The PG-HQ Oral History Project

[larry marak]

Reading the History Lesson for Vince and Alan thread inspired me to suggest this topic. In my opinion the big boom in wargaming that took off in the late 60's and 70's was fuel by the generation who's parents were full of reminiscenses from World War 2. The greatest generation has passed away, but it might be nice for us to post which services our parents, grandparents or aunts served in and where they were stationed. We've got members who's families served on both the allied and axis side and it would be fun to read who and where. No need to post full names in this era of identity theft, but just go by first name.

To start this off, my dad served out world war 2 in the navy as a weapons tester at the Inyokern weapons testing base in the Mojave desert. He was days from being shipped out in the Pacific (this was March 42) and he quickly volunteered for a posting in which he wouldn't drown. His younger brother, my uncle Eldon, enlisted right after Pearl Harbor and was a marine, serving from Guadalcanal through Iwo Jima. His two legged-sister (the other had one leg) Marguerite, served in the Women's Army Air Corp, a WAC

My wife's uncle Bill was career navy. During the war he served as a landing craft pilot at Salerno and Normandy. There was nothing like slowly cruising in to the shore, knowing that every gunner on the beach could only see your head and torso in the landing craft..

When I was a teenager the old man living next door to us had some coins left over from his military service. He was a veteran of the American expeditionary force during the Boxer Rebellion! Sure wish I had asked him about is experiences. He did give me a few imperial copper coins with the square cut in the center to remember him and Imperial China by.

[vince hughes]

Erm, we were not so lucky

Grandad's Brothers:

Frank (Submariner) - Died in submarine HMS Sterlet, Norway 8th April 1940 after receiving depth charges from German destroyers following an attack and sinking of German merchantman 'The Brummer'. This is referenced in Geirr Haarr's Two Volume Norwegian campaign book.

The Official History blurb shows
" Depth charged by German anti submarine trawlers UJ125, UJ126 and UJ127 in the Saggererak. HMS Sterlet was sunk On 8th April 1940 HMS Sterlet left for a patrol in the Skagerrak, Norway. Four days later she signalled that she had unsuccessfully attacked a Convoy of 3 Merchant ships and a Destroyer. The following day she was assigned a new patrol area and on the 18th torpedoed the German Gunnery Ship Brummer, causing serious damage.

At once the German escorts counter attacked with repeated depth charge attacks. Their target never resurfaced."

Wikipedia has a feature on that class of submarine here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_S_c...ine_(1931)

and Sterlet here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Sterlet_(2S)

George (Marine): Died on Light Cruiser HMS Aurora a month after Frank in Norway, 7th May 1940 when the gun turret his section were manning received a direct hit from German bombers I believe on the front of the ship (British Marines at this time were assigned on most warships and their seaborne job was usually gunnery).

http://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1940-05MAY.htm

This attack is referenced in the book "The Doomed Expedition" (can't remember which page, but somewhere between 30-60)

Peter ( RAF ): Killed 14th October 1944 in Lancaster HK599 during Operation Hurricane (Bombings over Duisburg & Braunschweig). Sadly he was just a 19 year old Flt Engineer. His plane's tale and his photograph are in a book by Marc Hall simply called Operation Hurricane: This book covers the Op itself, losses and where the planes came down etc.

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Bomber-C...0957116337

On Nan's side:

Eddie: (8th Royal Fusiliers City of London Regt): Killed 1943 Anzio campaign, though I don't have the full details of this. They were part of the 167th London Infantry Brigade and involved in quite a few engagements suffering numerous casualties in Italy.

In fact, I don;t think any of our immediate family that joined up actually came back ! Or at least none that come to mind. (I say joined up, but the two Navy lads were already serving when war broke out)

[larry marak]

Presto, we already have a connection Vince, your great-uncle and my wife's uncle involved in the same battle!

