OT: Real Life Connections to War in the Pacific

[Dereck]

I was wondering what real life connections people who play WITP:AE have with the Pacific Theatre.

Here's mine:
- my father's sister's husband was with the 1st Cavalry Division in the Philippines
- my mother's male relatives who were of service age were all in the Ohio National Guard and served in the 37th Infantry Division
- my father served with the 13th Army Air Force's 9th Bombardment Group
- if this game lasts long enough the USS Midway arrives and I served aboard her in the early 1980s.

[dr.hal]

ok, Father in the RAF flying C-47 in Burma in '44-45
Uncle on the Santa Fe from '43-45 and was in the fight to save the Franklin, moved to a SC in '45 and was killed in a typhoon SEVEN days after the war ended off Okinawa
Grandfather worked on the Franklin once it returned to the Brooklyn navy yard,
Grandma served food on the Franklin while there.
I was Gunnery officer on the Bainbridge DLGN 25 '73-74 Westpac, Missile Officer on the Constellation CV 64 ''74-'76 Westpac and finally Weps boss on the Goldsborough DDG 20 '79-'81 2 Westpacs

[Mighty1]

My Dad was aboard the USS Cape Esperance and went through Halsey's Typhoon.
Sea Man Third Class and manned the 5-inch gun on the ships aft.

My Uncle was in the 8th Airforce, and he remembers when a Captured Me 262 was being examined.

My Other Uncle was a cook in Korea for the Army during the Conflict.

[Zovs]

I had three great Uncles that served in the Pacific in World War II, two were in the Navy and one in the Army, but no idea which ships or even which division they served in. All are gone by the time I was interested enough in history to preserve it. In fact, everyone on that side of the family tree is gone, except for two of my cousins which are still struggling with addiction.

[Admiral DadMan]

My Dad / US Navy: USS Helena @ Pearl Harbor 7 Dec 41 then to '43, USS San Jacinto 43- 46, nearly taken out by a Kamikaze.
My Uncle / US Marines: 1010 Dock @ Pearl Harbor 7 Dec 41, Tarawa, Okinawa.

[pnzrgnral]

My step-grandfather served with the 34th Special Naval Construction Battalion from its activation to deactivation, eventually deploying to Guam after the island was secured. He was an "old" man at the time, in his early 30's, married with three boys (the eldest being my step-dad) and worked in the mess hall (commissary I believe is what Navy types call it, I'm retired Army).
My Mom's oldest brother (Uncle Jimmy) volunteered for the Navy when he turned 18 in '45 because he didn't want to be drafted, especially into the Army, and was assigned as a plank owner on the then-building USS Albany (CA-123); the ship was commissioned after VJ Day. He served exclusively on that ship for his 4-year enlistment.
Another Uncle on my bio-dad's side was in the Navy training as a radar operator when the war ended.
My bio-dad served on the USS Zellars (DD-777) in the Korean War conducting shore bombardments and such. Although not of the era, in my time in the Army I served two tours in Hawaii with the 25th Infantry Division and I had the great fortune of traveling and deploying throughout the PTO, my game-related real-life excursions included Wake, Guam, Malaysia, Singapore, Clark AFB, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Panama and South Korea. Edit: And Thailand Edit again: I forgot to include my paternal granddad. I never met him, he and my Mema were divorced before I was born and died when I was six. He served in the Navy in both World Wars but wasn't a career type. In WW1 he served in the Vladivostok expedition 1919-1920.

[BHaulotte]

I live between Waterloo and Bastogne, yet I've been playing WitP for 20 years. Is there a bug somewhere? Would it be normal for me to primarily play John Tiller's old Waterloo or Decisive Campaigns: Ardennes Offensive?

[wolfclan]

My dad was a aviation radio man on PBY's He was in TANGIER in Noumea and Espirito Santo and in HALF MOON in Guadacanal and New Georgia. Transferred stateside in 1944 to teach at radio school

My uncle was a dauntless pilot in 1944-1945. I don't know which squadron or ship, but he was in the Pacific. He helped to airlift supplies to POW's in Japan after the surrender. I also know he was one of my dad's students in radio school.

During Viet Nam, I deployed in HENRY B. WILSON(DDG7) and FOX (CG33)

[bradfordkay]

My grandfather was a Lt Col in a quartermaster unit and I know that he was in the Philippines in '45. Unfortunately, he died in 1960, my dad died in 1985 (was a teenager during the war), and my grandmother passed in 1988 so I have no one to ask for more information.

A very good friend's dad was the navigating officer aboard USS Thurston AP/APA 77. In the DBB version I am playing she is listed as USS Dauphin, a name she carried only for 2 days before being renamed USS Thurston in order to avoid confusion with a Canadian ship HMCS Dauphin. After Torch, Husky, Overlord, and Dragoon she was transferred to the Pacific theater and participated in the invasions of Iwo and Okinawa.

[RangerJoe]

My grandfather was a Lt Col in a quartermaster unit and I know that he was in the Philippines in '45. Unfortunately, he died in 1960, my dad died in 1985 (was a teenager during the war), and my grandmother passed in 1988 so I have no one to ask for more information.

