D-DAY

[wildhog]

D-DAY, AS WE LOSE MORE WW-2 VETS EVERY DAY, AT SOME POINT WE WONT' HAVE ANY LEFT. MY FATHER WAS 19 YEARS OLD AND A COMBAT ENGINEER, HE LANDED FIRST WAVE ON OMAHA BEACH,HE HAS BEEN GONE 12 YEARS, BUT EVERY JUNE 6TH,I STOP AND TRY TO WONDER WHAT IT WAS LIKE. THANKS AGAIN TO ALL OF YOU THAT HAVE SERVED. TOM

[Bubba]

Amen to that Brother.
My sole surviving Uncle was also a combat engineer.
Not absolutely positively he was there on June 6th but I do know for a fact he is a Battle of the Bulge Survivor.  We owe ALL the WWII vets a debt of gratitiude. At our annual Rolling Thunder Party we had a guest who was in the 6th Infantry Division, he is 85 years old and enlisted when he was 16.  The WWII vets are answering the last bugle call at the rate of 1,000 a day.
REMEMBER THEM PLEASE!
BuBBa

[Ford Blue blood]

Both sides of my family were in WW-2, dad in the Pacific theater, mom's brothers in the Navy in the Atlantic and Med.  All are gone now.  My dad never talked about the war until the last time I was home on leave.  That was one week before he died.  We sat and drank beers (many) and told war stories, he of the Phillipeans, Austrailia and New Guiney, me of Nam.  His were a butt load more interesting (Bronze Star awardee) (32nd Red Arrow) then mine (electronics technician fixing radios for Navy Seals).  Mom is the only one left out of both sides of the family.  She is 89. 

My wife's uncle is a Battle of the Buldge vet and has many interesting stories (Silver Star awardee), he is 97.  He and the wifes mom (91) are the only ones left on her side. 

All of them endured many hardships we really can't imagine.  The great depression and the rationing leading to and during the war.  We whine and snivle about so much trivial crap compared to what they had to put up with it is no wonder they get grumpy!  They are truely the "Greatest Generation"!

[Zapato]

According to Parade magazine there is still one WW1 vet left

I had the pleasure to be trained by a pair of WW2 vets when I first hired in at Boeing of Portland. These 2 old Air Corps B17 crewmembers met in high school. Upon graduation they entered the Air Corps and shipped off to boot camp into the same training company. Followed by assignment to the same school. Then shipped off to England and the same Squadron. Both of them ended up on the ground on the continent, one of them twice. He managed to escape and returned to England and assigned to another B17. Then as the mass bombing campaign over Germany they both had their planes shot down and managed to survive and up as guests of the Fuhrer till the end of the war. Yes into the same POW camp and barrack.

After the war the both applied for work at Iron Fireman which later became Boeing of Portland. They ended up working side by side in the same department till they retired in the mid 80s.

B17 pilots and crew members truly some of Americas' Best.