My Grandfather's Military history

[John Lansford]

My deceased father in law served in the Merchant Marine on an AKA in the Pacific.  He didn't join until 1943 but was at Iwo Jima during the kamikaze attacks.  He was a plane spotter and had such great eyesight he could ID the plane when it was near the horizon.  He stopped at places like Guadalcanal and Saipan but didn't see any fighting at either spot.

Two of my uncles fought in the Army as well; one served in Italy and brought an Italian rifle home, a Carcano that my dad still has.  The other one was in an artillery unit in the Philippines.  Neither one will talk much about what they did in the war...

[Q-Ball]

My Grandfather served in the Pacific, and I am very fortunate in that he wrote a 120-page memior before he died last year. He was a Piper Cub observation pilot with the 218th Field Artillery of the 41st Infantry Division. I have tons of pictures, here is one of his wedding before getting shipped out. When I was a kid I thought all the stories of Biak and Aitape and battles were boring, but as I got older I got more interested and he decided to write the memior. I have posted a story or two in response to a history question on the forum, like the fact that Pilots were issued whiskey rations, or that he was in a Malaria zone for 2 full years and his morale was just fine, thank you.



I don't know why his experience was different than others, but he was very open about the war, went to every reunion, and seriously thought of staying active duty after the war. After the war he and a partner bought a Piper Cub---I bet not too many vets flew their plane AFTER the war. He did stay in the reserves and eventually made Colonel.

PS, like GEM 35, I would LOVE to incorporate this photo into an Banner, honoring him as a Pacific War Veteran. I just don't know how to do art!

[Canoerebel]

In some recent posts I mentioned that WWII ships, aircraft, and tanks were the "coolest" ever.  Now that I think about it, so were the uniforms, and also the girls!  Hey, Q-Ball, your grandma was good looking! 

[Gem35]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

My Grandfather served in the Pacific, and I am very fortunate in that he wrote a 120-page memior before he died last year. He was a Piper Cub observation pilot with the 218th Field Artillery of the 41st Infantry Division. I have tons of pictures, here is one of his wedding before getting shipped out. When I was a kid I thought all the stories of Biak and Aitape and battles were boring, but as I got older I got more interested and he decided to write the memior. I have posted a story or two in response to a history question on the forum, like the fact that Pilots were issued whiskey rations, or that he was in a Malaria zone for 2 full years and his morale was just fine, thank you.



I don't know why his experience was different than others, but he was very open about the war, went to every reunion, and seriously thought of staying active duty after the war. After the war he and a partner bought a Piper Cub---I bet not too many vets flew their plane AFTER the war. He did stay in the reserves and eventually made Colonel.

PS, like GEM 35, I would LOVE to incorporate this photo into an Banner, honoring him as a Pacific War Veteran. I just don't know how to do art!

Send a PM to Feurer Krieg or Dixie among others, they would be happy to help you if you are really really nice.[;)]

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

In some recent posts I mentioned that WWII ships, aircraft, and tanks were the "coolest" ever.  Now that I think about it, so were the uniforms, and also the girls!  Hey, Q-Ball, your grandma was good looking! 

Thank you for the compliment! Though back then, everyone had a uniform, so not to unique.

He was very fortunate. He graduated flight school with a group of 6 friends together. The other 5 KIA'ed. He was the only survivor.

[Gem35]

Going through some more of my Granfather's "stuff" we came across this photo.
Again, can you folks confirm the aircraft for me?

[scott64]

My grandfather( Dads side) fought in Italy during the Battle of Monte Cassino. I can't find his book that has his unit history. My other grandfather (Mothers side) fought with the 364th Infantry 91st Division in France during WW I. He fought in Saint-Mihiel (Sept 1918), Meuse-Argonne (1918), Ypres-Lys ( Nov 1918).

[sventhebold]

MY grandfather was in the Army WW1 and was on a troop train crossing the country on his way to France when the Spanish Flu sruck the train. He said every time the train stopped they unloaded bodies. He himself came down with it and was in a coma for several days and came out of it most of the rest of his unit wasn't so lucky.
 
His younger bother (my great uncle) served as a mechanic in an amoured outfit> He met Gen Patton when the Gen  came to him and wanted carpet installed in the back of his jeep. He did the job and the Gen came to inspect it. Evidently he wanted to stand in the back of the jeep. While the Gen was testing it the UNSECURED carpet shifted and he FELL face first onto the ground. Well Uncle Clarence basically had his ass chewed out thoroughly and threatened to be jailed but the Gen calmed down and chuckled "Would you glue it down please....."
 
So he did....
 
My great Uncle survived  the war in one piece not a scratch even though he lost some of his friends. The fall of 1945 he came home and went deer hunting outside Fosston Minn. and was ATTACKED and GORED badly by a large buck. He had to kill it in self defense and go to the hospital to be patched up.[:'(][:'(][:'(][:'(]
 
He always laughed about that.
 
I had another cousin who drowned in a DD tank on D-Day June 6 1944

[sventhebold]

On the other side of my family my grandfather was an Estonian. When Uncle Joe took the Baltic states in 1939 he and all the men in the family above the age of 16 were ENROLLED in the army at gunpoint. He became a mechanic (I think) and was allowed to go home on leave (hence my mother) He was still in the army when Hitler attacked in 
1941. His unit was overrun and he was taken prisoner. In a strange twist as he was being transported to the fatherland on a prison train it was bombed by American bombers and he was killed. None of the men in the family survived the war.
 
 I went to Germany 86 to 89 and my mom came over and got to see her Aunt who survived the war one last time. She cried since she hadn't seen her last in 1951.  My grandmother wont talk about what happened to her but she absolutely HATES the color yellow. Mom hints about some of their family and friends being executed in a field of yellow flowers.  
 
I went to Berlin before the wall fell twice and got to see the ruins still standing on the russian side. The bullet holes the blast marks.
 
Now the russians are running around in Georgia it just marks me shudder and sick to my stomach. I had hoped we were past this crap.[:@][:@][:@][:@] 

[John Lansford]

My father in law served in the Pacific on board an AKA, the Philip K Dickman, from 1943 to the end of the war.  He had originally tried to join the USAAF but by then they had so many aircraft mechanics they didn't want him for that job, neither did the USN, so he joined the Merchant Marine.  His eyesight was so good that he could ID planes when everyone else saw them as a dot, so he got assigned as the spotter on a 40mm AA gun director.  His ship stopped at Guadalcanal after it was a rear area, and was offshore for the Iwo Jima landing.  Some time after that he suffered an injury to his leg and was shipped back to the mainland, where he was when the war ended.  He had some interesting stories about that time off of Iwo though, and when we took him to the USS North Carolina it was like he was suddenly 24 years old again.

I also had two uncles that were in the Army; one in Italy (managed to send home an Italian Carcano rifle somehow), the other in an artillery unit that fought in the Philippines.  Unfortunately both of their records were destroyed in the St. Louis fire...