A very good friend's dad was the navigating officer aboard USS Thurston AP/APA 77. In the DBB version I am playing she is listed as USS Dauphin, a name she carried only for 2 days before being renamed USS Thurston in order to avoid confusion with a Canadian ship HMCS Dauphin. After Torch, Husky, Overlord, and Dragoon she was transferred to the Pacific theater and participated in the invasions of Iwo and Okinawa.

You may be able to ask the government for some records if they were not destroyed. Once you find out the unit/ship that people were in, you can search about the unit online.

[wolfclan]

Slighty off topic, but the Director of Naval History just put this out:

Navy Hellcat pilot Donald McPherson passed away on 14 August 2025 at age 103. He was the last known U.S. “ace” (of any service) from World War II. Flying the F6F-5 Hellcat of Fighter Squadron EIGHT THREE (VF-83) off USS ESSEX (CV-9), McPherson shot down five Japanese aircraft during the Battle of Okinawa in April-May 1945. He also flew in numerous land attack missions against Japanese positions on Okinawa and airfields in the Japanese Home Islands. He was awarded three Distinguished Flying Crosses and four Air Medals during the war. In 2015, along with all other aces, he was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal.

[bradfordkay]

My grandfather was a Lt Col in a quartermaster unit and I know that he was in the Philippines in '45. Unfortunately, he died in 1960, my dad died in 1985 (was a teenager during the war), and my grandmother passed in 1988 so I have no one to ask for more information.

A very good friend's dad was the navigating officer aboard USS Thurston AP/APA 77. In the DBB version I am playing she is listed as USS Dauphin, a name she carried only for 2 days before being renamed USS Thurston in order to avoid confusion with a Canadian ship HMCS Dauphin. After Torch, Husky, Overlord, and Dragoon she was transferred to the Pacific theater and participated in the invasions of Iwo and Okinawa.

You may be able to ask the government for some records if they were not destroyed. Once you find out the unit/ship that people were in, you can search about the unit online.

EDIT: I found the information on his date of death through the VA Fort Sam Houston cemetery website, so I may be able to get more if his records weren't destroyed in the 1973 fire.

[CaptBeefheart]

No family connections, but I did dive Truk back in 1998 on a five-day live aboard trip. I personally dove 11 of the wrecks in Truk Lagoon. I've done the Bataan Death March route (in a car, fortunately) and been to quite a few of the "bases" that are on the map.

Cheers,
CB

[JeffroK]

A couple of Uncles who served with 2/8 Australian Infantry Battalion in the Darwin area then New Guinea. Another Uncle was in 6 Squadron, RAAF.

[Fritz641]

My great-grandfather was in an artillery regiment with the Marines in the Philippines and Okinawa 44-45. unfortunately dont know what unit.
My dads Uncle was a Aircraft chief-mechanic with the 201st Mexican Expeditionary group on Luzon in 1945.

[sanch]

My father was aviation support on Tinian 44-46. He kept the cockpit instruments running on B-29's. Flew 3 missions as tail gunner.

[Don Bowen]

My grandfather was a Lt Col in a quartermaster unit and I know that he was in the Philippines in '45. Unfortunately, he died in 1960, my dad died in 1985 (was a teenager during the war), and my grandmother passed in 1988 so I have no one to ask for more information.
...

As far as I know the largest QM unit in the Philippines in 1945 was the 1st Quartermaster Depot. This unit was the primary issuing unit to the smaller QM units that directly supplied combat units. It also was responsible for arming and supplying the Philippine Guerilla Forces. My father was chief clerk of this unit, with the rank of Master Sergeant.

[Don Bowen]

Also, my first cousin James Castle was part of Battery B, 60th Coast Artillery, Corregidor, 1941.

[bradfordkay]

My grandfather was a Lt Col in a quartermaster unit and I know that he was in the Philippines in '45. Unfortunately, he died in 1960, my dad died in 1985 (was a teenager during the war), and my grandmother passed in 1988 so I have no one to ask for more information.
...

As far as I know the largest QM unit in the Philippines in 1945 was the 1st Quartermaster Depot. This unit was the primary issuing unit to the smaller QM units that directly supplied combat units. It also was responsible for arming and supplying the Philippine Guerilla Forces. My father was chief clerk of this unit, with the rank of Master Sergeant.

I'll have to see if he was in that unit. I have filled in the request form for his records, but haven't sent them off (contingent on them not having been destroyed in the 1973 fire). I was told by my dad that he was commanding the Quartermaster Depot at Pusan in 1951-53.

[Tcao]

My grandpa joined the ROC's Chinese National Revolutionary Army in 1941. He almost ended up being sent with the ill-fated Chinese Expeditionary Force to fight in Burma. Just before his unit set out, he was transferred to the ROC Air Force, since he had not yet completed his college degree.
There, he worked on maintaining radio equipment and preparing weather forecasts at an airfield (I believe it was somewhere close to Kunming). He also served as an interpreter for the famous “Flying Tigers” (though by that time they were already the Fourteenth Air Force).
Between 1944 and 1945, he accompanied a U.S. military observation group on a visit to the heart of the Chinese Communist power --- Yan’an.
That experience later caused him considerable trouble after the Chinese Civil War broke out—but that is another story.