What are your best war stories from the greatest generation.

[Michael Tompkins]

http://www.4thinfantry.org/content/r...j-posthumously
A close friend of mine is a WWII vet of the 4th Infantry Div. I have known him for years but he really didn't mention his war experiences until I asked him about what and where he served in WWII. He then opened up with brief stories from time to time if I would ask. One story in particular really set me back on my heels. I was going thru a book on Medal of Honor men in WWII and I came to a name and then Company and the Division. I thought of my friend after I read the account of Lt Ray and wondered if he knew him. I called him on the phone and asked him if he knew this Officer. He said it was his Platoon Leader at the time. I then read him the account of how Lt Ray earned the MOH. He didn't say anything for a moment or two and I asked if he was ok. He then told me this story. They were fighting in the Hurtgen Forrest and they came up to a place that the Germans had zeroed in with small arms and mortars and they were getting shot up pretty bad. The Germans had barbed wire strung up so it would stop any advance by our guys and a few had already been shot/killed trying to destroy the wires. My friend was behind Lt Ray and ordered to give suppressing fire while men were trying to get rid of the wire, Lt Ray advanced and was now in front of my friend who was firing his M-1 at the German gun emplacements. He said Lt Ray was working on a Bangalore Tube and he thought he got hit but in the excitement of the battle he was not sure. Then while still giving suppressing fire the Bangalore Tube exploded killing Lt Ray. I thought what a terrible thing to have to live thru every day with men dying and getting injured all around you. But the amazing part of the story is this. My friend did not know that Lt Ray detonated the Bangalore Tube he thought that with his angle just behind Lt Ray one of his M-1 rounds caused it to go off killing his Platoon Leader. I could tell he was very upset and that I would hang up and call him later and he said it was ok. He had been carrying that thought all of these years and was glad I had called and read him the story of the account on how Lt Ray received the MOH. Wonder how many of those WWII vets carried those type of stories with them the rest of their lives.

While I was an MP with the 503rd attached to 3A/D in the FRG, I was stationed Ray Barracks (named after Lt Ray) in Friedberg. :-) Mike

[Guamsst]

My ex wifes Grandfather got a purple heart on Iwo Jima and was picked on about it by his buddies for decades. He didn't like to mention it because although he was very proud to be one of a handful of Army on Iwo, he got his purple heart for a twisted ankle when he jumped into his foxhole not knowing his best friend had got there first. So, he jumped on his best buddy then the poor guy had to carry him to the rear with his purple owie, where the medics listed him as wounded in action. I am sure John Kerry would not have been embarassed by the medal.

My Maternal Grandfather was an old man when WW2 started (late 20s). The doc that processed him, told him that he was 4F because of piarhea (gum disease). His response was "Well hell, I don't want eat the damned Japs, I want to kill em". Turns out that the Doc was just trying to offer him an easy out. They ended up pulling all his teeth and giving him dentures so it wasn't a problem after all. Then they put him in the Navy and he told them he couldn't swim, they said it wasn't a problem, they guaranteed they'd teach him to swim. He was about 90 when he told me this story and he leaned over and said "you know, I still can't swim"...LOL Poor bast"%" ended up on Destroyer Escorts and the USS Dennis went through about every $#!% storm you could suffer through in the Pacific on a tin can.

My other Grandfather hopped a ride over the hump in a C-46 and from North Africa to South Africa in a C-47 at treetop height. His favorite story though was about the C-46 that hit a flock of vultures and the two locals who cleaned the ground and burned vulture out of the engines for two bits!

[emmagee1917]

I used to put WW2 weapons on my gun show table to let vets pick up and handle . They told me hundreds of stories over the years. This is my favorite.
They land on an island and fight thier way inland. Soon , they start to run low on ammo . He heads back to the beach . Path is easy to follow and he runs at full speed counting on his speed to cause any straglers to miss . Only one shot is fired at him , and it does indeed miss. He gets to the beach and loads up on ammo , slinging his M1 to carry more ammo . Heading back through the jungle , he comes to the straight section of the path were he was shot at. Ducking low and running as fast as he can , he about clears the streach when this Jap comes out from behind the tree at the bend with his rifle pointed at him. He puts on his brakes and stops a few yards from him , waiting to be shot. No shot came , and the Jap motions for him to drop his stuff . He does so , but when he puts the rifle down , the Jap starts talking to him and points his rifle at his M1 . Slowly he withdraws his bayonet , picks up his rifle , and fixes it . The Jap nods in approval while grinning . He give the Jap a deep bow , which is returned , and they spar off . He then puts 8 rounds into his chest as fast as he could , reloads , picks up his load , and continues back to his unit.

Anouther . Italy , fighting up the boot. Company held up by a pillbox up on a cliff shooting down at the pass. Armor can't get in and nothing available can take it out. One man decides to try something , so he takes a BAR and a few buddies loaded with mags and they climb up thier side of the pass . They get up above the pillbox on the other side , but the rocks prevent a clear shot at the box or the firing slits . As they ponder what to do next , one of them spots an armored vent pipe coming out of the rear of the pillbox that they can shoot at. He goes prone and proceeds to put all the ammo they brought into the vent , which punches through the cover grill , but bounces down the pipe. The barrel glows red in the sunlight and starts to sag , but no more is heard from the pillbox. They left the gun there when they went down.

