After emailing and calling cousins, nieces and nephews, I also made a call to our good friend "Joe", and at the risk of sending some board members into another frenzy, I'll share an interesting remembrance of the WWII days from him...
On this call, Joe remembered a training flight with my Dad in Oklahoma…on this particular flight the group’s lead pilot was very “insistent” that all other 11 pilots “tighten up” the formation and he kept pushing and pushing them to get ever closer together (recall that Joe was the Radio Operator and could hear all the inter-ship chatter)…well, before too long the whole crew of my Dad’s ship were shocked to hear and feel a very rapid “Bang!…Bang!…Bang!…Bang!…throughout the plane…turns out that my Dad had “tightened up” so much that one of the outboard engine’s (#1 or #4) propellers were starting to chop off the tail guns of a sister-ship! 😲…of course they backed off, but surprisingly nothing was ever documented about the incident according to Joe…equally surprising, Dad never mentioned it 😉...fun times...now, for those who just have to nitpick, this is a physical possibility and it wouldn't be the first time aircraft in close formation came together...in fact an awful lot of B-17s crashed together in WWII over England just trying to 'form up'.
Here's hoping that all our Veterans have less 'striking' remembrances of their service.
My Uncle Hank was some kind of gunner on a World War II plane. He never spoke of it to me but I know he flew 83 missions flying the first time at age 19 and his plane got shot up badly the first time up. He wondered how he would ever get through and ironically when he was asked if he would go up one more time for the 84th mission. He declined and the guy who replaced him never came back. My Uncle Steve was the National Treasurer for the World War II veterans and served in the Pacific and the story I heard was he carried two of his fellow combatants on his shoulders to save them. My cousin John was a Viet Nam Veteran who never spoke of the war and won the Silver Star. I repeat none of these guys spoke of their heroics and never spoke of war. I had two other uncles who served in World War II and two other cousins that served in Viet Nam. Agent Orange hit the Silver Star veteran pretty hard but he was always in shape and strong mentally and fighting it well to the best of my knowledge. He drove 5 hours to my mothers funeral then after the funeral drove 5 hours back because he had a checkup the next day. All of these veterans were very devout Catholics.
As for my Dad, he passed away in 2008 and I thank him in my prayers for many, many things, as you can imagine. It's interesting that you note the deep faith of your family Veterans...my Dad kept a diary during his WWII service and my wife worked with him to 'flesh it out a bit' and turn it into a family book...in that diary there are numerous mentions of him going to Mass and speaking with the Catholic chaplain...not too surprising for the son of an Irish immigrant...btw, he maintained that deep faith all the way to the end of his life...perhaps one of the reasons I ended up at ND.
My Dad also had an 'Impish' Irish sense of humor...when asked how 'Scared' he was flying missions over Germany with attacking fighters and constant flak barrages with other B-17s going down in flames...he replied..."Only the woman who did my laundry knows!" ;-)...I'm sure he wasn't alone in that...another reason to honor those who offer their lives as "Blank Checks" for our freedom.
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Last year I toured the base at Pearl and stood on the Missouri right beside the Arizona memorial... where the war ended and began.
It was profoundly emotional.
War is collective psychosis... but those who defend us in the midst of madness deserve our highest respect.
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My grandfather was in WW1 and was actually gassed by Germans on 11/10/18... The day before war ended. I have a copy of the division history and it mentions the attack on a portion of the line. Happily he survived although it bothered him for the rest of his life.
I am not as old as that would imply, generations fairly spread out in my family. My father was in the navy for WW2.
During my first solo night flight out of NAS Whiting Field North, Milton, FL an RVAF student flying a T-28B got too close in and chopped the vertical stabilizer off the T-28 being flown by his fellow RVAF student while on final approach to NAS Whiting Field South. Big ball of fire and miraculously the stud in front survived. We did not fraternize or take training with the Vietnamese or Thais.
After my first tour in the RVN I went back to PNS to instruct carrier qualification ground school and as the RVN nor Thailand didn't have any carriers, home they went after instrument training and before gunnery training.
Shout out to your dad and uncle. It is often said that flying is endless hours of sheer boredom interrupted by stark moments of terror.
Go Irish,
Semper Fi
at NAS Pensacola...great time for him, and excellent chance for me to mix a little with his classmates/instructors, as well as visit the outstanding air museum.
BTW, I suspect there are a few more interesting stories you could share...thanks very much for your service as well.
Trying to figure out where to download the film.
Sunken Roads: Three Generations After D-Day Theatrical Trailer from Lydia Robertson on Vimeo.
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I have all my grandfather's medals from WWII as the most cherished things I own.
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My grandparents had five sons simultaneously serving in WWII - two fighter pilots, a B-17 navigator, an Army infantryman who served in the Battle of the Bulge, and another who served stateside. Can you imagine? A sixth, my father, served in the Korean War.
All made it home.
Always proud of the Tufnel clan, especially on Veteran's Day.
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My brother-in-law. Now deceased. Vietnam.. Army medic. Purple Heart. Tet offensive.