Dec 7, 1941

[widgeon13]

Lest we forget!

http://www.fdlreporter.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071207/FON0101/712070418/1985

[charleskieffner]

my dads birthday! spent 5 years straight slogging thru mud from new guinea,biak, luzon, building runways and p.t. boat piers/ fuel depots.

[Sonic dB]

My dad spent 2 years in Hiroshima in the very early 50s as part of the occupational troops after Truman bombed the shi- out of them...
he didnt talk much about it other than to say that the people there were living in extreme poverty and terrible conditions.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Thank you for posting this.

The events of this day 1941 should never be forgotten.

[charleskieffner]

my dad hated the japanese w/a passion. he hated sushi,rice, saki, japanese cars, japanese everything and anything.

his best friend was in the battle of the bulge and was shot in the neck w/a MG-42. snagged an SS officers dagger and lugar after he killed him. he also hated everything german. german cars/food/anything everything german.

my dad about had heart failure when i bought my 77 datsooon 280-z!

he actually stated the "happiest day of his life was when we nuked the japs back into the stone age!" he was slated for "operation coronet". the invasion of the japanese mainland!

5 years straight duty! one R&R to australia in 5 ******* years. was in army eng. battalion. came off LST under fire, blew hell out of jungle, bladed it flat, and laid runway mesh for aircraft to land. literally slogged thru mud everyday.

[bell]

Originally Posted by charleskieffner

my dads birthday! spent 5 years straight slogging thru mud from new guinea,biak, luzon, building runways and p.t. boat piers/ fuel depots.

he didn't happen to be in the 332nd did he? that was the unit my late grandfather was in

[The Gaijin]

トラ、トラ、トラ!

[The Gaijin]

I worked in a Japanese company years ago.. (This is in the USA, mind you...)

On December 7th, I overheard one Japanese manager talking with another Japanese manager:

"Do you know what day it is?"

"No"

"You know, 12th month, 7th day."

"huh"

"You know!"

"Nope..."

"You know - Tiger! Tiger! Tiger".

"Ahhh - soo"

[charleskieffner]

360th army eng battalion.

got the hell bombed out of him!

got the hell snipered out of him!

got the hell attacked out of him by suicide jap soldiers!

all documented by a brilliant individual with the foresight that they were making history. mucho photographs, mucho "crashes on strip", mucho sniper nests, mucho rain, mucho bomb damage.................all documented by photographs!

weapons carriers(dodge) buried in mud above their tires. 21/2 ton trucks (deuce and a 1/2's) buried up to their fenders. 500# bomb direct hit on his tent, that killed a number of his friends! all documented.

it SUCKED BIG TIME!

didnt mind going bird hunting or small game hunting, but when it came to big game all he wanted was to see things alive. he loved kids, and everything about life. 5 years of hell fighting for his country. and to look at the pictures it was the nastiest looking jungle i have ever seen!

saw more death than most mortuaries EVER DO!

B-17-24-25-26, P-38-39-47, PBM, PBY, all used facilities they built. PT boat fuel depots he explained were just about as dangerous as the japs. natives smoked like chimneys. no matter what they did, signs, verbal, examples could explain smoking and AV gas fumes making big KABOOM! natives innocently killed alot of his navy friends while refueling PT boats.

[Mule]

Originally Posted by Sonic dB

My dad spent 2 years in Hiroshima in the very early 50s as part of the occupational troops after Truman bombed the shi- out of them...
he didnt talk much about it other than to say that the people there were living in extreme poverty and terrible conditions.

Great post sonic. Life would be so much better if we'd have just submitted, right? The we wouldn't have nitwits walking around with guilt complexes. My guess is charleskieffner's dad would have slapped you for this kind of commentery. By the way, if "the greatest generation" were graded on political correctness, they wouldn't grade out too high. Maybe there's a point there!

Also, Truman didn't bomb them, America did!

