Real Heroes of Normandy

[J.Mencalice]

http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20180804/mark-patinkin-two-d-day-vets-find-other-common-ground-in-portsmouth

There are so few of them left

They are honored in my eyes for how most lived their lives after the World War II ; humble and dignified absorption into life with contributions to society in blue and white collar jobs.                               

While my dad was not in the European theater, he was all of the rest of it to our family.

[The emperor has no clothes]

What a great reunion and story ! I have a customer who fought in WWII. Sadly, I haven’t seen him in a while.

[sheets]

My mom is 92. A native of France, from a small hamlet along the river Seine, inland from the coastal are of Le Havre.  She was 13 years of age when Hitler decided to occupy. From a poor farmer family with many mouths to feed she lived the life of a street urchin for a few years during the occupation. The German soldiers would pilfer at-will the family garden and the chicken coop for food. After the D-Day invasion she was hired by the U.S. Army to work as an interpreter and camp cook for the crew that traveled around looking for casualties. She and a couple friends worked seven months for the Army company tasked with traveling the country side searching for casualties; American, French and German. I have copies of her I.D. and letters of thanks for her services. I am headed for France later this week. I have a three ring binder of her documents and pictures of the her in Army jeeps. I will be taking an all-day private (just me and my family in a van) guided tour of the American D-Day invasion sites. I will have the binder of my mom's documents and pix to share with places I visit. She will be 93 in September. I consider her a veteran of WWII.   

[The emperor has no clothes]

My mom is 92. A native of France, from a small hamlet along the river Seine, inland from the coastal are of Le Havre.  She was 13 years of age when Hitler decided to occupy. From a poor farmer family with many mouths to feed she lived the life of a street urchin for a few years during the occupation. The German soldiers would pilfer at-will the family garden and the chicken coop for food. After the D-Day invasion she was hired by the U.S. Army to work as an interpreter and camp cook for the crew that traveled around looking for casualties. She and a couple friends worked seven months for the Army company tasked with traveling the country side searching for casualties; American, French and German. I have copies of her I.D. and letters of thanks for her services. I am headed for France later this week. I have a three ring binder of her documents and pictures of the her in Army jeeps. I will be taking an all-day private (just me and my family in a van) guided tour of the American D-Day invasion sites. I will have the binder of my mom's documents and pix to share with places I visit. She will be 93 in September. I consider her a veteran of WWII.   

I consider her one also. Sounds like a cool trip. Hope you can share some of your experience when you get back. 

[John Schmidt]

Had an old gent living across the street until a few years ago, he passed away at 99...about 3 mo. shy of the century mark. He was on Omaha, had a number of stories to tell...some rather amusing. I once asked him about those French and Italian women and was there any "reconoitering" with the locals. He'd just smile with a twinkle in his eye, then look off into the distance as though remembering. He did show me a picture of him following the landing where a bullet ripped through his baggy pants. It went through near the crotch and within an inch or so of his junk. Said it really PO'd him cuz they were fairly new. Another guy living about 3 blocks away would come and visit him, they were in the same outfit...the other guy a 1st. Lt. at the time. They'd sit in the garage and fight WWII all over again but what tales those two could tell. They're both gone now but left me with some real memories.

[old2soon]

        Time now doing to our WWII Vets what the enemy could not. Right after I moved down here a lady I know whose B I L was in Europe during WWII and was a Bazooka man when the life expectency of a Bazooka man was approx 15 minutes did it for about 15 months. When he talked about what he had done I paid Very CLOSE attention to what he told me. Some of what he related-hell most of it-made my blood run cold. Sadly he is gone now. Saw his WWII ribbons at his Funeral and we did indeed bury a HERO. RIDE SAFE.