[Brett Nicholson]

I suppose I will add to this and then check Vince's links. Both my grandfather's, U.S. Army, served in WWII. My Grandfather Nicholson (father's side) served in the Aleutian Islands as a radio man but I believe that was after the Japanese had evacuated though he claimed to also have been in the Pacific theater proper, perhaps Guadalcanal or some other area that the U.S. Army served alongside the U.S. Marines. Of course he was quite mad after his wartime experiance so his "battle" accounts were questionable. He had once said that he was so bored in the Aleutian Islands that he called in a whale as being a Japanese submarine just to see if an airstrike would be called in. Also, told his C.O. that he couldn't function as a radio man because he had an actual radio in his stomach and was picking up odd frequencies and say's he was discharged on a section 8 for that -who knows the actaul truth.

My grandfather Swavely (mother's side) was a Chief Warrant Officer stationed in London during the blitz where he met my English grandmother. The only thing that saved him from the infantry was the fact that he knew how to type. He never talked much about the war other than that he never forgot the sound of incoming "buzzbombs" and that one night he debated about meeting my future grandmother somewhere in London and that that night out on a date with her, his barracks got bombed and many G.I.'s died in that attack.

On my English granny's side of the family, her brother (Basil) served in North Africa with the British Army. As far as my granny goes, she survived the bombing of Coventry (where she was born and raised) and then, after moving to London, survived those bombings. To this day she has not been back to England.

Anyway that's my limited family history.

[campsawyer]

These are interesting and good to understand and hear. I have talked with Vince about some of his family, I did not realize the extent.

As for me, my father was in the Army Air Corps, flying B-25's over Italy and Austria. Came over just be before the bombing of Cassino and was part of that as well as missions over northern Italy to hit the railyards, bridges and mountain passes. He was a pilot, but had alot of the post bombing pictures of the raids.

One uncle was killed in the Philippines near the end of the war. He was not drafted as he was 4F due to a foot issue as a kid. He pestered my grandparents and they let him go near the end as the demand for men was still great. He was killed in a friendly fire incident while helping the clean up of the large island. Never quite knew the details of this, or at least my grandparents did not say. However, his brother went into the Army Air Corps as well, he became a very good pilot that they made him an instructor for training B-29 pilots in Alabama. Never got overseas, but he did know and train Paul Tibbets. He and my uncle use to write each other right up until Tibbets death in 2007. My uncle is still going at 90+, good old Maine genes I suppose.

One last point, not on WWII legacy, but on American Civil War legacy. About 20 years ago, I was finishing college at a local university. One night while studying in the library I came across the volumes of the official government records of the ACW. I always wondered about a relative that was in the war and died in New Orleans on pneumonia. The family had discovered old letters from him in a wall of the family farm. We believe these were his last before he died. In reading them he describe the Red River campaign in Louisiana, quite well, including the mud march where he probably first contracted the pneumonia.

But this is not the only interesting part, as I had learned from my wifes side of the family, they also had a relative in the war and survived to be discharged. Well, I looked him up and found the unit and lo-and-behold, his regiment was in the same brigade with the regiment of my late relative too. Same time same places.
I found this quite the coincidence, sense my relative was in a Maine regiment while my wife's was in a Mass. regiment. I would doubt they would have met, but the regiments probably were side by side in some of the battles.

[Shad]

My maternal grandfather was involved in bombing target selection during the Korean War and tried very hard to bomb the bejesus out of my wife's paternal grandfather who was driving supply trucks for the PLA in North Korea.

Needless to say he failed, and 55 years later they got to sit side by side at our wedding in Shenyang and laugh over how trivial and stupid mankind can be.

My grandfather also managed to have 7 children, each born in a different state/country. A stirring testament to the respective challenges of military family life and Irish Catholic morals...!

[larry marak]

My wife's dad never once mentioned to his 3 daughters that he had served in the military. Her dad predeceased her mother. After her mother's death we found his military discharge papers, patches and photos. He had been militarized as a training officer for bomber mechanics and helped produce many dozens of bomber mechanic crews. He received a letter of commendation for his service from president Roosevelt for his service in training Army Airforce mechanics. Never understood why he was so secretive, but he had been trained for the ministry (which he did not pursue) and suspect that he claimed an exemption early on. I'm looking at a photo taken of him and his trainees at the Lockheed Vega plant in or near Burbank; he looked so young at age 25:-}.

