Steve Hoch
TVWBB Hall of Fame
He told my dad a story of a mission he flew where his copilot literally had his legs shot off and of him not receiving a scratch, so who knows?
December 7 Remembrance Day
- Thread starter Erik Tracy
- Start date
Darren Lebner
TVWBB All-Star
I believe that fighter pilots were mostly unlimited in the number of total missions they could take. Bomber crews were always (?) limited. I know that some groups had a 25 mission limit. Perhaps your grandfather's group or division had a 30 or more mission limit.
Steve Hoch
TVWBB Hall of Fame
Could be, but he was also a lead pilot later on so he may have stayed longer because of that. An interesting coincidence is that my grandparents moved to Wilmington De in the 60's because my grandfather was working for the FDA
Lynn Dollar
TVWBB Emerald Member
Up till the spring of 1944, 8th AF bomber crews completed their tour with 25 missions. Around April, 44 that was bumped to 30.
My Dad was a ball turret gunner on a B-17, the 447th BG. He flew 20 missions from Dec 43 to April 8, 1944 when they were shot down. I believe he only had five more to get home, I'm not sure if he fell under the new 30 missions.
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Lynn Dollar
TVWBB Emerald Member
IMO, the Marines in the Pacific got the toughest duty of the war. Just as far as conditions they lived under and they fought a barbaric enemy that would never surrender. I think the best personal account of WW II that I've read is " With The Old Breed " by E.B. Sledge. What he endured was worse than what my Dad went through, especially from a standpoint of the " gore " of war, even though, there were more US airmen die in the ETO than Marines in the Pacific.. Sledge's book and Robert Lecke's " A Helmet For My Pillow " were the basis of the HBO Series " The Pacific " .
Darren Lebner
TVWBB All-Star
Lynn Dollar
TVWBB Emerald Member
When we think about Dec 7 , we solely look at Pearl Harbor. But at the same time the Japanese began invading all through southeast Asia, to form their " Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Shere " . These were gains they hoped to hold after they'd negotiated a settlement with the US.
Japan wanted an empire, like the British, Germans, Dutch, and French had built. In order to understand Japan in 1930's, Ian Tolls first book of his trilogy " Pacific Crucible " dives deep into Japanese history, back to 1853 when Matthew Perry sailed a US fleet into Tokyo Harbor and opened the world to the Japanese, who had been a closed society to that point. And it began the Meiji Restoration
Japan wanted an empire, like the British, Germans, Dutch, and French had built. In order to understand Japan in 1930's, Ian Tolls first book of his trilogy " Pacific Crucible " dives deep into Japanese history, back to 1853 when Matthew Perry sailed a US fleet into Tokyo Harbor and opened the world to the Japanese, who had been a closed society to that point. And it began the Meiji Restoration
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Lynn Dollar
TVWBB Emerald Member
The American Air Museum does great work. Its a group of Brits. They've accumulated a large amount of info. They allow contributions, I uploaded that pic of Dad.
LMichaels
TVWBB 2-Star Olympian
That's how it was with my uncles and my father in law. They would not bring anything up. If you asked them you might get some response but mostly "we did what we had to do". Not a whole lot more than that. I do recall my one uncle on the LST telling about trying to land troops and equipment and being right next to boats getting clear blown out of the water. Mostly though if anything they talked about personal interactions between themselves and crew mates. Father in law caught a bullet in the bulge and (I guess lucky for him) was evac'd out (don't know how they did that), but they patched him up and sent him right back out. I have a friend here who is a VietNam vet (marine) and they were living near by a hospital here in Rockford with a heliport. He was still flashing back even now every time he heard the medivac helicopter, or loud noises he'd take cover. He was in at the time the US had just brought out the M16. His unit had just gotten a load of them. A patrol had gone out and were one of the first to use it. Well they did not come back as planned. Later another patrol was sent to find them. They found them. All with their M16s jammed and all dead.
Darren Lebner
TVWBB All-Star
Did you see there are 4 pics there?
Darren Lebner
TVWBB All-Star
I guessed what happened in the M16 story before I finished reading your comment.
Lynn Dollar
TVWBB Emerald Member
There was really no good reason for Hitler to do this, like many of his moves. Germany had no obligation to Japan to join the war. There was very little cooperation between Japan and Germany for the entirety of the war.
And other than invading Russia, this may've been the most stupid thing Hitler did.
And other than invading Russia, this may've been the most stupid thing Hitler did.