Today VE Day

Something that, hopefully, we can all agree on.

Channel 112 has specials all day on WWII in Europe.

Showed Allied soldiers and commanders touring Buchenwald.  Eisenhower maintained a stern demeanor.  Patton did not hide his disgust. 

Great topic, Dire.

Friend of mine whose uncle was a photographer just sent me some he took which are in the US Holocaust museum.  And some of him in the ruins of Germany.  Unlike any I've ever seen.  Especially when I can put a name on the face.

Saying "thank you for your service" to these heroes seems hardly adequate.  You spoke of your father taken POW at the Battle of the Bulge.  Did I get that right?  I was two years old when my Dad saw me for the first time.  He had been in the South Pacific.

I'm going to edit this to death.  Other pictures my friend sent me was of a friend who was a navigator  in the 8th AF.  26 missions.

Thanks again.  Great post.

Yes, my dad was in the Battle of the Bulge and was captured there.  I toured Germany with my parents.  He remembered roads he lead reconn on in Luxembourg.  We met a couple of families he spent time with before the battle. 

From the AHC specials tonight, I recognized part of West Berlin I visited, Place was repaired a bit since 1945. 

Like many of my generation I was surrounded with many uncles who served.  Only one did not because of a physical handicap.  He worked at a munitions plant 12/5,10, 8.  Except, for one, they are all gone, Miss them much.

I've been to Germany only once.  Stationed at Ramstien.   Went to the American cemetery at Luxembourg,  Have you been there?  Took the photo of the cross of the father of a high school classmate who was killed during the battle.  501st Para. Rgt.   He'd never seen it nor his widowed mother.  It was an emotional moment when our AFSF team presented it to her.

  After Luxembourg, went to the German cemetery of Sandweiler.  Where the American cemetery is open, Sandweiller is very Tuetonic, massive granite and oak trees.  Built like a fortress.  Soldiers are buried 4 to the cross and most of them unknown.  Not speaking German, I introduced myself to the groundskeeper based on the words on the German headstones.  "Ein American Soldaten".  Hell, by our accent he already knew that.  Seemed to work okay, so we tried that everywhere.  Some greeted us as if I was saying we were dead American soldiers.  That may have explained their happiness.  But whether or not it was an odd feeling for them for American troops should be moving through their hamlet such as Sembach or Kaiserslautern, though we had bases there, it was weird to us once we learned the backstory.

We were there during an anniversary of the Battle and oddly enough, the locals took us kindly especially when ordering food.   And beer.  Got some great local tours but nothing like Berlin.

I have a portrait of my uncle, a member of the Alabama National Guard, painted on canvas by a German POW.  In Alaska.  His daughter gave it to me ... because we grew up rabbit hunting.

Another uncle trained USAF out of Courtland.  He's 90 Saturday/tomorrow.  My last living connection.

It was just a way of life.  Or to them, just the way it was.

Glad your daddy made it back.  You wrote how he lived off of horsemeat.

 Your uncle: He worked at a munitions plant 12/5,10, 8.

What does that mean ... the numbers?

Back to Germany for a moment.  For those who have been there.  Comment on personal hygene.  They don't bathe and their waste water treatment ... is there one beyond biodegradable beneath the city streets?

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Germans build all their cemeteries with high thick walls. I once commented that no one was breaking in and the last known escape was about 2,000 years ago.

One of my uncles trained at Courtland, as well. He left on a B-24 to England, but did return.  My dad showed me the concrete pad where the day room was, where he met that brother before both shipped out.

Term 5/12. 10, 8 refers to the workweek at most war materiel plants.  That's Monday to Friday -- 12 hours a day, 10 hours on Saturday and 8 hours on Sunday. Most said Sunday was like a vacation after the rest of the eek.

My dad, who died 10 years ago, landed on Omaha beach and was in several major battles, including being behind enemy lines in the battle of the Bulge. He never talked about it as we were growing up but did start talking about it towards the end of his life. I wish he hadn't, I want to scrub my brain of those images. Horrific, unimaginable stories. Some one mentioned eating horse meat, my dad said they were eating the soles of their shoes and tree bark.

My oldest sister is in France now doing an historic tour of the beaches and areas my dad would have been.

I had a couple of fights in the eighth grade,,,,,,, over and out.......

Thanks Bud. My dad was 84 when he died, had a good, long life. He was ready to go towards the end. At the end of the war there was only him and one other soldier from his original platoon [I think that's what it's called.] still alive.

 I imagine the South Pacific was also brutal. Anyone in any war endured things no human should have to.

Father-in-Law was in it.

Went in right after D-Day.

France.

First time he had ever been more then 100 miles from Leighton, Alabama.

Had a pretty "cushy" job.

Running cable for communications.

Behind the lines.

Developed a taste for French wine...and other alcoholic beverages.

He did good, until he was stationed in a section of Belgium. The Ardennes Forrest, Dec. 1944.

Then, the SHTF.

So he said. Battle of the Bulge.

He had to use that little M1 Carbine. A lot.

Never spoke much about it, and I didn't ask.

I don't think it was as much because of the horror he had seen, men he knew he had killed, but because of my Mother-in-Laws "Look" that asked..."What about those French Women"?

Maybe we should start a War "Baby" Story thread.

The Christmas before my dad died, he had a couple of his buddies over.  One was a POW of the Germans.  I want to say he was in the 8th AF.  Another was with Patton in the Sicily - Italy campaign.  And my Dad, USN South Pacific.  Occasionally, Dad would say Robert did this and Francis did that, but though I had known them all my life, never once did I ever hear the 3 of them collectively speak of war.  And this day was no different.

One of the biggest regrets of my life was not taking a picture of the three of them seated on the sofa.

Because by the following Christmas, they were all gone.

I come from a small town but the VFW was big; it was in all of the towns around also. I think the vets probably talked amongst themselves. Who else would be able to understand what they went through

 Met a guy in the hospital that had just come back from Vietnam and was in a wreck. More stories I wish I could wipe from my mind. I don't know how you can stay sane after going through some of those things.

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My daughter is currently in Normandy.  

My grandfather was there too. He talked a bit about it, but the children are what really got to him. They were given bars of chocolate in the rations and he would give his to the children. He was hungry but he couldn't not share with the starving kids. For the rest of his life he handed out candy and gum to children everywhere he went.