[shortleg]

    Was lucky enough to sit by my Dads side for a month or so while he spilt
 his guts about what he saw and did during WW2 in the Pacific.
    Ya it has always amazed me through the years how their generation
 seemed or tried to swallow their pain and most of them not give in to it.
     I know they did not always defeat their demons.
  My mother and I were wakened many nights by my fathers yelling
   I am coming, I am coming! I knew he was yelling to the wounded
 that he was trying to get to when he served as a Corpsman with Marines.
    Don't know what are kids will have to look up to.
  Our Viet Nam vets never got what they truly should have and they in the future
  should be held close.
 

[Jess from VA]

My mom is 92. A native of France, from a small hamlet along the river Seine, inland from the coastal are of Le Havre.  She was 13 years of age when Hitler decided to occupy. From a poor farmer family with many mouths to feed she lived the life of a street urchin for a few years during the occupation. The German soldiers would pilfer at-will the family garden and the chicken coop for food. After the D-Day invasion she was hired by the U.S. Army to work as an interpreter and camp cook for the crew that traveled around looking for casualties. She and a couple friends worked seven months for the Army company tasked with traveling the country side searching for casualties; American, French and German. I have copies of her I.D. and letters of thanks for her services. I am headed for France later this week. I have a three ring binder of her documents and pictures of the her in Army jeeps. I will be taking an all-day private (just me and my family in a van) guided tour of the American D-Day invasion sites. I will have the binder of my mom's documents and pix to share with places I visit. She will be 93 in September. I consider her a veteran of WWII.   

That is a hell of a story, and I thank you for sharing it.   

Have a good trip.  I wonder if there is any remote family (of hers) left over there.

[sheets]

I've learned more of her WWII experience in the last five years than I've heard in my life. She just won't talk about it. She did tell me how local villagers would take the boots off the dead German soldiers. "They were very good boots". She lived through much doom and gloom and death and destruction. She is near the oldest of eventually 19 kids. Her family home is still occupied by the youngest.  We plan to cruise the neighborhood on our way to the starting point of the tour. I'm in San Francisco, catching a flight to Paris in the morning. My daughter and granddaughter will meet us there.

[pais]

    Have not been on in a while and low and behold I see this post. I say this because, my Father landed on Omaha Beach and man, I've been thinking about Pop a lot the last couple weeks. He came back in'45 to see his first born for the first time at the age of 19 months. He and Mom went on to raise 9 kids total. He did a variety of things to earn a living. As mentioned in other posts, never really said much about the war. One that is burned into my memory, "Those 88's were hell when the Krauts started pouring them on. That sound, I hear that sound in my sleep".  I try to imagine what he went through at the ripe old age of 19. To be honest, I cant. It certainly shaped the rest of his life, that's for sure! Only wish I would of understood this at a younger age. Maybe we could have had a better relationship.
     

[Mobile Mayor]

My mother served as a newly commissioned 1st Lt. in the 13th army air corps.  Discharged as 2nd Lt at the end of the war. She was a nurse in a combat evacuation unit that went into places that were under Japanese fire.  When she was discharged she had earned the distinguished service cross, air medal with oak leaf cluster, bronze and silver star, and various campaign ribbons and lesser(?) decorations. She had to ditch at sea when the transport plane she was in went down with a load of wounded, and when rescued there was no loss of life. Yes, women went into combat in WWII.  This was not generally acknowledged at that time. and various histories that have been written tend to place them in relatively safe rear support roles. When discharged they were advised that they should not talk about what they had done. She didn't say much, and only to family. I have her discharge papers listing all decorations. Cora Lillian Defibaugh, another true American hero!

[The emperor has no clothes]

My mother served as a newly commissioned 1st Lt. in the 13th army air corps.  Discharged as 2nd Lt at the end of the war. She was a nurse in a combat evacuation unit that went into places that were under Japanese fire.  When she was discharged she had earned the distinguished service cross, air medal with oak leaf cluster, bronze and silver star, and various campaign ribbons and lesser(?) decorations. She had to ditch at sea when the transport plane she was in went down with a load of wounded, and when rescued there was no loss of life. Yes, women went into combat in WWII.  This was not generally acknowledged at that time. and various histories that have been written tend to place them in relatively safe rear support roles. When discharged they were advised that they should not talk about what they had done. She didn't say much, and only to family. I have her discharge papers listing all decorations. Cora Lillian Defibaugh, another true American hero!

