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Member
Does anyone have pictures they'd like to share?
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I have a photo somewhere of my g'dad with a friend soaking up some Sake in Japan somewhere. Its either here or at my parents house. I'll see if I can't round it up and post it on here.
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Actually HALO got its start during the Vietnam war by trying to get SOG teams into Laos and Cambodia. A good account of the Corregidor or any other WW2 Airborne Operations is "Paratrooper" by James Devlin.
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![Quote](images/misc/quote_icon.png)
Originally Posted by
parabrave
Actually HALO got its start during the Vietnam war by trying to get SOG teams into Laos and Cambodia. A good account of the Corregidor or any other WW2 Airborne Operations is "Paratrooper" by James Devlin.
you are correct- that was my stupid iphone autocorrect. I meant to type LALO. Tough way to make a living.
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Watching some pacific theatre right now. The amphibious beach assaults of Guadalcanal and Tarawa were indeed before Normandy. The Tarawa landing was a disaster because they made a huge mistake arriving at low tide forcing the Marines to get out of their landing crafts early. Wading thru the water with sharp corals all around, the awaiting and dug in japs mowed several hundred marines down before they ever got to the beach.
The saipan landing went much better which I think was just a few days after Normandy.
After that there was a disagreement between McArthur and king as to what to do next. King wanted to go take Formosa (Taiwan). It would have provided a base where bombers could reach Japan. But McArthur wanted to do more island hopping including the Philippines.
I think king's plan could have worked because even though the islandstill would have remained undefeated, kings plan would had them isolated. If king's plan had been implemented and had been successful, over 200K lives would have been saved. Maybe McArthurs promise to the Philippines should have been delayed?
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Late to the thread and don't have any really interesting stories, but my grandfather served during WWII and was a POW in Japan for almost two years (I think.) He did the Bataan Death March and at one point caught malaria and was also bayoneted in the thigh while on the march.
Don't quote me on this, but i think he received a bronze star, and for some reason he turned down two purple hearts.
I know my grandmother still has the draft letter, as well as the letter to his family saying he had been captured and was a POW.
Next time i'm home i'll try and find them if that's something y'all would be interested in.
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![Quote](images/misc/quote_icon.png)
Originally Posted by
louisvilledawg
Late to the thread and don't have any really interesting stories, but my grandfather served during WWII and was a POW in Japan for almost two years (I think.) He did the Bataan Death March and at one point caught malaria and was also bayoneted in the thigh while on the march.
Don't quote me on this, but i think he received a bronze star, and for some reason he turned down two purple hearts.
I know my grandmother still has the draft letter, as well as the letter to his family saying he had been captured and was a POW.
Next time i'm home i'll try and find them if that's something y'all would be interested in.
OMG Louisville . I've seen multi documentaries on Bataan. Dude, anyone who survived that march PLUS endured the 2 years at the camp is one tough SOB.
Did he ever talk about the rescue raid? If you can, please send more!
GREAT POST!!
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Please tell us more if you can, do you know which POW camp it is? One the links posted earlier talks about the camp liberations in the direct aftermath of the war.
Also guys today is the anniversary of using the code AF to trick the Japanese.
http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=6
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The AF trick was amazing. Midway, that was a big WTF moment for the japs. Turned the tide of the Pacific.
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Not my grandfather but this is a picture he had up in his house when I was growing up.
https://s12.postimg.org/6p7yqqi71/IMG_2635.png
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![Quote](images/misc/quote_icon.png)
Originally Posted by
Srt201
Thats a british Bren.
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Member
![Quote](images/misc/quote_icon.png)
Originally Posted by
parabrave
Thats a british Bren.
Close, it's a type 99 jap light machine gun. Basically it's a copy of the Bren with French influences. But man it would be fun to shoot.
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These pics and comments about these guns are awesome. Thanks guys.
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Awesome thread guys! I don't venture over to Scatology often and just now saw this thread.
My dad was in the navy from toward the end of WWII to the end of Korea. The closet he said they ever came to action was in WWII when a lone Japanese bomber got to within a couple of miles of them but then turned and went the other way. He was on a liberty ship hauling naval ammunition. If you've ever seen the Henry Fonda movie Mr. Roberts, that was his ship except Mr. Roberts was hauling toilet paper. Daddy told me that it had to have been one of his shipmates that wrote that story. Boring duty, a tyrannical captain....... He said "We even had a damn palm tree!" He ran the laundry on the ship and said that he had it made. He'd sleep on a table in the laundry with a fan blowing fresh air from the deck on him to keep the mosquitoes off of him. He would let the officers come take hot baths in the tubs in exchange for liberty papers when the captain wouldn't give the crew liberty and he'd let the cooks come take hot baths in exchange for special food privileges. He told me "I never ate with the captain but I ate what the captain ate." One time during Korea while re-arming the Missouri, they rammed it and ripped the railing off from bow to stern on one side. A call from the Missouri, which had an admiral on board, came in requesting to send the captain over. They strapped him in the chair and sent him over and never saw him again. I asked daddy if he thought the guy steering the ship rammed it on purpose. He said "It wouldn't surprise me a bit."
