My Grandfather wears his WW2 vet cap everywhere he goes

and today he was approached in the grocery story by a nice young lady thanking him for his service. It was very nice.

I suspect he also likes to wear his cap because no one will dare to challenge him about the handicapped spot that he "makes" at the grocery store. It's a big striped area, but he can fit his car in there and not bother anyone.

My Aunt bought him this hat awhile ago, but he never wore it. He now has so much fun with it, he makes sure he wears it every where he goes!

I always say hi to them, If I can, but not intrude on their privacy

or I always salute them.........
What branch was he in?

:patriot: :patriot:

:hi:

I don't know the official name of the gun he fired but he always called it an AK-AK...not to be confused with the flak guns...he fired bullets about the size of bowling pins at the enemy aircraft.

He was just the nicest guy. I haven't seen him in the longest time. These guys are rarer and rarer. What a generation.

That was probably the worst man's inhumanity to man in a long time
as i studied the history of that time........i dont know how they made
it , but if they did, they were all hero's...
:hi:

:patriot:

him. If I dropped a phonebook on the floor -- he would probably hit the deck. No kidding. It was very savage fighting.

My grandfather, dad, and uncle were all career military (and war vets), so i have grown up with a keen appreciation for the sacrifices involved with their service to our nation.

My Grandfather did so well in the army that he wanted to reenlist. His Mother talked him out of it because of Korea. She turned out to be right..

:patriot:

i grew up always knowing that my Grandfather served. If I had to do it all over again, I would have had him in school for show and tell.

I worked at a grocery store for a few years, and there was an elderly gentleman who came in almost daily, always wearing WWII Army Air Corps cap. Over the years, we got to know each other pretty well, and he'd always either bring me candy, or bring in something to show me that he thought i would take interest in. He was usually right, too...

One slow afternoon, i asked him what he had done in the War... he explained that he had been a pilot in the European Theater... then, after the war, he had come home, gone to WVU (where he earned his PhD in History), and had taught for a while. The next day, he brought me in a photo of himself in front of his plane... a P-38 Lightning! He also brought in a stack of commendations and other artifacts over the next few months. I had never seen the ones my Grandfather had, so this was a treat for me.

Talking to Dr. G is probably the only thing that i miss about working there... he's in his late 80's now, and when at last i read his obituary, it will make me cry, because he was such a great gentleman.

How exciting for you!! I need to interview my Grandfather on tape before it's too late. He told me recently that he never shot anyone in WW2, so that mystery is cleared up, but we all want to know how much he shot at German aircraft and how many he shot down. He never talks about that! WW2 vets can be alot like vietnam vets..the era doesn't matter...

i believe this is his plane in flight--don't know if he's at the controls though.

i asked him once, innocently (i was like 12), if he considered the people that may have been killed inadvertently when his plane was bombing. He replied that what they were bombing were just points on a map, and they didn't think about the people--i suppose it was a coping mechanism to deal with the fact that some innocents were going to be killed.

or currently?


so maybe a better way to state my post is: i believe this to be THE plane he flew.

but in that picture, that plane is on the ground.

edit: Infact, it looks like a crash landing. No gear down and bent propellers.

he told me about a crash landing. i don't know if that's the picture from that or from when the plane crashed for the last time.

no offense taken. the picture isn't very good, but good enough for a few details.

actually.

I had a grandpa in the Marines in WW2 as a fighter pilot, he flew Corsairs F4U-something in the Pacific. he had his share of bent planes in his time, but he survived.

mortar squad, France.

Maternal grandfather almost made WW1, was in pilot training when it ended.

Paternal great-grandfather was in the Civil War (long generations on this side of the family)in the First Maine Cavalry, saw lots of action.

And I avoided Vietnam and everything else.

Not sure how many greats though...need to keep up with this stuff...

D-Day...Battle of the Bulge....Iwo Jima....wish I'd kept track of all the vets I've met. Love to see them. Some look great and get around just fine, some are looking and obviously feeling pretty old, but I sure enjoy talking to them. The stories they have to tell.

Please, tell your grandpa, thanks for his service.

He loves the Internet...he just cant handle it

I'd think about taking him to it. At events I've been to, they drive the vets around in golf carts and treat them as honored guests, free meals, whole nine yards. Of course that's not why the vets come out, but it makes the experience a little easier for the old fellahs to handle. If you can let the event planners know ahead of time, they will be especially accommodating.

He may tell you some things about himself you've never heard before. I've had family members stop by again, after they took their father/grandfather around the other camps, and tell me that they've never heard them talk so much about the war and their experiences. I think they just like being around people who are keenly interested in the history of the era, enough to dress up like weirdos (like me). Not saying you aren't interested, but for some reason, seeing a bunch of guys in WW2-era gear really makes the vets open up.

Google WW2 reenactment, and good luck.

He never talked about it. Even when my sister and I were little and asked him for war stories, he'd dance around it. He taught me how to salute and what the rank insignias meant and the Manual of Arms and stuff like that when I was a kid, but only because I asked.

Maybe it's because he was a medic, and near the end of the war he was among the Medical Corps sent into the death camps to help the survivors.