World war 2

[epicure3]

I have been studying WW2 for years and was wondering if anyone here as an interest in that period of history. My focus has been mainly on the European Theater and, more specifically, the Russian/German conflict mainly because there is so much information and knowledge to gather that I haven't moved on to the Pacific Theater as of yet. While it was a devastating period for millions, it remains a fascinating look at a world long gone (hopefully). With the collapse of the Soviet Union, so much more information, not just propaganda, is now available....even online. The Russian-German front of the war (or the Eastern Front) was awesome (in a bad way) in that it was often a battle to the last man with no consideration for the Geneva Convention or rules of war. It was just brutal. I believe that the battle for Stalingrad (now Volgograd) was the real turning point for the war. Anyway, I could go on for hours.

[paulgila]

ive read alot of ww2 history also.it was mostly the european theater,but latley ive become more interested in the pacific theater.

i just finished a book on the uss houston,which was sunk near indonesia at the very start of the war.some of the survivors ended up

working on the infamous railroad in thailand that was dramatized in the film "bridge over the river kwai."

also i recently read a book about hirohito which maintained that he wasnt as blameless for starting the war as he was portrayed.

[bgl]

Fascinating! Have to leave for Hilo in 2 minutes, so no time for an extensive response right now, but I'll definitely post another reply later today. And being that this is history, I'm assuming we can stay out of politics!

[epicure3]

Fascinating! Have to leave for Hilo in 2 minutes, so no time for an extensive response right now, but I'll definitely post another reply later today. And being that this is history, I'm assuming we can stay out of politics!

I hope so. There were very clear cut good guys and bad guys on the planet back then.

[epicure3]

I am currently reading "Hitler's Europe: How The Nazis Ruled the East". Very interesting book, though not the best I've read. It was amazing how ill equipped the Nazi G'vmt was in trying to implement it's insane ambition of ruling the world. They had captured so much territory so fast that the commissars and officials that moved in behind the army were of such low quality, yet high brutality. They quickly turned anti-communist supporters into Nazi haters in about a year. A very good video series about WW2 is "The World at War" narrated by Lawrence Olivier (Sir). It was produced in 1973 when a lot of the big wigs on both sides were still alive and there are some great interviews with them.

[paulgila]

i'm sure we'll find something to get into trouble with.

ok,i meant "I'LL" find something

[Walter John]

I got into the WW2 history quite intensely when I was about 25 years old. I read and read and wanted to know all the whys and wherefores, I found out a lot of stuff and then left it alone, it was making me too miserable. My old man fought in that war, Kakoda trail, Egypt and never ever talked about it and I know why.

[epicure3]

I got into the WW2 history quite intensely when I was about 25 years old. I read and read and wanted to know all the whys and wherefores, I found out a lot of stuff and then left it alone, it was making me too miserable. My old man fought in that war, Kakoda trail, Egypt and never ever talked about it and I know why.

Who can blame him. It was horrible and I know that I can only imagine. They were all heroes. My brother-in-law's sister's husband ( ) was a German soldier stationed in France in WW2, not lives in Carlsbad, CA. I would be interested in talking to him about his days but he doesn't like discussing them.

[bubba]

Highly recommend the WWII museum in New Orleans. Spent 4 hours and barely touched it.In-depth interviews,videos and incredible detail.They had the letter from Einstein to Roosevelt advising Roosevelt to look closely into the possibility of a rather powerful use of nuclear fission.Of course,the Germans were pretty good at weaponry/cutting edge.

[Gileno Machado]

I got into the WW2 history quite intensely when I was about 25 years old. I read and read and wanted to know all the whys and wherefores, I found out a lot of stuff and then left it alone, it was making me too miserable. My old man fought in that war, Kakoda trail, Egypt and never ever talked about it and I know why.

That's interesting Wal, my old man was also a veteran of WW2 but he didn't see much action because the war was over when he was assigned to travel to Italy, where the Brazilian expeditionary force fought for 3 years with the allied forces. I've been also fascinated by the subject in my young years...I was an avid reader of WW2 episodes since I was 13 and I probably read everything in detail about all the campaigns, hundreds of books, from Churchill's Memoirs, starting with "The gathering storm" to Russian strategy manuals and the whole blue series of american best sellers on the subject. I didn't miss a single episode of "The world at war" on cable TV as mentioned by epicure and many other war related movies and documentaries. My wife had bad memories of our visit to the "Musee de l"Armée" in Paris, where I had to spend a long afternoon, quite a boring experience for her...

