"Uncle Jack" WWII veteran & Actor Gary Anise aka Lt. Dan from Forrest Gump

[gbrown]

This is a 15 minute video I got from a friend in an email. Pretty neat stuff about the greatest generation. I never realized how deadly the air combat was until about 10 or 15 years ago. At one time, there was serious consideration of halting it because of the heavy losses. My uncle was a fighter pilot and was shot down over Germany, spent the last year of the war in a POW camp. He talked a little about it, but not much. The following is from the email.

Did you have a Uncle Jack?
All - I think you will find this worth watching.. Also has beautiful film of a modern B-17 in flight. E.
The 8th Air Force suffered 30,000 airmen lost or missing during WWII--more casualties than the Navy and Marines combined. Only one airman in three survived the air battle in Europe.
If you were lucky enough to survive 30 missions (like Uncle Jack), you became a member of the "Lucky ********
club".

If you have a sharp eye, you may have noted that the B-17 in the video is a late model that had a remote controlled gun turret (rather than two manually operated 50 cal machine guns) in the nose.
Let us never forget what Uncle Jack and these brave men did for our country.
Gary is one of a few actors who has supported the troops and done a lot for veterans. Support him.
This is great! Sit back and relax and enjoy a piece of American history. It may even bring a tear or two to your eyes. Wish we had more people in the entertainment industry like Gary Sinise.

"Uncle Jack" featuring Gary Sinise and his uncle:


http://www.sleepingdogtv.com/reel/Uncle-Jack.aspx

[Reg]

Excellent !!!!!!

[starbits]

Great film. Gary Sinise is a class act, one of very few in Hollywierd.

Starbits

[Bad Water Bill]

Going to pass it on. Thank you for posting it.

It brought back memories of a cousin and a friend that were both shot down and served time in a German POW camp.

Well one did but the other one was RELEASED from the POW camp due to overcrowding. They marched him from one end of Germany to the other. That is a story by itself.

[gbrown]

Oops. Just noticed I got the name wrong. Thinking of spice/flavoring I guess. Operator error/headspace malfunction as we always said. My public apology to a great actor.

[shooter93]

My father was a tail gunner on a B-17. He was in so early that the bulk of his missions were flown without fighter escort. At one point they were losing 30 planes a week with 10 men onboard each one. I'm sure they were scared every mission....but they kept going.

[Isaac]

Very nice. Thank you for posting.

Isaac

[xs11jack]

It won't play for me, what am I doing wrong????
Jack

[Stephen Cohen]

Thank you for posting, when I see the youth of today I cant help but wonder what would happen if war come today.

[gbrown]

It won't play for me, what am I doing wrong????
Jack

Not sure. Usually, you just double click and another window pops up. Only thing that comes to mind is your "popup blocker" settings on the toolbar.

[DCP]

Fantastic

This Generation raise me. Let me live free

My Uncle Jack was named Uncle Chuck and he was with Patton
Uncle Chuck didn't talk about WWII much, a quiet man with a very good sense humor.
Never saw him mad at anything.

RIP Uncle Chuck

Many gave all.
All gave some.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.


For our tomorrow
They gave their today

Thank you

[encoreman]

Thanks for this. I will pass it on. My wife's Uncle is a WWII Navy vet and is doing well. I have a good friend who is a survivor of the Bataan death march. Thanks to all of our vets, your sacrifices will not be forgotten.

[phonejack]

Several years ago I took a trip on a B-17 (Aluminum Overcast) and made a video from the bombardiers seat. I showed it to made father and he knew instantly when the landing gear left the ground. He could also tell by the pitch of the engines! He was one of Claire Chennaults "humpsters"

[10-x]

Read Bindiner's,"A Fall of Fortresses".

[TXGunNut]

Can't get it to work either, will try again later. Reminds me of a guy I worked with years ago, he was a tail gunner in a B-17. It was a long crawl thru tight quarters to the tail gun. IIRC he survived 3 crash landings and old age was less than kind to this tough old bird. Not sure if he was a member of the "Lucky ********" but he should have been.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
My Unce Wally was on "tin cans". Dad was a Landing Ship Officer assistant on a CVE. Said the Corsairs were the most dangerous aircraft to get on deck. They were so big and heavy they had to come in fast. On a waveoff there was too little time to jump into the "net" and roll into the crash bunker. Were as the Wildcats and Avengers could fly slow on approach.
About 7 yeras ago were in Phoenix to visit mom and sister. Went to the Messa airport (maybe Chandlier ? )and the Confederate Air Force Museun. A B/17 G model was in for engine replacement. The machanics let me see,touch, look at and go through every inch of the aircraft except cross over the main gear retraction lever into the cockpit. I sat in the bombadiers seat and could handle the controls for the "chin turret". Just that 90 minutes was well worth the drive to Messa. But also got to do the same on a TBF Avenger torpedo bomber. My wife & I were the only "visitors" on site and the mechanics wanted to know about tanks... my MOS in the pickle suit brigade. It was a great afternoon with some fine people.
Mike in Peru

[Bad Water Bill]

Here is the CORSAIR STORY

There are other stories as well.enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUfcj-lpORk

Found the B 17 for Uncle Jack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfsOW0s0RGU

[Harter66]

I had drinks w/2 fighter pilot POWS ,1 USMC , 1 Japanese . Both amazing men. Its sad they are nearly all gone.

[Gator 45/70]

Great find ! Thanks' to the O.P.

[fouronesix]

While ground combat gets a lot of play, as it should, the air war was no picnic. An uncle was shot down over Germany and lost. Another uncle was shot down but he and his crew bailed, survived and made it back to friendly lines. My dad, also a bomber pilot, was lucky and nothing happened. Yet another uncle was a staff officer under Patton and survived the Battle of the Bulge. All gone now but not forgotten. The only person still alive I know who was in WWII is my neighbor. He's 92 and survived the D Day landing. Soon all will be gone. :(

[Pb Burner]

Very good video! Thanks for posting!

[nodda duma]

My wife's Grandfather flew the Ploesti raid as a B-24 pilot and had many other adventures which she doesn't remember much about. Kind of wish I had been able to ask him, but he passed long ago.

HS English teacher's father was a British Lancaster heavy bomber pilot in WW2. That gentleman I did get to speak to. He was shot down 3 times, evaded the first two times. He was captured the last time, had several escape attempts and finally made it back to England in time for the war to end.

I was a big WW2 buff as a teenager so I have lots of stories from relatives and people I knew..those are two that I knew of who flew heavy bombers.

[GabbyM]

Total American Air Force losses worldwide during World War II: 27,694 aircraft, including 8,314 heavy bombers, 1,623 medium and light bombers, and 8,481 fighters as destroyed in combat. This includes training crashes but does not include US Navy losses. Total USA aircraft losses WWII. 41,575.


New HBO series on Mighty Eighth Air Force cost 500 Million dollars!
http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/new-hbo-series-on-mighty-eighth-air-force-cost-500-million-dollars.html

[LUBEDUDE]

Thanks!