[charleskieffner]

war is hell, and to speak with the "greatest generation" is about the greatest gift that can be bestowed upon you. most will not speak about it ever.

we won world war II hands down because we were not politically correct! what the hell does that say about us now.

the atrocities we commited "take no prisoners" was a pacific and a european commonplace everyday occurance. it was kill or be killed! none of this crap "you cant shoot until they shoot at you" or " you cant shoot until the IED blows the hell out of the ABRAHMS tank and kills all of your buddies"

when our government figures this out in IRAQ and AFGHAN, alot of GI's will come home alive instead of being in a body bag.

bottomline after speaking with my dads friend in the BULGE, it was KILL or BE KILLED! no minceing words, no B.S!

my dad taught me one thing about guns that has ALWAYS STUCK WITH ME. " if your gonna point a gun at someone.............you better shoot him before he shoots you! pretty somber advice!

[Mo_Gearhead]

I was a kid in the 1950's. After the war there was MUCH lingering hatred toward Japan and Germany. We helped rebuild both countries and it worked to the benefit of all.

Japan started building junk and sending it here. Then they got better ...much better!

Porsche cars (in Springfield MO) in the 1950's, thru the 1960's would have their paint routinely KEYED ... I assume as a result of lingering German hatred. Sad.

Hope we have all moved on.

[nostatic]

my dad was a corpsman in the Pacific. Saw duty on a couple of ships and land battles. He never talks about the war other than a few very brief conversations. Mostly that he was a "runner" who picked up pieces and couldn't do much other than give shots of morphine. Lots of morphine.

Wars sucks. It should be avoided. Those who prattle on and on about the war usually never saw any action except at the px. Those who I've known (my dad and his friends) just don't want to talk about it. I can only imagine, and he hoped that I never would have to experience it.

God speed to those that fought. And a hope that the politicians think twice before sending more to follow.

[Mo_Gearhead]

QUOTE: "Those who prattle on and on about the war usually never saw any action except at the px. "
_______________

Some truth there.

Can't tell you how many times I have encountered guys talking about being in 'Nam that were "airborne/rangers/scout snipers/navy seals/etc." that lost everyone in their squad/platoon/company and they were "one of the few" that survived...etc ...'ad nauseam'.

Then you start asking about details: their Units, AO's, MOS's, dates... most then find excuses to wander off.

Amusing.

[TechnoViking]

トラ、トラ、トラ!

If you're gonna do it...do it right.

虎,虎,虎

[Dan in Pasadena]

My father was an aircraft mechanic on Tinian Island. After all these years, many people still think the atomic bombs took off from Saipan, but they did not. They took off from Tinian and my father was there. He claimed they (of course) didn't understand what was happening because they were all confined to quarters the day before the mission. They were happy to get the time off work and only knew something "big" was happening.

Afterward and until he was discharged in December of that year and got back stateside he didn't yet understand that the world had changed because of the bombs.

[Les Paul]

My father in law was in on the last 3 major invasions. One of the pilots for the landing craft. He didn't talk about about it till the last couple of years and now he finally will knowing my daughter and I a major history buffs. He is another guy who wouldn't buy anything Japanese. He had 5 brothers in WWII at the same time. 3 in the Pacific and 2 in Europe. They all made it out somehow.

[Seahawk]

Got in late last night from New Mexico and decided to take the day off. I honestly did not make the connection to the significance of today.
Read this thread, called my father-in-law (who spent 3 years in the south pacific on a PT boat) and asked him to lunch.
All he will talk about will be amusing, funny stuff that happened, with him usually the butt of the joke. He will never talk about the rough stuff.
Thanks for the reminder.

[jshape]

My dad was a Naval aviator during the war - carrier based in the Pacific and for a time land-based in the Solomons. He flew Hellcats and Corsairs, had a couple of kills.

About 20 years my sister bought a big (for then) screen TV that was made by Mistubishi. When Dad saw it he said.......

"The last thing I saw that was made by Mitsubishi I shot out of the air."

Now he drives a Lexus. Things change.....

[stevepaa]

My dad was in the Aleutians. Never really talked much about it except for the time he got chased up a telephone pole by a grizzly.

He never had resentment to Japanese people, after all many Japanese here in CA had been here as long as we have.


boy, mule, you are the only one to look at that post that way. I certainly don't sense any criticism from Sonic