6 June 1944

[Paa Langfart]

[Kevin Greene]

Some brave mofos.

[Paa Langfart]

Those were real men.

 

I had an uncle, who I never met of course,  who was a boatswain mate and was killed taking a load of marines into Iwo Jima.  His boat may well be in this picture.

 

[PhillyB]

i would love to go to iwo jima one day. evidently it's extremely difficult to charter travel there but sitting on mt. suribachi knowing the sacrifices made there would be an incredible and humbling experience

[Mr. Scot]

12 hours ago, Paa Langfart said:

Those were real men.

I had an uncle, who I never met of course,  who was a boatswain mate and was killed taking a load of marines into Iwo Jima.  

I have an uncle who was there and survived.

I didn't know his story until about ten years ago when my nephew wrote a report about it.

[thefuzz]

8 hours ago, Mr. Scot said:

I have an uncle who was there and survived.

I didn't know his story until about ten years ago when my nephew wrote a report about it.

An ex's grandfather and his brother were both there, and made it back.

I was one of the first people that they openly talked about the experience.  Some of the things they saw and did made my jaw drop.

 

[Mr. Scot]

11 minutes ago, thefuzz said:

An ex's grandfather and his brother were both there, and made it back.

I was one of the first people that they openly talked about the experience.  Some of the things they saw and did made my jaw drop.

I learned quick that my uncle wasn't a fan of George Patton at all. Had huge admiration for Omar Bradley, though.

He told of a time when Bradley smeared mud over his general's stars and got down on the lone among the enlisted men.

[thefuzz]

5 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

I learned quick that my uncle wasn't a fan of George Patton at all. Had huge admiration for Omar Bradley, though.

He told of a time when Bradley smeared mud over his general's stars and got down on the lone among the enlisted men.

They talked about Patton, said that he just pushed the hell out of his men.  They respected him, but were nervous of his tactics.

[Mr. Scot]

10 minutes ago, thefuzz said:

They talked about Patton, said that he just pushed the hell out of his men.  They respected him, but were nervous of his tactics.

My uncle called him a glory hound. Said he didn't care how many men he got killed as long as he was famous.

[PhillyB]

The Slap didn't help matters either

[cookinwithgas]

I didn't really understand what the hubbub was all about at Omaha until I stood there, and looked up at the cliff overlooking the beach where the gun emplacements the recon crews missed were, and had no idea how anyone made it up. The cemetery is directly at the top of the cliff and is beautiful. Also went to the German cemetery nearby. There are a lot of things to see and do related to the invasion there. Coolest place as a history junkie was Pegasus Bridge, they are making a movie about it now. There's a dent where a German 500 pound bomb dropped by a FW-190 that managed to get into the air on June 6th hit the control house for the bridge dead center but failed to explode as well as lots of bullet dents in the bridge - it's a museum now right where it's replacement was built.

[Zaximus]

Tough guys.   I had a great uncle that won a silver star jumping on to a .50 on a tank and saving his platoon.  We NEVER knew till he died some years ago.  He never talked about it.   His medals (purple hearts, other stuff) are now in local VFW in my home town.   Sadly he came back from the war addicted to heroin but got off later.   Till the day he died he had this cane that had a sword in it, guy was a tough guy and would SWEAR he could take you even at 87, not sure I'd chance it honestly lol.

My greatgrandfather was on Navy ships and manned the big guns that you strap yourself into.  

Neither talked about it that often.

[SmokinwithWilly]

I had the privilege of knowing a man who was there that day. He talked about what happened one day there with me. He was the only one who made it off his boat alive. He said Saving Private Ryan was about 10% of the carnage that actually happened. He only spoke to me about it once, mainly because I was doing a report for school on it and he thought he could help. At 15, I sat there and cried with him as he told me in semi-vague detail about the things he saw and experienced. His wife later told me that I was the only person he ever spoke to about it. 

[JPPT1974]

Remembering the Greatest Ever Generation. As my late grandfather that served in WWII out of HS. He was drafted.