At this point of my life, however, wars and military actions do not attract my attention so much anymore, especially the daily disgusting news on newspapers and TV. My old time fascination for battles like Kursk and Stalingrad was probably replaced by my interest for Chamaedoreas and Macrozamias...Well, like Bo mentioned, we'd better stay away of politics, really...and I'd hate to see the palapa burning down again...but then what do we study History for?

[paulgila]

part of the reason for studying history is so we dont make the same mistakes.unfortunately it seems we are doomed to make the

same bad choices over & over.

working in the medical field i meet a lot of older folks who lived thru the war,sometimes they share their stories with me.some of the highlights include:

1.an english gent who fought rommel in north africa.he was in a tank & forced to surrender when it was knocked out.as he was clambering down he slipped & the germans shot him in the leg cuz they thought he was trying to escape.he spent the rest of the war in a castle in germany that was used as

a military prison.

2.i met a man from the US who was a bombadier in one of our planes & dropped alot of bombs on tokyo.

3.i met a russian man who had fought the germans & was missing a leg to prove it.

4.one fellow i chatted with had been aboard a US sub that snuck into tokyo harbor towards the end of the war.

5.i also met an english fellow who had been a kid in london during the blitz & told me about an me-109 that he saw shot down & crash near

a train station.

[Bags]

WW2 is partially responsible for my being here right now. Unfortunately my grandfather died before I was born so I never got to talk to him about this but here is the story of how my grandparents got married written by my aunt in my grandmothers obituaty.

During their engagement, Amos was called to Naval duty and was assigned to Pearl Harbor. He served aboard the USS West Virginia which was bombed during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Amos was reported missing in action. On the day he was reported lost at sea, December 14, Ms. Thelma Lindsay received a cedar chest as an engagement present he had sent her from overseas. There was a funeral held for Amos in Dacula, Georgia, and much grieving by Ms. Lindsay. On December 25, 1941, notice came that Amos had been found, picked up by another Navy ship. The military notified Amos' mother on Christmas morning and the church bells rang through the small town. Thelma Lindsay flew to Hawaii and they were reunited and married on Valentine's Day, February 14, 1942. Amos and Thelma were married until his death, December 2, 1968.

Edited March 21, 2009 by Bags

[LJG]

Epi, I do not read much now but I still have tons of books from college and military days on WWII. I too am a big fan of the Euro theatre. Much more dynamic and challenging then the Pacific. I have always wondered had two events been different, what the world would look like now.

1) Goering and the Army had not had such a rivalry. The army should have crushed the allies at Dunkirk and then launched Operation Sea Lion. Instead Goering got his way, and it saved England.

2) Had Operation Barbarossa started in March/April instead of end of June. Coupled with what you stated about the treatment of Russians by Germans after conquest.

[bgl]

Some very interesting comments and memories! And Bags, that's an incredible story. I'm sure there must have been many others like it during WW2.

I have been interested in WW2 for as long as I can remember, and I have at least 100 books on the topic, some of which I have read more than once. My main interest is actually the period leading up to the war (specifically the 1930s), even though I have certainly read extensively about the war itself, both the European and Pacific theatres. To read about Stalin's paranoia and Hitler's delusional plans for Germany, knowing that these two were responsible for so much misery and suffering and death, leaves one wondering how they could possibly have ended up with as much power as they did. Especially considering Hitler's pathetic existence in Vienna prior to WW1!

I was fortunate to have been born in Sweden (in 1944), one of only a handful of European countries that managed to stay neutral during WW2, but Sweden was completely surrounded by hostile forces from 1941 to 1945. Despite growing up in a neutral country I have a lot of what I call "indirect" memories. For one thing, my mother had a German boyfriend (before she met my Dad!), and visited him in Berlin in 1933 when the Nazis had just come to power. Many years later she told me about this experience, which must have been pretty overwhelming for a young girl (she was 22) from a small city in Sweden. (Incidentally, he died in Stalingrad several years after my parents had married. His parents kept in touch with my mother).

