Interesting pictures of post World War II

[Suzuki Johnny]

The Greatest Generation



http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011 ... ar/100180/

[jonnycando]

War is messy, but the way we did it is the way to win.

[DevilsFan]

Amazing!

[NE_FL]

The destruction in lives and property was devastating. Another world war with today's weaponry is unthinkable.

[old time rider]

My dad started in NA then Italy,France,and hit at german border with the Texas 36-T-Patchers.He never talked of it till after nightmares in his 60s.The dead kids were some of the bad things he had flash backs of.

[SuzyRidr2]

Those vets went through a hell of a lot. Nothing since can compare to events like D-Day, the battle of Iwo Jima or the Bataan Death March and to make it even tougher they shouldered all this with no contact with their families and the real world for months at a time. I have a lot of respect for the "greatest generation".

Our second stopover in a series of 3 (I came back from Desert Storm/Desert Shield in the back of a C-130) was at RAF Bentwaters in the United Kingdom. While talking with an elderly gentleman who was pushing a broom around the cots in the gymnasium they'd provided for us to stay the night in, I made a comment to the effect that our gymnasium accommodations were greatly appreciated and were a great deal better than the tent I'd been sleeping in for the past 8 months. He acknowledged that he understood how taxing tent life can be by mentioning he'd lived in one for nearly 6 years (1940 - 1945), mostly in north Africa, while serving in the British Army during WWII.

Funny how an innocent comment can put things into perspective for you ain't it? [emoji2]

[NE_FL]

My Dad was drafted into the USArmy in 1943 and was trained as a surgical technician. He was sent to a railhead in France and saw hundreds of wounded come back from the front lines. He said when they were over-whelmed with casualties he pitched in with surgeries to treat severe injuries and even did some amputations. He never graduated from HS, but there he was working alongside physicians doing the same job. After the war when I was a kid Dad treated most of my injuries including a broken arm one time. He had a lot of stories to tell about the Big One.

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[DevilsFan]

I've read stories of the Battle of the Bulge and how cold it was in the Ardennes. Guys sitting in sub-zero foxholes, with no heat, for weeks. If they lit fires for warmth they were as good as dead. But they endured the best they could and didn't complain.

They were the greatest generation.

[PCC]

My husband, Carl had many stories he told of his days as a left waist gunner on a B17.
His most regretted act was watching as they were order to release all bombs when they had been hit by anti-aircraft guns and lost both right engines. They could not maintain altitude & as the bombs fell... one bomb landed on a farm house. Him being a farm boy, he did not see the enemy at that point but only an innocent farm family.

Another story of pure luck on his part was having a mission called off due to fog condition. You see he had gotten into the flight center last. All flight suits had been taken except one old suit that had barely fit his body. As they started to get up to higher altitude he realized his suit did not heat. Had that mission gone forward he would have just been a causality of war.