WWII photos

[trapper9260]

Here is a link of some WWII photos thinking you like to see.

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2010/03/18/captured-blog-the-pacific-and-adjacent-theaters/#more-1547

[doc1876]

these are great, thanks for the share

[reloader28]

Thank you for this.
My grandpa was in the Pacific. A runner in E.B. Sledge's outfit if you know who he was.
He's still hanging in there and can tell some awesome stories.

[Hardcast416taylor]

My brother was a tank commander in the light M3 "Stuart" tank pictured in #22 photo. The type M3 shown has 2 .30 cal. machine guns, 1 on either side tread "fender that could be fired by the driver/gunner. Trouble was they were fixed to fire straight ahead and could only traverse by the driver turning the tank, messing up any shot being lined up with the main turret gun that was a 37 mm. The "fender" .30`s were later removed and a single .30 was bow mounted. The only type 37 mm ammo that was available for use was an AP type with a black nose. My brother arrived in Normandy with his light tank platoon of "Stuarts" on D + 3. He was in Pattons relief force that headed to the "Bulge" later on in the war. through out the war my brother had 3 "Stuarts" shot out from under him, one time he was the only man to get out. My brother went to the final role call in 1995, before he passed he remarked that the reunions were getting kinda thin in the ranks. These facts about my brother I only learned from other living members of his company or from letters from former officers of his. He hardly if ever talked about the time "over there", just the funny things that happened.Robert

[trapper9260]

You all are welcome .I lost a Uncle in the south seas ,he was call back in before that time he finish his time and was out and then call back in.Was killed on one of the islands there.I had also some other Uncle's that fought in Europe.

[WILCO]

Thanks for sharing this link. Powerful pictures.

[waynem34]

Neighbor six or seven doors up had a Jap flag over his mantle when he died ,along with a samurai blade.Fought in the pacific islands.Nicest man you ever spoke to.

[lbaize3]

Two of my great Uncles are still buried on one of those little islands. Don't know exactly where, Grandma refused to talk about it.

[dtknowles]

Great subject for Father's Day. My Dad rarely told WWII stories but two I remember, first was about an amphibious assault on a pacific island where their landing craft got stuck on a reef and the had to exit into what turned out to be deep water and he had to abandon his gear to swim to shore and on the beach took a weapon and ammo from a dead soldier so he could fight. The other was when they were pinned down by a Japanese sniper in a tree. The sniper got the BAR gunner and my Dad took over the BAR and got himself shot before they(he) got the sniper. He got a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart and a year long boat ride home on a hospital ship for thanks.

Tim

[MtGun44]

Great pix my father had just joined his USN combat squadron as a FM-2 pilot in California and they
were loading on the carrier to head west when the A-bombs were dropped. Arrived
on scene about 2 weeks after the surrender.

Powerful pix.

Bill

[JeffinNZ]

Interesting pics.

No 16: coming of the ramp in Thompson with a drum mag.
No 20: not US troops, Lee Enfields, either Aussies or Kiwis I suspect.
No 67: Now THAT'S a leader!

"Tertle" our member here, is in the Solomons right now with the NZ Police.

[smoked turkey]

Thank you for sharing these incredible pictures of our finest in action. I am still broken up over those taken of Attu in Alaska. I looked real close to see if any resembled my dad who was wounded on Attu. Funny, but made me feel close to him again. He just wore out at 86 years of age in 1996. I miss him still.

[FLINTNFIRE]

On the # 20 whats with the united nations caption , united kingdom or common wealth maybe ,or am I confused, good to see and remember .

[sleeper1428]

Thanks for the great photos. My Dad, who passed away in 2001 at the age of 92, was a battalion surgeon with the 7th Division and was on the landings at Attu, Leyte and Okinawa. He came down with Yellow Fever on Okinawa and was subsequently shipped home. I never could get him to talk much about the war and his personal experiences but I do know that he was awarded a Bronze Star with V for Valor during the fighting on Okinawa. From what little I could get out of him, it was related to him being the only Surgeon remaining at a forward aid station for several days during one of the prolonged and bloody battles that took place on that island. He always said that he saw enough trauma and gun shot wounds to last him ten lifetimes and I suppose that had much to do with why he didn't want to talk about his involvement in the war. They truly were the Greatest Generation!!

sleeper1428

[smokeywolf]

Thanks much for those trapper. They bring to mind tough times, harsh times, sad times, heart-breaking times, proud times.

Much of America has forgotten the horrible, almost unfathomable price that has been and must be paid for freedom and security. The currency used to pay that price is also unconscionable; the lives of young men who have not even had the chance to experience life.