One of the most fascinating individuals I've ever been fortunate to know was a pilot with the airline I worked for, Transair Sweden. His name was Count Carl-Gustaf von Rosen and he was from a very old aristocratic family (but he was a pretty "regular" guy!). He was born in 1909 and in 1920 he met Hermann Göring, who had moved to Scandinavia after WW1 (first Denmark, then Sweden). Hermann Göring, 30 at the time, ended up staying with the von Rosen family (long story...) and fell in love with Carl-Gustaf's aunt, Carin and (again, long story...) they ended up getting married. I'm sure the young von Rosen, who was very much interested in becoming a pilot, must have been in awe of Göring who was a WW1 ace. Years later, in the 1930s he changed his opinion when he realized what the Nazis were really up to. Incidentally, Göring of course later became the chief of Luftwaffe and the second most powerful man in Germany, after Hitler himself. Carin died in 1931 of heart problems, but Herman Göring (who, of course, was Carl-Gustaf's uncle by marriage) built Carinhall, his extravagant mansion outside of Berlin.

I came to know Cark-Gustaf MANY years later (in the 1960s) when I was responsible for the crew scheduling and he would come in about once a week, sit down, and (as we say here in Hawaii) "talk story" for a while. Absolutely fascinating. In late 1939, he was a pilot with KLM in the Netherlands. After the Soviet attack on Finland, he personally purchased a Douglas DC-2 (a bit smaller than a DC-3) from KLM, flew it to Sweden and had it converted to a bomber! In all likelihood the only DC-2 that ever ended up in that role. Then he flew it to Finland, contacted Marshall Mannerheim, and offered to fly bombing missions for the Finnish Air Force. The Finns didn't know quite what to make of the adventuresome Swede, and after he offered to fly a mission to Moscow and bomb the Kremlin (the DC-2 was the only plane in the Finnish Air Force capable of such a mission) they politely told him that maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Despite the fact that the Soviets had attacked Finland, the Finns felt that an attack on the Kremlin would REALLY tick off Stalin...! After WW2 von Rosen became the chief of the Ethiopian Air Force, and ended up as a personal friend of Emperor Haile Selassie. When he left Ethiopia in the early 1950s he moved back to Sweden, where, eventually he became a captain with Transair Sweden. And that's when I got to know him! He died in 1977 when he was back in Ethiopia. At the age of 68 he flew a small single-engined Swedish built MFI-10, dropping bags of grain in small villages that had no road access and that were suffering from drought. A downdraft caught his small plane and he flew into a mountainside. Probably the way he wanted to go if he had had a choice. But that's another story!

The History Channel used to have a lot of really good WW2 programs, but I havn't seen one in a long time. Anyone know of any WW2 programs currently showing (anywhere...)?

[niftinfiftin]

What a great topic! I think history is such a great, and essential part of our lives. It helps us understand the basic off pretty much everything that goes on around us. I am particularly interested in WWll history, around the Weimer government/ and Nazi takeover period, there is just so much to learn.

Cheers,

Nathan.

Ps My son is doing a large history project for school at the moment, centring around the Battle of Stalingrad, and needs to collect a whole lot of information as part of it. If anyone has any information of helpful links they are willing to share, PM me.

[Eric in Orlando]

I had several uncles who fought in WW2 in Europe, N. Africa and the Pacific. My one uncle (from my dad's side) fought in the Pacific and my dad just gave me his medals. Another uncle (from my mom's side) fought in Italy and N. Africa. he had been shot in the knee but never talked about any of it until a few years ago, just before he died. He has the clock out of a German tank that they had "disabled".

If anyone is ever in Kalamazoo, MI (my dad lives there now) there is an air museum there. The have a flight simulator theater that takes you on a B-17 (the Kalamazoo Gal) mission over Nazi Germany. Its a very gripping and emotional, no one leaves the theater with a dry eye.

[John in Andalucia]

On Sundays when I was a kid, we used to watch the TV documentary series, "The World at War". It was a sombre introduction to Sunday evening television, and to this day, is probably the best documentary ever made on WWII. I don't know if it aired in the US back in the Seventies, but it is available on DVD. Here is a Wikipedia link for anyone unfamiliar with the series: The World at War.