Well done Cora !

[MAD6Gun]

 Although not in Normandy my next door neighbor Bill was a paratrooper in the Philippines. He is now 93 and getting rather frail. He has been my neighbor for most of my life. He and my father used to talk all the time in the yard when I was younger. My dad sold me the house so I continue to have Bill as a neighbor. His wife passed years ago and his remaining children visit him as much as they can. Since my wife Twila, then girlfriend moved in with me years ago Bill was getting to the point he was unable to do stuff around his house. Since then we help him as much as we can. We cut his lawn every week. We take him meals when we cook and have leftovers. My wife shops for him when his daughter is unable. She even gave him injections when his daughter couldn't do it. He wanted to sell his truck since he can't drive anymore so I got it detailed and repaired a couple of things for him to prepare it for sale. We do as much as we can for him.

 With that being said, I have spoken to his son and he told me his father never talks about his service. In fact my dad knew someone that records vets stories so they won't be lost. Bill teared up when asked if he would talk to her. Said "he just couldn't talk about it". I am sure as a paratrooper he had seen and done stuff that we can only imagine.

 Like I said he is getting frail. But he is a hero none the same.........

[bscrive]

Although not in Normandy my next door neighbor Bill was a paratrooper in the Philippines. He is now 93 and getting rather frail. He has been my neighbor for most of my life. He and my father used to talk all the time in the yard when I was younger. My dad sold me the house so I continue to have Bill as a neighbor. His wife passed years ago and his remaining children visit him as much as they can. Since my wife Twila, then girlfriend moved in with me years ago Bill was getting to the point he was unable to do stuff around his house. Since then we help him as much as we can. We cut his lawn every week. We take him meals when we cook and have leftovers. My wife shops for him when his daughter is unable. She even gave him injections when his daughter couldn't do it. He wanted to sell his truck since he can't drive anymore so I got it detailed and repaired a couple of things for him to prepare it for sale. We do as much as we can for him.

 With that being said, I have spoken to his son and he told me his father never talks about his service. In fact my dad knew someone that records vets stories so they won't be lost. Bill teared up when asked if he would talk to her. Said "he just couldn't talk about it". I am sure as a paratrooper he had seen and done stuff that we can only imagine.

 Like I said he is getting frail. But he is a hero none the same.........

Great work MAD6Gun.  We should all look out for our elderly. 

[old2soon]

             THAT Generation we are now losing to time that fought WWII and secured ALL the freedoms a lot of folks take for granted and helped shape the World we live in today are/were very reluctant to share Anything they did to win that freedom. The street I grew up on in Round Lake Il. had a couple of WWII and later Korean War Vets but none of them would really talk about what they had done. The 2 WWII Vets down here I knew-both now gone-seemed to open up to each other but I believe both somehow sensed their time was short. The fact some first hand accounts have been put to either paper or electronic recording devices may be a good thing.
              I've mentioned this before but the man I considered a Second Dad-Ken Caryl now passed-drove an ambulance in Korea and taught me to drive 18 wheeler and move furniture would not tell me a cursed thing about Korea til I came back from my first tour to Viet Nam. And he was right to Not tell me. Some-well most of what he related I would Not have Believed til I had done a tour. May GOD bless All who have served. RIDE SAFE.

 

[RP#62]

My dad turns 94 this month.  He was in the Philippines during WWII in the Navy.  He still doesn't like to talk about it but every now and then he lets something slip.  We found out recently he was on Tinian when the Enola Gay was being loaded.  The last time we were at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, we were looking at a cutaway PBY they have there and he started showing us where his station was how he would scramble to get from there to the machine gun.

