VE Day 70 years afer

[Scott Biggar]

Re: VE Day 70 years afer

Last summer, I was sitting at a table making small talk with my girlfriend's uncle. I saw his baseball hat said WWII veteran and being a history buff I asked where he was involved. Almost nonchalantly, he said "first wave, Iwo Jima, I was a squad leader for some mortars." We chatted for about 15 minutes as I listened way more than spoke. Afterwards, my girlfriend said "Uncle John has NEVER talked about the war before to anyone. I never knew."

It was pretty amazing.

[The Rube]

Re: VE Day 70 years afer

The only time that someone I knew was a vet of a war (a friend's dad; Army Ranger in 'Nam) EVER talked about the war...it was sleep talking. And it freaked the SH* out of my friends and I. It was just snippets here and there, not full statements, but that was enough.

Edit: Just remembered one other case. A friend came back for a mutual friend's wedding, direct from Afghanistan. Lost of a couple of his squad the week before. He knew me and the groom, and that's about it, so that is who he stayed by the whole time. Too nervous around people he didn't know. Told a couple of stories.

[Rover]

Re: VE Day 70 years afer

70 years ago today, my dad was recuperating from shrapnel wounds suffered in Operation Varsity after glidering in to Germany across the Rhine. He was also getting ready to ship out to the West Coast to get on a ship to prepare for the invasion of Mainland Japan.

Here's to all of the WW2 vets, and for the few remaining who are still alive. Dad is 93, and doing well.

Edit - can you edit a thread header?? AFTER

Glad for you. This is the first VE day for my family without my grandfather who died in February at 96 years old. Very understated about his service like a lot of people of that generation. He answered the call and did what he needed to do and that was all.

[alfablue]

Re: VE Day 70 years afer

Grandpa never talked much about the war, and we never pressed the issue.

Same for me. My grandfather fought on the front lines but he never spoke about it. Never.

My great uncle was the same way- he was a paratrooper in the Pacific. From what my dad tells me, he suffered from getting malaria all his life, but never talked about it.

What a great guy he was.

I knew a guy who was a navigator on a B24 in SE Asia, too- another great guy.

Seems like many of the veterans who managed to not get PTSD too bad tried to be very nice and happy all the time. Their way of dealing with it.

[gmann]

Grandpa never talked much about the war, and we never pressed the issue.

Same for me. My grandfather fought on the front lines but he never spoke about it. Never.

I lived next to a guy that was in the Normandy Invasion. If he heard a loud noise or especially in the fall when hunting started and he heard gunshots in the distance he wouldn't come out of his house for several days. One time I tried talking to him about WW II. It was 2002. With tears in his eyes he looked at me and stated he wasn't ready to talk about it.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: VE Day 70 years afer

Grandpa never talked much about the war, and we never pressed the issue.

[walrus]

My dad's brother,who was at Cornell, enlisted, was on a b17, went down in English channel, KIA. My dad, also at Cornell, enlisted after that. Never made it overseas, thankfully.

[joecct]

Re: VE Day 70 years afer

27 million Russians paid the price. With that total, their paranoia is a bit understandable.

Dad was on Okinawa when the war ended. Two of my uncle were enroute to Hawaii from the ETO to get set up for the invasion of Japan.

I'm a big fan of the Atomic bombs.

[alfablue]

Re: VE Day 70 years afer

9 posts, two actually about the end of WWII, and the rest about how today's society sucks (apparently not knowing history)

ok.

WWII fascinates me, and not just from out standpoint. As a society, we really like to remember how much we all sacrificed as a country- and I know it was hard (407,000 died).

But it was much harder for Britain (only 383,000 died, but many civilians due to direct attacks), and an order of magnitude more difficult for the soviets (8,700,000-13,000,000 military and another 7,000,000 - 12,000,000 civilian losses).

I'm no commie, but put that in a different way- at the beginning of the war in '39, the US population was 131M and the Soviets were 169M, whereas at the end, we were 130M whereas the soviets could be as low as 144M- much closer to our size.

With Germany losing upwards of 9M- the soviets lost more than 2 for every German loss.

Hard to fathom that kind of loss.

And somewhere between 4.9-5.9M Jewish were killed.

If Wiki is close to correct- that was 3-4% of the entire world that died in almost 6 years of conflict.

Can't let that happen again.

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: VE Day 70 years afer

I wonder how many people this "In the Now" rag had to troll before they got the five ignorant youngsters and foreigners with bad English they were looking for.

Sometimes, you wonder. It's no different from "Jaywalking", if you remember that segment from The Tonight Show.

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: VE Day 70 years afer

Hitler was not coming to the US. Life would have sucked (understatement), but the Constitution would have survived.

We don't know that for sure, especially when the US started to get involved. It would have taken a long time had we been invaded, though, given the Japanese's quotes.

[LynahFan]

Re: VE Day 70 years afer

If we had lost, and Hitler took over, kiss freedoms goodbye.

Hitler was not coming to the US. Life would have sucked (understatement), but the Constitution would have survived.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: VE Day 70 years afer

It's very unfortunate that some are starting to forget.

Sacrifices were made for the Constitution. It is up to all of us to preserve those freedoms, and ensure that those involved did not die in vain. Although some days it seems bleaker and bleaker to the point where we have even thought of giving up and considering said sacrifices to be in vain, we must learn from the courage of our forefathers who participated in this war. Never give up! Never surrender!

I wonder how many people this "In the Now" rag had to troll before they got the five ignorant youngsters and foreigners with bad English they were looking for.

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: VE Day 70 years afer

How exactly was WWII about the Constitution, again? I'm genuinely confused by that statement.

If we had lost, and Hitler took over, kiss freedoms goodbye.

[Kepler]

Re: VE Day 70 years afer

Brits celebrate in Trafalgar Fountain, 8 May 1945.

Times Square.

Moscow.

Paris. Of course.

Berlin.

Okinawa.

Der Spiegel footage and photos of Europe.