[bubba]

This is very interesting.Bo, with your aviation career,I am sure you have many,many stories to tell about all this.It is obvious Carl-Gustav was an extraordinary individual.I would also like to hear stories from the German prospective.Nazism was insane but if you were an average citizen, you had no choice but to be a part. It must have been truly horrible.

My Grandfather was 38 when WWII began.He was a GC and became a top Seebee.He built hospitals on Guam and numerous other projects throughout the Pacific theatre.They were under heavy fire as they built.Kind of like lawyering with people shooting at you.My Grandad only told me stories about just what he went through when he was near the very end of his life(91) in the Hospital.

My Great-Uncle was a Bomber pilot in the Pacific theatre.He was killed at age 26 when his plane was shot down over Rebaul.He had survived Midway.The New Orleans Museum gave me a new prospective on his plight.I listened to an interview of a similar Bomber pilot,who had flown in the Rebaul mission.He explained that Rebaul was the absolute strong-hold of the Japanese in the lower Pacific.All pilots and crew were told that this was the most important mission of the War and expect only half to return.My Great-Uncle was part of the half that did not return and he gave his life for his Country.It made me feel better to know that these young men were completely advised about the importance but high risk of this operation.

[bgl]

Thanks Bubba! And hard (or impossible) for us today to fathom what must have gone thru the minds of those young men who took off on bombing missions, knowing that there was a great risk that they would not return. My first aviation related "experience" happened right at my birth, and needless to say, I have no memory of this. At the time, many of the bombing missions from England to the Berlin area would head up north of Denmark, then in a southeasterly direction towards northern Germany and Berlin. In the process they would fly over Malmö and the southwestern tip of neutral Sweden. They weren't supposed to do this, but with 1,000 bombers at a time there wasn't much Sweden could (or wanted to) do about this intrusion into its airspace. My parents later told me about the incredible sound that 1,000 bombers created when they flew over our city. We happened to live only about a quarter mile away from Malmö Bulltofta airport, and on their return flight from Germany many of these bombers had received heavy damage from German fighters or anti-aircraft artillery. The bombers that couldn't make it back to England made emergency landings at Bulltofta, and some days there were numerous landings, some of which didn't always have a good ending. After landing there, the bombers (usually B-17s) were seized by the Swedish Government, and the crews were interned for the duration of the war (in very nice internment camps further north!). SAAB converted about half a dozen of the B-17s for commercial use, and in June 1945, right after the end of WW2 in Europe, SILA (which later became part of SAS) began service to New York with these B-17s. As far as I know, out of more than 12,000 B-17s built these few were the only B-17s ever used in airline service.

[Cycadcenter]

ive read alot of ww2 history also.it was mostly the european theater,but latley ive become more interested in the pacific theater.

i just finished a book on the uss houston,which was sunk near indonesia at the very start of the war.some of the survivors ended up

working on the infamous railroad in thailand that was dramatized in the film "bridge over the river kwai."

also i recently read a book about hirohito which maintained that he wasnt as blameless for starting the war as he was portrayed.

My Dad was stationed in Darwin as a member of the AIF and remembers the USS Houston leaving Darwin the day before the first raids in 1942, several years ago while visiting us in California we were talking about the raids on Darwin and how venerable the mainland of Australia was at that time. The very next day I had to do a real estate appraisal on a house and walked in and there was all sorts of memorabilia on the USS Houston and photos of Darwin, The owner of the home was Leon Rogers who was on the Houston when it was sunk and was one of the POW's taken to Thailand to work on the Burma railroad.

The next day he was quite excited to meet my Dad, an Aussie who had witnessed the Houston leave Darwin and they corresponded regularly for several years.

Small world.

[epicure3]

Some very interesting comments and memories! And Bags, that's an incredible story. I'm sure there must have been many others like it during WW2.

I have been interested in WW2 for as long as I can remember, and I have at least 100 books on the topic, some of which I have read more than once. My main interest is actually the period leading up to the war (specifically the 1930s), even though I have certainly read extensively about the war itself, both the European and Pacific theatres. To read about Stalin's paranoia and Hitler's delusional plans for Germany, knowing that these two were responsible for so much misery and suffering and death, leaves one wondering how they could possibly have ended up with as much power as they did. Especially considering Hitler's pathetic existence in Vienna prior to WW1!

