World War Two History

[TStationDawg]

I love this thread. My grandfather served in the 503rd in the Pacific. Was part of the jump on Corregidor. Later transitioned to the 11th where he was part of the first wave of the occupation of Japan. He had many brutal and humorous stories. I will share two:
1. First kill: comes out of a fox hole and comes face to face with soldier that looked "younger than I did- I froze and so did he. My friend reaches over and pulls my trigger for me and kills him. He says, the first one is on me, next one's on you". This always made him tear up.
2. Caught in tree: Night jump; Supposed to land into clearing surrounded by jungles occupied by enemy- of course, he misses LZ and lands in jungle and gets hung in tree. Jet black- no moon/star light. Has to hang for hours (no idea how long), couldn't cut down bc he had no idea who was below him. Couldn't piss- nothing. First beams of sunlight come out enough for him to see in front of his face, he said "I'm maybe 2 feet from the ground; all this time I was worried about falling on someone and I should have been worried about someone walking in to me!" This one always made him laugh.

[parabrave]

I love this thread. My grandfather served in the 503rd in the Pacific. Was part of the jump on Corregidor. Later transitioned to the 11th where he was part of the first wave of the occupation of Japan. He had many brutal and humorous stories. I will share two:
1. First kill: comes out of a fox hole and comes face to face with soldier that looked "younger than I did- I froze and so did he. My friend reaches over and pulls my trigger for me and kills him. He says, the first one is on me, next one's on you". This always made him tear up.
2. Caught in tree: Night jump; Supposed to land into clearing surrounded by jungles occupied by enemy- of course, he misses LZ and lands in jungle and gets hung in tree. Jet black- no moon/star light. Has to hang for hours (no idea how long), couldn't cut down bc he had no idea who was below him. Couldn't piss- nothing. First beams of sunlight come out enough for him to see in front of his face, he said "I'm maybe 2 feet from the ground; all this time I was worried about falling on someone and I should have been worried about someone walking in to me!" This one always made him laugh.

Wow the 503rd, You never hear much about that unit. When you read about their jump onto the Rock, you will wonder why the entire unit wasn't wiped out.

[TStationDawg]

Wow the 503rd, You never hear much about that unit. When you read about their jump onto the Rock, you will wonder why the entire unit wasn't wiped out.

I think something like 40% didn't even survive the jump. But the ones
That did kicked butt in record numbers. They are what lead To HALO jumps. Real roughnecks. It's perfect for my grandad. Heck of a price a lot of 18-21 yr olds paid for us. My grandad didn't even know what a "paratrooper" was when he signed up. He found out real quick.