[tlangston28]

I do have several relatives that served in both Theaters in WWII, but do not have unit specifics. None of them ever really talked about their time in the service except for the first two so most of my knowledge is from family talks and discussions as a kid. As far as I know, all relatives that served survived the war.

Maternal Side
My great uncle Salvatore ("Tedo") was a US Army SSGT that was part of a Mortar squad. I believe his platoon used M3s as a mobile platform. He did tell me that they would setup and fire and then jump back in the halftrack and move to the next location, otherwise, they were sitting ducks. I know that he served in Europe after D-Day all through France and Belgium (I have some pictures of this). He still had his maps and other items that he showed me once when I was 10. I wish I had paid more attention to what he told me back then. He passed away in 1986.

Great uncle Dominick (Tedo's younger brother) served in the Pacific theater but never saw combat and never rose above the rank of Private. He told me he got into so much trouble that he would spend a lot of time peeling potatoes on KP duty. I believe he served in Alaska. Supposedly, when he came home, he walked into a clothing store in his Army issue uniform and left it hanging in the store, walking out dressed in a suit. He certainly was a character! He passed away in 2006.

Paternal Side
I don't have much information on these but I am going to our family reunion and the end of the month so I am hoping to get some good information then.

Uncles Roger and Herman - Both served in the US Army Corps of Engineers in Europe.

Uncle Arthur - Served in the US Army in Europe.

[rerathbun]

My father joined right after graduating high school at age 17. That was June 1946, so he missed the war. He did serve in occupied Tokyo with a statistical unit. They had a room-sized adding/subtracting machine built by IBM.

Dad had a first cousin who survived the Bataan Death March and made it home at the end of the war. He weighed 180 when he left and 145 when he came home (they fattened him up on the way back).

Infantry Attacks is off topic, but my Father's Mother was a nurse in France in WWI. She never talked about it.

[stear]

My familial $0.02...

My paternal Grandfather trained and shipped out with the AEF, in Spring 1918. He was furious when held back from the front, as a rifle instructor. The descendents are correspondingly pleased he survived the conflagration far from battle.

He passed away in 1981... left behind his diaries and family letters of the Great War... he had a neat code, of letting the folks on the home front know where he was once over in Europe... the first letter of the first few words would spell out the town or province he was in at the time.

I have his helmet (you may have seen it on BGG), my brother holds his service medal. His uniform, pack, gas mask and other equipment are in the library museum of Saltsburg, PA. Close-up of his helmet inscription:

Cpl J R Stear, Co. C, 330 Inf, AEF France, July 1918



My Dad joined the AAF in 1945, trained as a pilot, unfortunately was washed out of the flight program within the year, and went on to complete his service as a crew chief. No action in WWII or Korea (he got out in 1947 and wasn't recalled). After school at Spartan and completing his pilot's license, he joined United Airlines in 1956, and retired as a DC10 captain in 1987 (he loved that ship, despite the 1970-80's mishaps... never moved up to the 747). Died in an accident in 1991.

His older brother was drafted in 1944, and arrived in France after D-Day. As a private, took part in the battles depicted in the APL game Alsace 1945. Was shot in the leg, carrying ammo up to the platoon's machine guns. Purple Heart, back to the States, rest and recovery, war ended, college on the GI Bill, and petroleum engineering after that. Not called up for Korea. Still alive today (88), and writing his memoirs of his youthful war experiences. Update: I have linked some of the story here:

My Uncle's story

My mother's brother was called up in 1944, Navy, and spent the remainder of the war in the "training ship welded to the pier" in Long Beach. Out in '46, and went to work for Douglas (later, McDonnell-Douglas... makers of the DC10, that my Dad loved).

None of my generation elected to serve. I alone tried NROTC in the 1980's, but that's a story for another day.

My father's family has much history in military service going back to the Revolutionary War. My mother's family has a similar history, however after the Civil War, they tended to avoid Federal service (until my Uncle was called up)... they came off on the losing side, and had rather particular feelings about that. From their perspective, my Mom married a Yankee (although he was from Pennsylvania), while from my Granddad's view, his son married into a den of poverty-stricken traitors! Ah, such were the times.

-Jim