I was fortunate to have been born in Sweden (in 1944), one of only a handful of European countries that managed to stay neutral during WW2, but Sweden was completely surrounded by hostile forces from 1941 to 1945. Despite growing up in a neutral country I have a lot of what I call "indirect" memories. For one thing, my mother had a German boyfriend (before she met my Dad!), and visited him in Berlin in 1933 when the Nazis had just come to power. Many years later she told me about this experience, which must have been pretty overwhelming for a young girl (she was 22) from a small city in Sweden. (Incidentally, he died in Stalingrad several years after my parents had married. His parents kept in touch with my mother).

One of the most fascinating individuals I've ever been fortunate to know was a pilot with the airline I worked for, Transair Sweden. His name was Count Carl-Gustaf von Rosen and he was from a very old aristocratic family (but he was a pretty "regular" guy!). He was born in 1909 and in 1920 he met Hermann Göring, who had moved to Scandinavia after WW1 (first Denmark, then Sweden). Hermann Göring, 30 at the time, ended up staying with the von Rosen family (long story...) and fell in love with Carl-Gustaf's aunt, Carin and (again, long story...) they ended up getting married. I'm sure the young von Rosen, who was very much interested in becoming a pilot, must have been in awe of Göring who was a WW1 ace. Years later, in the 1930s he changed his opinion when he realized what the Nazis were really up to. Incidentally, Göring of course later became the chief of Luftwaffe and the second most powerful man in Germany, after Hitler himself. Carin died in 1931 of heart problems, but Herman Göring (who, of course, was Carl-Gustaf's uncle by marriage) built Carinhall, his extravagant mansion outside of Berlin.

I came to know Cark-Gustaf MANY years later (in the 1960s) when I was responsible for the crew scheduling and he would come in about once a week, sit down, and (as we say here in Hawaii) "talk story" for a while. Absolutely fascinating. In late 1939, he was a pilot with KLM in the Netherlands. After the Soviet attack on Finland, he personally purchased a Douglas DC-2 (a bit smaller than a DC-3) from KLM, flew it to Sweden and had it converted to a bomber! In all likelihood the only DC-2 that ever ended up in that role. Then he flew it to Finland, contacted Marshall Mannerheim, and offered to fly bombing missions for the Finnish Air Force. The Finns didn't know quite what to make of the adventuresome Swede, and after he offered to fly a mission to Moscow and bomb the Kremlin (the DC-2 was the only plane in the Finnish Air Force capable of such a mission) they politely told him that maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Despite the fact that the Soviets had attacked Finland, the Finns felt that an attack on the Kremlin would REALLY tick off Stalin...! After WW2 von Rosen became the chief of the Ethiopian Air Force, and ended up as a personal friend of Emperor Haile Selassie. When he left Ethiopia in the early 1950s he moved back to Sweden, where, eventually he became a captain with Transair Sweden. And that's when I got to know him! He died in 1977 when he was back in Ethiopia. At the age of 68 he flew a small single-engined Swedish built MFI-10, dropping bags of grain in small villages that had no road access and that were suffering from drought. A downdraft caught his small plane and he flew into a mountainside. Probably the way he wanted to go if he had had a choice. But that's another story!

The History Channel used to have a lot of really good WW2 programs, but I havn't seen one in a long time. Anyone know of any WW2 programs currently showing (anywhere...)?

Bo, that is an incredible story. You are priviledged to have that experience. It is one of millions of stories of that era. There are some pretty good shows on History International recently that I have been recording. The series is called "Hitler's War". Very good footage that I have not seen before, and I've seen a lot. If you get that channel there is an episode on Monday, March 23 at 10AM PT. I have just finished watching a 1 1/2 hour documentary with Traudl Junge, Hitler's personal secretary. Made back in 1992 (she has since died), it gives some behind the scenes looks at the madman when he wasn't in public. Fascinating stuff.