Chris

[Michaelp]

A vet will blow smoke up your 4th point of contact just as quick as anyone.
Best way to get stories is to man up and go for your own.
That was advice I got in my teens while badgering vets for stories.
Best advice I ever got an never hesitate to give it.

[Reptile46]

Unfortunately the man who could tell the story did not come back, so I have to rely on his service record and medal write-ups. My uncle enlisted in 1940 in the Army Air Forces/Army Air Corps and was trained as an upper turret gunner on a B-25C (Mitchell). His unit, the Third Bombardment Group (Light) [Grim Reapers] was stationed at Savannah Army Airfield in Georgia when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. My father was at Pearl Harbor in the medical department with a unit of the 25th ID. The bomb group was transported by troop train to Oakland California and by troop ship to Brisbane, Australia where they trans-loaded their equipment to trains and moved to their airfield at Charters Towers in Queensland. They began flying bombing missions against Japanese naval and naval air targets on Easter Sunday 1942. They flew long range missions with no fighter escort against a Japanese naval air unit equipped with Zeroes. The group was decimated by Japanese pilots, among them Saburo Sakai, who became an ace many times over. Three days before Doolittle took a squadron of B-25Cs off the deck of the USS Hornet and hit Tokyo in mid April 1942, an all volunteer group of 10 B-25Cs and 2 B-17s took off from Charters Towers, refueled and armed at Port Moresby Papua, New Guinea and flew to Del Monte airfield in the Philippines from which they bombed Japanese targets. They were on the front page of the New York Times until the Doolittle raid knocked them off it. They got the attention of the Japanese. Tokyo Rose said in a broadcast that, "We know who you are and where you came from. You will all die." The mission was expected to be one way, but miraculously all of the aircraft but one returned safely to Australia. The one loss was a bomber that was hit on the ground with no personnel losses. By July 1942 the Japanese were putting heavy pressure on New Guinea and the islands to the north. The four squadrons in the bomb group flew multiple missions each day to slow them down. US losses were heavy. On July 25th and early on the morning of the 26th my uncle's squadron flew three missions, returning from the first two with minor damage to their planes. The early morning mission on the 26th was as lead in a group of five B-25s. They were hit and went down in flames before reaching the northern coast of New Guinea. Five minutes later the B-25 that took over the lead was hit and also went down. There were no survivors on my uncle's plane, but the pilot and upper turret gunner of the second plane parachuted to safety and, with the help of natives, made their way back to Port Moresby over a period of 18 days. The crews were written up for the Distinguished Service Cross, which was downgraded to a Silver Star. They also received Distinguished Flying Crosses and Purple Hearts. Saburo Sakai claimed these two kills. The remains of the Australian co-pilot, as well as three sets of unidentified remains were recovered in May 1943. The Joint POW/MIA Accountability Command visited the crash site a few years ago and confirmed the wreckage, but did not look for remains. They intend to go back to look for remains soon. Meanwhile the three sets of unidentified remains recovered in May 1943 are buried at Fort McKinley in Manila awaiting what the Joint POW/MIA Accountability Command calls "sufficient evidence" to exhume them and test a reference sample of my DNA to see if one of them is my uncle.

[Greg]

Mine is simpler. My parents met. In Iceland. Father - Army Ordnance Corps. Mother - Amy Nurse Corps. Both gone now, but when I was commissioned, I wore my Dad's Ordnance bombs, my Mother's US insignia, and had pinned on, one of each of their 2LT bars.

[John Sukey]

Repeating a couple.
Brother in Laws father was in the coast artillery. Jap sub surfaced off the California cost and fired a few rounds from it's deck gun doing no damage. But he got a purple heart! When setting up a machine gun he caught his finger in he tripod. (drawing blood under enemy fire)

My father was a doctor. One day they came round and asked the staff of they wanted a ride in glider. After everybody got their ride, they were told, congratulations, you are now all in the 101st!. He got a blood clot in his leg and missed D Day. (got to France later) His replacement's glider released too early and they landed in Holland, subsisting on British iron rations for a few weeks

[Michael Tompkins]

I have a few stories told to me by family members, but I think this next one is the most unusual that I've heard.

My wife and I have a friend that lives in California. She is of Dutch heritage, as both of her parents are Dutch. The last time she visited us here in Kentucky, the subject of World War II came up. She told us the story of her father living in Holland at the time of the German invasion. When the Germans invaded in 1940, her father was 16 years of age. It was later on that the Germans started to round up males that were of age to serve in the military. Her dad avoided being rounded up and went into hiding. He hid wherever he could; basements, barns and attics of friends. His mother would bring him food. It became difficult for his mother to bring him food, so he started leaving his hiding place and come back home, usually at night.
One day, he decided to leave his hiding place dressed in disguise. He dressed as a girl. It was working until a neighbor girl who was simpathetic to the Germans recognized him and turned him in to the Germans. The germans then sent him to a work camp in Germany. At his first opportunity, he escaped and spent many weeks making his way back to Holland any way he could. He made it back safely and spent time hiding once again until the allied liberation. He emmigrated to the U.S. a few years later and the rest is history!