The Greatest Generation

[Jrbykerk]

My father passes away forty two years ago on New Years day, he was part of what Tom Brokaw called "The Greatest Generation. With him went all his experiences from WWII which he never spoke of. After sorting through an envelope my mother gave me his story came to light. He was part of the first land ing force on Luzon where 350,000 souls perished, as a consequence was promoted to sergeant at the age of 19. He repatriated many of the survivors form the death march of Baton. He pulled some strings and got a fellow soldier shipped home from the Philippines to say good-bye to his dying son (found that out from that soldier at Dad's funeral).
Anyway I suspect that many on this forum are children of this Greatest Generation. I would invite you to share their story on this forum, they were truly the Greatest Generation.

God Bless and a blessed New Year

[cruzbill]

My Dad too has passed, and like you, he never spoke of the horrors of war. Question; I agree on the Greatest Generation, my question is why is our generation, with all that our parents did for us, doing such a bad job of things?

Happy New Year!

[Xtrucker]

Technology has a lot to do with it. None of our kids want to do more than sit in front of a TV or Xbox or such. We had boys and girls clubs we could go to for our comradeship and friendship. It's all gone now my friend, all gone and never to return.

Sent from my SM-G900V using iRV2 - RV Forum mobile app

[hawkeye1995]

As a 22 year veteran, I can only comment that they were considered the "Greatest Generation" do to one fact. Their love of country and their profound belief in preservation of freedom. Like WW1, which was a global conflict, WWII was more profound due to the fact that we tried our very best to remain neutral in this world conflict. But, after December 7, 1941, things changed! It became personal, and this generation chose to rise up to the occasion and take on the challenge. At no time, was there a greater since of sacrifice and patriotism without a division in the country. Since then, good men and women have sacrificed their life for regional conflicts that were or are not popular with all Americas. Thus, this is why we consider are fathers, the "Greatest Generation." They chose to drop everything for the family and our way of life. The Flag not only stood for freedom, but our future. In closing, thanks to all veterans past, present and future.

[Jrbykerk]

All our veterans are America's finest

[Hivoltmaint.]

Great Thread, My dad passed 5 years ago at 91 . Never spoke of the war except to say " War is such a waste" I think meaning the human toll.
God bless our Armed Forces.
My brother was an A6 Intruder Pilot during most of the cold war, never saw any real action, but always ready.

[hawkeye1995]

Originally Posted by Jrbykerk

All our veterans are America's finest

Yes they are!!!

[dix39]

And WWII, unlike all the conflicts since, was a "do or die" effort. If the US and it's allies failed the whole world would be changed, and I suspect that we would not be living the lives we are now. They preserved the world we now have, and I would agree that we're not doing the best we can to manage it.

My father participated as a Seabee in the Pacific, and two of my closest uncles were, one at Adak, AK with the AF, and the other landed with the 82nd glider infantry in France during the Normandy invasion. All were involved for the duration of the war. None of them ever talked much about it. My brother spent several years in Vietnam with the army during that conflict. He doesn't talk much about that either. I was spared any conflict experience as my stay in the navy was from '58-'62. Not much was actually happening then, but it was about to.

In addition to knowing that our way of life was actually being threatened, I think living through the great depression also added to their sense of what hardship really was. IMHO, there has been nothing close since.

We have a lot to be thankful to "The Greatest Generation" for.

Steve

[MSHappyCampers]

Hi ! Welcome to IRV2! We're sure glad you joined the gang!

I have tremendous appreciation for all of our vets, but especially the WWII heroes!

Good luck, happy trails, and God bless!

Happy New Year!

[kustom]

my dad signed up for the navy dec 8 1941 he was put on one of 3
navy repair ships these ships had only one machine gun and every
man had a hand gun plus every man had two jobs my dads was
underwater welder and cook he said he saw enemy torpidos miss
him and the ships by a few feet as many times they were keeping the war ships afolt during battle the other two ships were lost in battle his was the only one to survive the war and return
he said they could fix build or make anything on that ship full machine
shop and every tool you could think off
his main job was welding patches under water from torpido hits
hard hat diver

[tmw188]

Originally Posted by kustom

my dad signed up for the navy dec 8 1941 he was put on one of 3
navy repair ships these ships had only one machine gun and every
man had a hand gun plus every man had two jobs my dads was
underwater welder and cook he said he saw enemy torpidos miss
him and the ships by a few feet as many times they were keeping the war ships afolt during battle the other two ships were lost in battle his was the only one to survive the war and return
he said they could fix build or make anything on that ship full machine
shop and every tool you could think off
his main job was welding patches under water from torpido hits
hard hat diver

Do you know the name of the ship?

[Hit_the_Rhod]

My Dad joined the Navy in 1943, when he was old enough (needed mothers permission due to age). He flew PBY's and PBM's during the war, and then later EC-121's during the cold war. Almost 28 years and 22,000+ flight hours in. He died in December, 2001. I served in the Army for 21 years and 16 days. Multiple tours in Iraq and . . other places . . , but don't feel like I went through anything like what WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam veterans did.

[HWCJr]

It was truly “The Greatest Generation” and my dad also was part of it and they’re leaving us at an alarming pace. My dad passed five years ago. He joined the army shortly after 12/07/41, with his mother’s permission. He was an AAA gunner in the European theatre and returned home in January ‘46. He married his long-time girlfriend, my mother, went to college, raised a family, and was successful in business. He never talked much or complained about the war but was so very proud to have been an American veteran. I still have and treasure his army memorabilia. He hunted, fished, flew small aircraft, rv’d, and camped all this Western Hemisphere. My mother still recounts the adventures while Becky and I retrace a few of his steps.

[ArmandV]

Originally Posted by dix39

And WWII, unlike all the conflicts since, was a "do or die" effort. If the US and it's allies failed the whole world would be changed, and I suspect that we would not be living the lives we are now. They preserved the world we now have, and I would agree that we're not doing the best we can to manage it.

My father participated as a Seabee in the Pacific, and two of my closest uncles were, one at Adak, AK with the AF, and the other landed with the 82nd glider infantry in France during the Normandy invasion. All were involved for the duration of the war. None of them ever talked much about it. My brother spent several years in Vietnam with the army during that conflict. He doesn't talk much about that either. I was spared any conflict experience as my stay in the navy was from '58-'62. Not much was actually happening then, but it was about to.

In addition to knowing that our way of life was actually being threatened, I think living through the great depression also added to their sense of what hardship really was. IMHO, there has been nothing close since.

We have a lot to be thankful to "The Greatest Generation" for.

Steve

My grandfather was also a Seabee in the Aleutian Islands. They didn't have it so easy as they got occasionally strafed by the Japanese.