[epicure3]

On Sundays when I was a kid, we used to watch the TV documentary series, "The World at War". It was a sombre introduction to Sunday evening television, and to this day, is probably the best documentary ever made on WWII. I don't know if it aired in the US back in the Seventies, but it is available on DVD. Here is a Wikipedia link for anyone unfamiliar with the series: The World at War.

I quite agree. The best series on the war. While it is 24 hours long, it still lacks a lot of detail. A pretty tall order for such a long and epic struggle. Still, an excellent introduction for anyone to get a start in understanding that era.

[epicure3]

Another great museum, if you get the chance, is the French WW2 museum in Paris. It documents the German occupation pretty well with a lot of artifacts. The entire collection is in english as well as french.

[Palmarum]

I've been a huge history buff for as long as I can remember, with a very strong following for the WW2 era. When studying history wasn't enough, I started with historically accurate simulation games that I would make on sheets of plywood and using miniatures. I would recreate the battles, then try to reenact them in the way I would have fought, to see how I might have changed history. Watching war movies and studying every kind of media resource I could find, drove my interest which goes strong to this day. I continue to play war games of all kind, from strategy to action, more historically accurate the better. I had 6 relatives that saw combat during WW2, with so many stories to keep my attention endlessly as a kid. That was probably the start of it all. I just watched Band of Brothers again for the nth time.

I try to collect as many military antiques from that period as I can. The grand-daddy of paper resources still eludes me. The collective military catalog of the entire war, which I think numbers about 18 or 19 volumes and is as large as an encyclopedia. It documents every fact, every statistic, every military unit of all branches, every battle and every bullet used by the USA during WW2. I saw one volume under glass once at a rare book store.

Ryan

[epicure3]

I've been a huge history buff for as long as I can remember, with a very strong following for the WW2 era. When studying history wasn't enough, I started with historically accurate simulation games that I would make on sheets of plywood and using miniatures. I would recreate the battles, then try to reenact them in the way I would have fought, to see how I might have changed history. Watching war movies and studying every kind of media resource I could find, drove my interest which goes strong to this day. I continue to play war games of all kind, from strategy to action, more historically accurate the better. I had 6 relatives that saw combat during WW2, with so many stories to keep my attention endlessly as a kid. That was probably the start of it all. I just watched Band of Brothers again for the nth time.

I try to collect as many military antiques from that period as I can. The grand-daddy of paper resources still eludes me. The collective military catalog of the entire war, which I think numbers about 18 or 19 volumes and is as large as an encyclopedia. It documents every fact, every statistic, every military unit of all branches, every battle and every bullet used by the USA during WW2. I saw one volume under glass once at a rare book store.

Ryan

What's the name of this military catalog? I tried googling "collective military catalog" but didn't get anything.

Thanks

[Palmarum]

epicure3 Posted Yesterday, 08:43 PM

What's the name of this military catalog?...

I wasn't able to examine the book I saw very closely, but there was no writing on the cover. There were lots of technical jargon on the spine of the book and a roman numeral. It is known by a technical military name (according to the store owner), which I cannot remember, I was 12 at the time and it was a store in Maine where my grandparents lived at the time. It was not a set that was published for the general public, it was a reference 'manual' made by the government to catalog details about the war in case records were lost. The volume I saw was about 3 inches thick. I looked for it once in libraries and got nowhere. The Library of Congress might be the best place to start looking, but I doubt it will be a set of books you can touch in person. I would settle for just the name of the set. At antique shows, fairs and military conventions I have attended, I've heard rumors of these books' existence in 'someones' collection pop up now and then, but I have not seen one since the time in Maine. Through my undying persistence, I sent my grandpa to the store a few years after I had been there to look for it but it was gone.

Ryan

[LJG]

Epi, do you have the Time Life series "The Third Reich"? Watered down as usual for Time Life, but great series to have.

[epicure3]

Epi, do you have the Time Life series "The Third Reich"? Watered down as usual for Time Life, but great series to have.

Is that one of their book series? I don't. Is it worthwhile?

[TikiRick]

A lot of what I learned aside from video and textbooks was from my, now deceased palm buddy and mentor, Paul Drummond. I could and would sit for hours asking him questions about WWII and how he got involved. I really, really regret not taping all of these conversations on audio, which would enable me to write a book about Paul's life...in WWII and beyond. It was a fascinating time and Paul did not hesitate to talk about his experiences....particularly in the South Pacific at sea and ashore.

