December 7th 1941 Pearl Harbor

[mechohaulic]

Lest we not forget those who made the ultimate sacrifice on that morning. living survivors list is extremely small now.  To Those gone 🏅and the many who to this day serve and  sacrifice for our freedom ; THANK YOU 🎖️🙏😤

[GA_Dave]

   I have familial ties to WWII.  My Dad and three of my uncles all answered the call.  Dad was younger than the others and didn't see action until 1944, while he strolled through Italy carrying a B.A.R.  His older brother served on the USS New Jersey as a member of a 16" gun crew.  Mom's older brother was a belly gunner on a B-24 Liberator, lost during a bombing run in 1944.  Mom's sister married a survivor of the Normandy beaches. 

   Like hundreds of thousands of others, they were just ordinary guys who did their best when their Country asked.  We owe them all gratitude and respect for the freedoms we all enjoy today.

[Joey Mack]

My father, grand father's and most uncles and all great uncles were war vets..  I'm the first in our line to NOT see combat..  Never Forget..

[mechohaulic]

10 hours ago, GA_Dave said:

   I have familial ties to WWII.  My Dad and three of my uncles all answered the call.  Dad was younger than the others and didn't see action until 1944, while he strolled through Italy carrying a B.A.R.  His older brother served on the USS New Jersey as a member of a 16" gun crew.  Mom's older brother was a belly gunner on a B-24 Liberator, lost during a bombing run in 1944.  Mom's sister married a survivor of the Normandy beaches. 

   Like hundreds of thousands of others, they were just ordinary guys who did their best when their Country asked.  We owe them all gratitude and respect for the freedoms we all enjoy today.

carried a B.A.R. = Browning Automatic Rifle. belly gunner one of the worst and vulnerable positions . THANK YOU  

[RowdyRebel]

Grandpa was in the Army during WW2, serving in Europe & N. Africa. The only stories he ever told were from his time with an anti-aircraft outfit, when he'd disgustingly say they'd hear the enemy planes, know where they were heading, but by the time word of the planes went up the chain of command and the permission to fire came back down, the planes were out of range. He didn't care much for bureacracy.

When he passed away, Grandma finally got his DD214 through the VFW. Come to find out, he was with anti-aircraft for about a minute before volunteering for a bridge carpentry unit because he knew how to swim...which makes some of the other stories we heard about what was in the letters he had sent to grandma...anti-aircraft likely wouldn't have been as mobile as the letters seemed to imply. She was always upset about how he'd use both sides of the page to write to her, and the gov't sensors would cut out any info they deemed "sensitive", meaning it wasn't just the sensitive content being removed, but also whatever was written on the opposite side.

Anyway, come to find out he had earned 4 bronze stars, but due to the fire at the NPRC in 1973, we'll probably never know what he did to earn them. We respected his wishes, though, and he was not buried with "full military honors"...no flag draping his coffin, no 21 gun salute, no taps...he said those honors belong to the men who didn't make it home, and he didn't want to diminish the meaning of those same honors by accepting them when he didn't pay that same price.

[mowerman]

I don’t know how I missed this, but I did great comments fellas…, thanks to all involved … as mentioned there are very few left to accept any honors or praise thanks for the post. Yes, my dad and my uncles were all  over there All six of them and they’re all gone now…. Bob

[mechohaulic]

you didn't  miss it Bob; can't work 16/18 hr days and be reading every post. your doing a great job of checking in on the older post to keep other member minds refreshed .🤣