Saving My Dad’s (Private Ryan)

Was talking to my dad (non biological) and found out during WWII that he had 4 brothers serving!! Man my heart went out to his mom posthumously even now. Amazingly, they all survived even a couple were in European theater and a couple in Okinawa.

Do you have similar story?

 

One of my uncles was among the boys who stormed the beaches in Normandy. He survived. In all, four of my dad's brothers served and all survived.

 

My dad was the only one of his family who served in WWII, survived with the 7th Army from Dec 1944 to April 1945.

 

Grandfather served in the Navy during WWII. I never heard him discuss it once, which is strange if only because he could carry a conversation with anyone.

Father and stepfather served in the Air Force, the latter putting in almost 27 years.

 

I do and once I find the info I will post it. I am going to write this moment down somewhere so I don't forget.

 

My dad was a combat photographer in the South Pacific. Stormed ashore in PI beach landings, photographed the Missouri signing ceremony and toured Hiroshima in early September but somehow avoided cancer.

 

My dad was heading for Normandy, but was stuck for three days in England because the supply ship from the U.S. was 3 days late. Blessings. He was in the troops that followed Patton through France and into Germany, securing the small towns. He saw Patton twice driving through the ranks in a Jeep. Dad prayed to God to get him home safely and he would never leave. And he didn't. He wouldn't leave mainland USA.

 

My grandpa was in the Army Air Corps and slated to go to the Pacific theatre when WWII ended. His joke was always that they heard he was coming so they surrendered.

My pop was on leave in Vietnam for his delayed honeymoon with my mom when his barracks was shot up during the Tet Offensive. That one fucks with me occasionally because I was born years later. I might have never been if his leave was scheduled for a different week.

 

I had four great uncles in WWII, two sets of brothers.
Set 1 - one in the Army, was at the Battle of the Bulge; one in the Navy, was a landing craft coxswain in the Pacific. I don't think either one got a scratch.
Set 2 - both in the Army; one was at the Battle of the Bulge, shot up pretty bad, and had shrapnel in him the rest of his life; one claims he was a cook, but cooks don't get Purple Hearts and Silver Stars, was hallucinating and reliving some wild stuff on his deathbed.

 

My father was one of three boys. He was in ROTC when he was in high school, and saw WWII coming. He enlisted in the Army in 1938 and went in as a regular army officer. Both of his brothers enlisted. One was in the 82nd Airborne, made all their combat drops, and was still a PFC when he got out. The Army phrase for soldiers like him was that "he wasn't a very good garrison soldier", as he was often drunk and disorderly and got in fights. He'd get promoted, then would lose his stripes after some scrape or other. Dad's other brother was a Captain in Patton's artillery and fought all the way to Germany, where he was when the war ended.

My father was an infantry training officer at camps in Louisiana and Arizona, but finally he was permanently attached to one of the units he was training as Company Commander. He went into Normandy on D + 17 and fought in the French hedgerow country around Saint Lo. He was wounded as his unit attacked a village that was held by German paratroopers, catching two machine gun bullets in the leg. He refused to be evacuated and directed the assault from a stretcher until the village was taken. Silver Star, Purple Heart, Croix de Guerre. He was in Walter Reed army hospital for a year and a half after the war ended and had repeated surgeries to repair his leg and took a medical retirement as a Major.

They all came back home. Bless 'em all. RIP.

 

These stories (thanks for sharing) reinforce how mystified I get when people think someone like the Orange Stain is somehow a strong military guy; he’s never made any sacrifice like those in these pages. He bailed. I just don’t understand the “Swift Boating” of Kerry, that guy was getting shot at and they denigrated him.

I may not agree with some Vet but I damn well would never denigrate someone who served when I didn’t have to. (too young for ‘Nam, too old for Gulf War)

 

A lot of veterans have disdain for people who talk up their accomplishments.

In the case of Kerry, he did himself no favors by throwing his medals, because it brought anyone who might have known him in theater out of the woodwork. He was criticized by his fellow vets, and that laid the groundwork for all of that to follow him into politics.