Living in Manhattan, going to college, entering the service as an officer, and being incharge of 300+ servicemen aboard a carrier, to me is unimaginable...at any age...no less at 20.

All of these men and women, and of ALL wars, whether you belived in the mission or not, are true heros in my book. This includes Paul.

Here's to you Paul...on what would have been your 85th birthday! Every coconut palm I witness brings a thought of you.

[DoomsDave]

One of the more interesting archives would be to review recently declassified documents from the WWII era.

My dad was born in 1928, so he barely missed getting drafted, though I knew a guy in Texas who joined when he was 13. . . . .

[epicure3]

One of the more interesting archives would be to review recently declassified documents from the WWII era.

My dad was born in 1928, so he barely missed getting drafted, though I knew a guy in Texas who joined when he was 13. . . . .

That would be cool. There are also reems of info that the Russians have released since the mid-90s. Unfortunately, you need to speak Russian in most cases.

[paulgila]

horrorshow!

[PalmatierMeg]

Bo, regarding WWII programs, the Military Channel recently had a multi-part series, "Hitler's Bodyguards". Quite fascinating and contains a lot of info I didn't know. I think it was originally broadcast in the UK and was made by the same people who made "Churchill's bodyguards", which I have never seen but want to. Needless to say, Hitler had thousands of bodyguards, Churchill just a few, but the most hated man in the world, including Germany, needed them. Considering how often cable channels repeat things, "Hitler's Bodyguard" is bound to make an encore.

My dad commanded a boat (not sure what kind but not a large ship) that took part in D-Day, but he never talked about his war years. He had the ability to close a chapter of his life and never reopen it. But after he passed away, my brother found letters he had written home while stationed in England. And, yes, people really did say "Swell" back then, as in, "I had a swell time while on leave." We also found lots of photos and my dad really looked great in a Naval officer's uniform. Though my dad was a native Californian, the Navy in its infinite wisdom sent him to the European theater.

BTW, if anyone is ever in Washington, DC, visit the WWII memorial. It is awesome. Unfortunately, my dad and father-in-law didn't live long enough to see it dedicated.

[epicure3]

Bo, regarding WWII programs, the Military Channel recently had a multi-part series, "Hitler's Bodyguards". Quite fascinating and contains a lot of info I didn't know. I think it was originally broadcast in the UK and was made by the same people who made "Churchill's bodyguards", which I have never seen but want to. Needless to say, Hitler had thousands of bodyguards, Churchill just a few, but the most hated man in the world, including Germany, needed them. Considering how often cable channels repeat things, "Hitler's Bodyguard" is bound to make an encore.

My dad commanded a boat (not sure what kind but not a large ship) that took part in D-Day, but he never talked about his war years. He had the ability to close a chapter of his life and never reopen it. But after he passed away, my brother found letters he had written home while stationed in England. And, yes, people really did say "Swell" back then, as in, "I had a swell time while on leave." We also found lots of photos and my dad really looked great in a Naval officer's uniform. Though my dad was a native Californian, the Navy in its infinite wisdom sent him to the European theater.

BTW, if anyone is ever in Washington, DC, visit the WWII memorial. It is awesome. Unfortunately, my dad and father-in-law didn't live long enough to see it dedicated.

"Swell" and "fellas" are to words you don't hear anymore.

[DoomsDave]

On Sundays when I was a kid, we used to watch the TV documentary series, "The World at War". It was a sombre introduction to Sunday evening television, and to this day, is probably the best documentary ever made on WWII. I don't know if it aired in the US back in the Seventies, but it is available on DVD. Here is a Wikipedia link for anyone unfamiliar with the series: The World at War.

I agree one of the best series about WWII. Watched it many times, on TV and in school for history class.

[epicure3]

On Sundays when I was a kid, we used to watch the TV documentary series, "The World at War". It was a sombre introduction to Sunday evening television, and to this day, is probably the best documentary ever made on WWII. I don't know if it aired in the US back in the Seventies, but it is available on DVD. Here is a Wikipedia link for anyone unfamiliar with the series: The World at War.

