was being overrun, because that act was still involved in the fighting.  So yeah, he got to go through Bataan death march with chemically burned feet.  They were dumping the fuel so that the Japanese wouldn't have it, and the hard clay ground was so dry and compacted it wouldn't soak in and the guys were sloshing in ankle deep fuel dumping the rest, as they were being overrun.