The election of a traitor like the one that currently occupies the White House is a sacrilege to all the young men who have sacrificed and still willingly pay the greatest and most horrible price for our liberty and security.

My deepest respect and gratitude to all the service members and their families.

smokeywolf

[Hickory]

My uncle Dave died on the Arizona, no details known.

[Friends call me Pac]

I was stationed on a small island (Shemya) near Attu in '91 I found all kinds of ammo on the island and even found a grenade once. I used to walk the halls and look at photos from years gone by. Fascinating to me.

[T Herder]

Thank you for the link to the photos. I've spent a lot of time looking at them being eternally grateful for being my fathers son.
Dad was a career Marine, Pearl Harbor Survivor, who in his words, was at all the ugly ones. Dad passed in April of 92 just four months after receiving his Survivor medal. The memories the photos brought back of Dad talking about Pearl, Midway, and all the other islands with the other members, he only talked about the war with those members, brought more than a few tears to the eyes.
I have the '03 he carried, the boots he wore, the flag he captured on Saipan, his Silver Star, and his Survivor medal.
With the deepest thanks and regards,
Butch

[bedbugbilly]

Great photos and thank you for posting. My Dad was too old to serve in WW II. I had an uncle that was ship's surgeon on the U.S.S. Cimarron. My father-in-law went in to N. Africa as a replacement in the 34th (Red Bull) Division and then through the Italian campaign. He never talked about it much to his children but he did some with me once in a while. As my mother-in-law (who is still living and is 93) has told me a number of times over the years . . . "he came home a changed man".

He was a BAR man. After he passed and I was doing some research on the 34th, I ran across on statement that the life expectancy of a BAR man in combat in that Division was 15 seconds. In Italy, he was once sent as a company runner to headquarters. On his way back to his platoon from HQ, he saiid "the Germans were trying their best to "dust my ****" with their machine pistoles. He finally made it back to the area where his platoon had been, dove into the ditch only to land on the bodies of most of his comrades who had been killed by machine gun fire and grenades.

He had a great fear of artillery barrages when the Germans opened up with their 88s. He told me that one time he was laid out in a fox hole and the ground shook so badly that it actually put him out of the fox hole. He and I did not always "see eye to eye" but I had great respect for him. At times he could be very moody and even angry. There is no doubt in my mind that he suffered with post traumatic stress syndrome his entire life - they just didn't know or recognize it at the time.

I knew many of our local WWII vets and looked up to all of them when I was growing up. Another friend of my Dad's had been a tail gunner and his plane had been shot down with the result of him spending 23 months in a POW camp. Another friend that I had when I first got on the Fire Department had been in an Engineeer Company and they had liberated one of the Concentration Camps. A lot of folks sort of wrote him off as a "town drunk". A few years before he passed, I was remodeling a bathroom for him and he told me to take a break and have a coffee. We sat down and he began started talking about his experiences. He got up and a few minutes later, brought back a photo album of pictures he'd taken of the things they ahd found when they got to the camp. In later years, after he had passed, I was talking with his son and I brought up the time I had done work for his dad and the photo album he'd shown me. The son never knew it existed nor had his dad ever talked about it.

Those who served and those at home certainly were the "greatest generation". Theuy'd survived the Great Depression only to have their lives "our on hold" by the war. I truly think that things started to change - and for the worse - when this generation started dwindling in numbers. Their generation produced "leaders" . . . . . soon that generation will only be a memory. Unfortunately those who are in leadership today can't hold a candle to what that generation was capable of doing.

Thanks for the photos . . . brought back a lot of memories of a lot of good men and women who were very influential in guiding me down the right paths.

[farmallcrew]

Great pics, and blurbs under them. As a WWII reanactor and a WWII history nut, i very much so tip my hat to all Veterns, and shake their hand and thank them for their service. 1 of my jobs is in customer service, i see from 50-150 people a day at the small company, most them are just normal contractors but some are just averge Joes working on things. I look at their vechicle and stickers they have one them. When im done loading them, i like to take a few mins and talk with them and thank them for their service for our country. My grandfather was in Korea in a Tank, and my cousin was in Operation Iraqi Freedom, as a truck driver. Both have stories but not like the stories i read and heard from the people i know from WWII. Stay safe brothers and sisters.

[Reg]

Thank you for the link. My Uncle Bob fought in every major battle from Guadalcanal to Leyete where he was taken out with machine gun fire, he lost a leg .
He never would say much about it until he returned to the old family home where we live now and finally opened up, this was shortly before he passed on.
They truly were the Greatest Generation.

[scaevola]

Thanks for the link; the pictures were fascinating.

We lost my father in law 2 years ago, he was the last surviving veteran of WWII in our family.