I agree one of the best series about WWII. Watched it many times, on TV and in school for history class.

I have seen it so many times that I can recite the first scene word for word. Let's see......"Down this road, on a summer day in 1944....the soldiers came. Nobody lives here now. They stayed only a few hours. When they had gone, a community which had lived for a thousand years, was gone. This is Oradeur Sur Glane....in France. The day the soldiers came, the people were gathered together. The men were taken to garages and barns. The women and children were led down this road....and they were driven into this church. Here, they heard the firing as their men were shot. Then, they were killed too. Some of the men who had done the killing were themselves killed.....in battle."

[paulgila]

amazing narration by sir olivier--so poignant.

hey,i'm not jokin' around here!

[tank]

I've been interested in WWII since I was very young, mostly due to the wealth of literature my dad had on hand.

Many of my direct relatives were killed in WWII including my uncle. He was a sargent in a combat engineering division and was killed in March 1945 in the Alsace Lorraine area.

He was killed nearly thirty years before I was born but the impact on our family can still be felt.

I'm hoping to visit to the cemetery where he is buried (Lorraine American, near the area where he was killed) in the next couple years.

Hanging out (as a teenager) with some of my dads golfing buddies, several of who turned out to be WWII vets really gave me some insight on how much living these guys had gone through, even though I originally saw them as relatively boring fellows who played golf 5 days a week and pretty much did the exact same thing week to week. An example of one of them who was a marine and fought in the battle for guadalcanal. I was in awe of the stories these guys had and how much passion they had for what they had done. It gave me a great respect for all of our men and women in service.

The last WWII book I finished was "The Duel for France, 1944". Lately, I've been reading and watching documentaries on the Eastern Front.

[jenks]

Count me as another WW2 history enthusiast. My Grandfather was an anti-aircraft gunner on a carrier in the Pacific. He was granted leave to be with my Grandmother who was having a very difficult pregnancy and was about to give birth. My Grandmother almost died, her baby (my uncle) did not make it - while my Grandfather was away a kamakazee his his ship and some of his AA gunner crewmates were killed. My Grandmother told me that story - he wouldn't talk much about that.

I just watched Band of Brothers again. What a great mini series

[sur4z]

I actually accompanied Bubba (post #9) to the WWII museum in New Orleans (why we were in Town is a whole other story) because they had expanded the museum to include an exhibit on the war in the Pacific, where my Dad served.

My Dad was a three time All-American basketball player and was in graduate school when he got drafted by the Navy. He had one exam left to graduate and the Navy wouldn't wait until he took it. So when the Marine recruiter came by he signed up with the Marines. Anyway he went to flight school in Green Coves Springs, Fl and was trained to fly F4U Corsairs (think Pappy Boyington/Bah Bah Black Sheep). He also was playing on the Navy basketball team (I don't know whether the Marines had a team) and could have finished the war in the States. However, obviously feeling the call of duty, he was sent to Okinawa, which turned out to be the second deadliest battle in the war (behind the Battle of the Bulge). Over 12,000 Americans died and over 100,000 Japanese soldiers died and who knows how many civilians--but a lot. The Japanese also lost over 7000 planes and Americans over 700 planes--two of which were my Dad's. The first he had to ditch in the ocean and he floated there for two hours until he was plucked out by a fast transport who had to come 20 miles to get him. I never knew the name of the boat and my Dad never talked about it, but about one year ago I got a letter from the grandson of a crewman on the boat who knew about the incident and he was interested in anything I knew (which was nothing but I now knew the name of the boat). It was the Brock (DE-234) and was named after a pilot that had died a few years earlier.

The next plane was one he was trying to land that was all shot up. He got it on the ground but had trouble stopping it because the hydrolics weren't working and he plowed into a sand dune at the end of the runway throwing the tail up into the air and closed the canopy on his arm as he was trying to get out(I learned the details by reading his journal I found a few years after he died). Dad lost his right arm, but he survived the battle of Okinawa. Afterwards he learned to write left handed, went to law school and never considered himself handicapped. He could hit fungos to the waiting outfielders and could tie his shoes and bow ties, which he wore every day, one handed. An amazing generation!