Remember Pearl Harbor! Sixty-six years ago this morning...

[RNAIL]

My father in law was the waist gunner on a B17 bomber with the 8th Air Force. His plane was shot down, he parachuted out but was captured by Germans. He would tell me how cold it was in the prison camp and to stay warm they would get 3 guys together and "cuddle" together to try and stay warm. They rotated every hour to keep a different GI in the middle. The only cover they had were potato sacks. They were fed potato soup made from rotten ones the Germans did not want. They marched them from one camp to another that were many miles apart and some of the men died on the marches in the process due to freezing . Many nights until his death he would wake everyone up screaming from a nightmare about the German Officers beating him with the Cat of Nine Tails. This was a small whip that had 9 plated leather strands with steel ball bearing woven into them. When he finally made it home he weighed 90 pounds. He laughed about his first meal at home, "Mamma had cooked all my favorites but it was all I could do to take about 3 spoonfuls of what was on the plate." I was caught off guard by the comment, why couldn't you eat 4 or 5 plate full her cooking? He said he had lost so much weight and his stomach had shrunk so much that it was all he could hold.

We can only imagine the hell these guys went through for this country to not fall into communism. They fought and died to give this generation the "rights or privledges" to act stupid. When you really think about what all has taken place since that time it's enough to make you sick to your stomach.

[Wingman]

My Mom's Dad drove a Sherman tank. He was there on D-Day, at the Bulge and in the Ardennes Forest. His brother was a pilot for a ferry squadron, taking new planes to the bases around England.

I never asked Pepaw much about driving a tank and he never said much. I do know that a Sherman was no match, not even close, for a Tiger. I know that he lied about his age and enlisted when he was 16 or 17. He told me he saw bulldozers push dirt up against the steel doors of the German pillboxes and those Germans were left there. He also told me about seeing the pillboxes being torched and how awful it was. I remember him saying how one P-38 would dive out of the sky to attract the anti-aircraft fire, then the other P-38's would streak in and wipe the guns off of the map. He told me about finding a downed German plane and seeing the long hair of the burned, women pilots. I don't remember him saying anything much about any battles. I do remember him saying it was cold as crap during the Battle of the Bulge.

Those people witnessed some horrible events. I definitely think what they went through shaped the rest of their lives. Things the 60's-90's generation didn't witness (thank the Lord) but it left us ungrateful or ignorant of what a blessing freedom really is and the price that is sometimes paid to have that freedom. See how this nation treated the Vietnam vets and you can understand. I think we have learned a little when it comes to respecting our troops and we've treated our Iraq/Afghanistan troops a lot better than the Vietnam troops were treated, but this country is still a long way from what it was in 1945.

Thanks for the stories, fellas. I know this post was originally about Pearl Harbor, but Pearl Harbor was the beginning of so much more. My avatar is the Disney design of the Boxing Eagle; the logo of the Eagle Squadron in World War II. The Eagle Squadron started as a group of American pilots who flew for the British before the U.S. "officially" entered the war.

You guys and gals that are out there serving our country now, I thank you with all of my heart! Stay safe and Merry Christmas!

[Woodduckdawg]

Good Reads . . . thanks

[rustypjr]

My Pee Paw was in the navy on a destroyer during WW2 he don't really talk about it.

[UndercoverBrother]

My grandfathers are both now deceased, but one was on a PT boat in JFK's fleet. He was the Mechanic. And he had some good stories about JFK and the PT 109. The only time I ever saw him get choked up was when we went to JFK's grave when I was a kid. They were good friends amazingly enough. Him being a Kenedy and my grandfather the son of a cotton farmer from North AL.

The other was a Marine in the Pacific. He was a big ole stout Country Boy so he got to carry the Flame Thrower. He said they went down the line and they got to him and said he was going to run the .30 Cal Machine gun. But he figured he'd get killed trying to lug that thing around with him, or run outa bullets cause his buddy got killed, or get over run trying to hold a position.

So they gave him a worse job. Trying to take entrenched position, pill boxes, machine gun nests, etc. with a Flame Thrower.

He said they use to tie a rope around his waist and lower him down into machinegun nests and caves.

Yea, he had some nightmares.

I use to love family reuinions when I was a kid so I could hear all the stories. that was the only time any of my uncles, grandfather, etc. would really say much about it.