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T.C., how interesting I envy your time with him. T-Dog |
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Further to the last, T.C. can you elaborate on some of his stories? T-Dog |
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I echo Tom here. What a wonderful thing to happen to you, TinCan. I have a friend who's husband was in the Navy during 3 wars and believe me, I grab him every chance I get and beg him to tell me stories. |
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|  0 recommendations | Message 5 of 12 in Discussion |
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| This message has been deleted due to termination of membership. |
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I'd grill the lad mercilessly. I once attended an evening lecture given by one of the surviving Dambusters, humbling, yet spirit raising experience it was. There was a documentary on the tragedy not long ago and my little heart went out to all those poor lads who went into the water. |
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I remember the days when my grandfather was alive..He serves as Sherman tank commander in Euirope during WW2.. His stories were amazing.. Probably one of the best sotries he used to tell me was one of lightheartedness. Him and his crew got drunk one night in Italy and tried to shoot down the leaning tower of pisa.. they failed of course.. One of his saddest stories was a new crew member who got his head blown off when he stuck his head out of the port. It happeend on Christmas eve, He woud cry his eyes out everytime he told it as he became good frimneds with this kid who was only 18. Every Christmas he would sing this song called "The little boy the Santa forgot" in tribute to him. |
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| | From:  -TinCan | Sent: 5/19/2008 1:21 AM |
I can tell you that the Gunney said that there were men in the water that killed their shipmates in order to take their lifejackets or attempt to get into a raft they were on. He said that the days were brutal, men would go mad from the sun or drinking saltwater, but that the nights were worse cause that's when they had the most trouble with the sharks, late afternoon and at night. He said you would swim over to your buddy you had been talking too the day before and he would be bitten in half by the sharks. When that happened, and he said it happened a lot, they would take what was left of the poor fellow out of his lifejacket and push the remains away from the group cause the sharks would home in on it pretty quick. He told us about one guy that they were pretty sure had already killed two people who was ordered to bring his liferaft alongside a boat to transfer some badly wounded men into. This guy refused and an officer or a cheif petty officer pulled a .45 and shot him dead. Gunney McCoy is 83 (but don't look it or act it) and it would have been so cool if a load of us could have set around and listened to him talk. He's done the recordings and he lectures at area high schools on his experiences. Said his message to the youngsters is, "freedom ain't free", he is also of the opinion that todays youngsters may not have what it takes to win a war like WWII. Was the only thing I disagreed with him on. |
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When I was teenager, my uncles (I had 5 of them from both sides of the family that fought - most of them USMC or USN) would sometimes tell WWII stories. Also, one of my former girlfriend's father had jumped into Normandy with the 82nd Airborne on D-Day. I was too young and stupid at the time to appreciate the significance of what these men would tell me. Unfortunately they're all dead now, but I still have some memories of their stories.
Equally interesting though, my father's cousin was a career USAF nurse, spent most of her time at Lackland AFB in Texas, also a WWII veteran in the Army Air Corps. She was a delightful woman, bubbly vibrant personality who despite her career in the Air Force, would not - could not - fly sober. When she would come for visits, we'd pick her up at the airport, she'd come off the plane loudly laughing drunk. She was a hoot, but a great woman full of amazing stories. |
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Your aunts condition was probably caused by knowing military pilots who in the air are totally professional and on the ground a bunch of kids. I listen to my dad and read my great uncles diary as well as my grandfathers very enlightening. Great uncle made all the drops in the airborne. and Gramps visited quite a few of those little islands in tha pacific. |
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Hobbs, my uncle was a naval aviator during WWII & he told me stories of "dining in." The pilots would seclude themselves for the weekend with huge parties consisting of jousting with each other while riding tricycles. Then they would fly off & kill as many japs as they can. T-Dog |
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If they did that at ww2 speeds and arresting gear imagine what the guys in jets that get the added bonus of cat shots do. Brain damage. |
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