Last edited by Mjoelner34; 05-17-2017 at 10:01 PM.
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Here is a very cool story a late friend of mine from Natchez told me. I've shared this on the main board before on Memorial Day or D Day I believe.
He ran one of the carriage tours in Natchez. One time someone contacted him and said that a retired general from Ohio (I think) and his wife were in town and the guy asked a question they thought my friend could answer. He went and met the general and the general asked him about the military history of Mississippians. My friend wasn't sure what the general was getting at with such a broad question so the general explained it to him. He told him that during WWII, he was the aide to the general in charge of the landing craft on D Day. As they were having their last briefing with the landing craft drivers when they were crossing the channel, the general asked if any of the drivers were from Mississippi. Several of the guys raised their hands. The general then informed them that their boats would be leading the first wave. As all the other drivers were hooting and hollering, the general said "If you're wondering why I picked you, it's because you sons of bitches from Mississippi are too stupid and hardheaded to turn and run when you're getting shot at and all we need for this invasion to fail is for the first wave to turn and run." The retired general said he always wanted to know why the general had said that. I don't know what my friend told him but I'm betting some of it has to do with general Barksdale and 4 brigades of Mississippians at Gettysburg. If you've never read about his charge, please go read about it.
A couple of years after my friend told me that story, I relayed it to another friend of mine from Jackson. His eyes welled up and in a cracking voice he told me "My grandpa was a landing craft driver in the first wave there." Well it got real dusty in that room to me all of a sudden too. He went on to tell me that it was so bad that his grandpa said he had to carry a Thompson across his shoulder and threaten the men with it to get them off his boat when he'd drop the ramp. I can't imagine and don't want to imagine all of the shit they had to go through that day. God bless them!!!
Last edited by Mjoelner34; 05-17-2017 at 10:05 PM.
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Awesome Mjo, thank you sir for that.
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I am a healthcare practitioner NE Miss. I had a client, he died a few years back, who was a coxswain, IE the commander, of a landing craft at Omaha Beach on D-Day. He was the nicest old GENTLEMAN you could have ever wanted to meet. He never spoke to me about it. I never would have never known about all except by accident. As he never mentioned it to me I asked his wife about it one time. I told her I was deeply interested, but I would understand if he didn't want to talk about it. She said he didn't like to talk about it but she would relay my interest to him. She said let him bring it up, if he wants to. He never did, and I respected that as much as I wanted to hear his story. His wife DID tell me WHY he never wanted to talk about it. He piloted a landing craft in the first wave at Omaha, and beyond.. He told her that he dropped the ramp on the first run into the beach, and every single one of the boys on his boat were cut down as soon as they left his boat. She said she asked him once, after one of his nightmares, what he did. He said he turned around and went back for another load. He was just a kid too. Hat's off to Mr ****, and those boys he dropped the ramp for. God bless them all.
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Member
![Quote](images/misc/quote_icon.png)
Originally Posted by
Liverpooldawg
I am a healthcare practitioner NE Miss. I had a client, he died a few years back, who was a coxswain, IE the commander, of a landing craft at Omaha Beach on D-Day. He was the nicest old GENTLEMAN you could have ever wanted to meet. He never spoke to me about it. I never would have never known about all except by accident. As he never mentioned it to me I asked his wife about it one time. I told her I was deeply interested, but I would understand if he didn't want to talk about it. She said he didn't like to talk about it but she would relay my interest to him. She said let him bring it up, if he wants to. He never did, and I respected that as much as I wanted to hear his story. His wife DID tell me WHY he never wanted to talk about it. He piloted a landing craft in the first wave at Omaha, and beyond.. He told her that he dropped the ramp on the first run into the beach, and every single one of the boys on his boat were cut down as soon as they left his boat. She said she asked him once, after one of his nightmares, what he did. He said he turned around and went back for another load. He was just a kid too. Hat's off to Mr ****, and those boys he dropped the ramp for. God bless them all.
That's just a crazy story I couldn't imagine going through something like that. Have you ever heard of the Bedford boys?
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![Quote](images/misc/quote_icon.png)
Originally Posted by
Srt201
That's just a crazy story I couldn't imagine going through something like that. Have you ever heard of the Bedford boys?
I have the book on them.
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![Quote](images/misc/quote_icon.png)
Originally Posted by
Liverpooldawg
I have the book on them.
You're the first I've known to have that book. But it's devastating what can happen to these small towns.
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