WW2 Stories

[Grendel]

I don't know if you like to tell WW2 stories. I am 47 my grandfather from Oklahoma USA entered the war as a volunteer at 18 years of age. He was a bombardier in a B52 stationed in the Netherlands. His squad flew 30 successful missions over Germany and came home. This was near the end of the war. Mostly he talked about German flak being the biggest threat.

[Wiesshund]

I misread this at YOU are 47 year old Grandfather, who entered WWII at 18
I was like wtf LOL.

[Grendel]

Originally posted by Wiesshund:

I misread this at YOU are 47 year old Grandfather, who entered WWII at 18
I was like wtf LOL.

Just curious if any of you grew up around ww2 vets?

[BlackWolf9988]

my great grandfather who himself was in a gulag in the 1930s after killing a commie, escaped the gulag wandering the siberian wilderness for half a year (lost an eye at the same time), who after that was then conscripted into the soviet army during ww2 under a fake identity had a friend who served with him who survived 3 different T-34 tanks with one of them being an ammo cook off.

i still remember seeing the pics of them both posing for a camera with his buddy having burn marks everywhere on his body and my one eyed great grandfather.

[Grendel]

Originally posted by BlackWolf9988:

my great grandfather who himself was in a gulag in the 1930s after killing a commie, escaped the gulag wandering the siberian wilderness for half a year (lost an eye at the same time), who after that was then conscripted into the soviet army during ww2 under a fake identity had a friend who served with him who survived 3 different T-34 tanks with one of them being an ammo cook off.

i still remember seeing the pics of them both posing for a camera with his buddy having burn marks everywhere on his body and my one eyed great grandfather.

what country was he from?

[Grendel]

Gramps didn't talk a lot about it. He didn't like to fly. His old uniform is in great shape. I think my aunt has it. He had a red pair of wooden clogs he picked up in Holland as a souvenir. He was proud of his service.

[BlackWolf9988]

Originally posted by dogtag:

Originally posted by BlackWolf9988:

my great grandfather who himself was in a gulag in the 1930s after killing a commie, escaped the gulag wandering the siberian wilderness for half a year (lost an eye at the same time), who after that was then conscripted into the soviet army during ww2 under a fake identity had a friend who served with him who survived 3 different T-34 tanks with one of them being an ammo cook off.

i still remember seeing the pics of them both posing for a camera with his buddy having burn marks everywhere on his body and my one eyed great grandfather.

what country was he from?

russia. im also half german so i got some stories from that side aswell. like my grandfather who was around 10 years old at the very end of the war and because so many people have surrendered there was weapons sitting everywhere. so him and a couple of other boys would just tie MGs and rifles to trees and shoot them from fun by putting tiny rope around the trigger.

[Grendel]

Originally posted by BlackWolf9988:

my great grandfather who himself was in a gulag in the 1930s after killing a commie, escaped the gulag wandering the siberian wilderness for half a year (lost an eye at the same time), who after that was then conscripted into the soviet army during ww2 under a fake identity had a friend who served with him who survived 3 different T-34 tanks with one of them being an ammo cook off.

i still remember seeing the pics of them both posing for a camera with his buddy having burn marks everywhere on his body and my one eyed great grandfather.

You captured my curiosity. A Russian killing a commie. Must have been alive during the revolution (1917-1923)?

[Grendel]

Originally posted by BlackWolf9988:

Originally posted by dogtag:

what country was he from?

russia. im also half german so i got some stories from that side aswell. like my grandfather who was around 10 years old at the very end of the war and because so many people have surrendered there was weapons sitting everywhere. so him and a couple of other boys would just tie MGs and rifles to trees and shoot them from fun by putting tiny rope around the trigger.

We can't see the damage from the war in the US. I am sure in Russia and Germany you can still find bullet holes. Mostly its been out of sight out of mind most of my life.

[mogami_99]

B52? (B-25 dyslexia)

[Grendel]

Originally posted by mogami_99:

B52? (B-25 dyslexia)

I see the B52 first flight 1952. So you are correct. I would not have been a b52.

[BlackWolf9988]

Originally posted by dogtag:

Originally posted by BlackWolf9988:

russia. im also half german so i got some stories from that side aswell. like my grandfather who was around 10 years old at the very end of the war and because so many people have surrendered there was weapons sitting everywhere. so him and a couple of other boys would just tie MGs and rifles to trees and shoot them from fun by putting tiny rope around the trigger.

We can't see the damage from the war in the US. I am sure in Russia and Germany you can still find bullet holes. Mostly its been out of sight out of mind most of my life.

not really. there is a lack of old medieval style cities here in germany because most of them have been bombed so most buildings you see here are from the 50s and very ugly. a few cities like würzburg still have medieval style look because they havent been hit but they are rare.

other than that there is a unexploded bomb here and there sometimes that need to be defused.

[Grendel]

Originally posted by dogtag:

Originally posted by mogami_99:

B52? (B-25 dyslexia)

I see the B52 first flight 1952. So you are correct. I would not have been a b52.

I can tell you this. He had a model. I used to look at when I was kid. This he would tell me was what he flew in. What I can tell is that it looks more like a flying fortress with lower rear tail gunners. The correlation as far as I know was never drawn to famous B29 but that looks most like the model. Might not be surprising that he would have a B29 model either. I suppose that maybe B29 would have made sense for the late stage missions that he flew virtually untouched. I am not really for sure what plane he flew. Maybe there is a way to look it up?

[mogami_99]

Bomber stationed in Netherlands likely part of Tac Air targets would be things like enemy airfields, RR Yards, Bridges, supply dumps and enemy formations. All still protected by enemy flak and fighters
B-25 can be identified by the double tail
How many engines? B-29 only flew in Pacific

[Grendel]

Originally posted by mogami_99:

Bomber stationed in Netherlands likely part of Tac Air targets would be things like enemy airfields, RR Yards, Bridges, supply dumps and enemy formations. All still protected by enemy flak and fighters
B-25 can be identified by the double tail
How many engines? B-29 only flew in Pacific

I don't know. The model he showed me might have been B-29. It has been a long time. How did you get to such a high level of WW2 studies?

[mogami_99]

Originally posted by dogtag:

Originally posted by mogami_99:

Bomber stationed in Netherlands likely part of Tac Air targets would be things like enemy airfields, RR Yards, Bridges, supply dumps and enemy formations. All still protected by enemy flak and fighters
B-25 can be identified by the double tail
How many engines? B-29 only flew in Pacific

I don't know. The model he showed me might have been B-29. It has been a long time. How did you get to such a high level of WW2 studies?

I am thinking Grand Dad was stationed in England and flew missions over Holland. Perhaps B-17 or B-26. But not a B-29 only flew in Pacific. Old man who studied history most of life. WW2 hard one to miss study plus all those darn War Games.
I took a college course on WW2. Not after a degree I just wanted the course