-RP

[czuch]

My neighbor growing up was a Naval Officer in the Pacific.
They were on picket duty off Okinawa.
 First his ship was sunk by Kamakazi.
They swam around for a while then got picked up.
Then that ship got Kamakazied, and sunk.
They swam around for a while.
Then a destroyer came up to take them aboard.
They said they were bad luck and the destroyer should just go on.
It didn't.
They told the swimmers they were done with the whole show and were going to Pearl for repairs.
Also, they had steak for dinner. He made a big deal about steak for dinner.
Lcdr Gene Ryn.

[sheets]

Returned home yesterday. Was quite the adventure. We (five of us) did an all day private guided tour (https://www.overlordtour.com/) (#2) of the D-Day invasion sites of the American cemetery, Omaha & Utah beach, Point du Hoc, and the village of Sainte-Mere-Eglise, where the paratrooper got hung up on the church steeple. The cemetery makes one stop to pause and reflect and imagine the hell on earth all the allied invasion troops waded through and the thousands who made the ultimate sacrifice. All the years of watching movies and documentaries of WWII, the invasion just came to life in my mind as I strolled through the cemetery, walked on the beaches, and explored the bunkers on Point du Hoc. The current day peace and tranquility makes it difficult to picture the mayhem the allied forces experienced that day and the weeks that followed. Aside from the beach assault, imagine 13,000 paratroopers and 4000 glider troops landing at various locations - during the night - after being blown off course of the intended drop zone. Found my mom's home where she was born and grew up. Nobody was home. We left a note with some pictures with a neighbor. Her home village is not far from "Rommel's" HQ. I can say with certainty that she saw some stuff during the occupation and liberation, and the subsequent seven months she worked for the US Army with a detachment looking for casualties.  Was quite the adventure. A salute to the greatest generation.     

[The emperor has no clothes]

Very cool ! Thanks for telling us about your trip. 

[baldo]

Although not in Normandy my next door neighbor Bill was a paratrooper in the Philippines. He is now 93 and getting rather frail. He has been my neighbor for most of my life. He and my father used to talk all the time in the yard when I was younger. My dad sold me the house so I continue to have Bill as a neighbor. His wife passed years ago and his remaining children visit him as much as they can. Since my wife Twila, then girlfriend moved in with me years ago Bill was getting to the point he was unable to do stuff around his house. Since then we help him as much as we can. We cut his lawn every week. We take him meals when we cook and have leftovers. My wife shops for him when his daughter is unable. She even gave him injections when his daughter couldn't do it. He wanted to sell his truck since he can't drive anymore so I got it detailed and repaired a couple of things for him to prepare it for sale. We do as much as we can for him.

 With that being said, I have spoken to his son and he told me his father never talks about his service. In fact my dad knew someone that records vets stories so they won't be lost. Bill teared up when asked if he would talk to her. Said "he just couldn't talk about it". I am sure as a paratrooper he had seen and done stuff that we can only imagine.

 Like I said he is getting frail. But he is a hero none the same.........

Well said...and well done!

[hubcapsc]

Very interesting post. I hope my addition is not a hi-jack, since my father was not on
the front lines, rather a trombone player in the Army band. I remember him telling me
he "puked his way to Europe on the troopships"... I found a big cache of pictures
recently.



Here's a couple of bits of correspondence from the tail end of the war, letters
home to my Grandmother, with some relevant details...





A letter written on German soldier stationary:



They didn't have email then... they used vmail! Little tiny envelopes and paper... here's
a vmail about playing in one of the first street parades in Germany by Americans, part
of a ceremony where black US soldiers were decorated... the vrcc site will resize the image,
maybe too small to read, but "right click/view image" or some such will show the full size...





The pictures include many motorcycle related ones, I'll scan them in soon. I just
looked through them quickly, one of a motorcycle with my mother on the back.
I remember him telling a story about her being on the back and saying "Go faster!
Go faster!". She hated that story 

-Mike

[The emperor has no clothes]

Very cool Mike  I gotta admit though that last letter made me flinch a little.

[hubcapsc]

Very cool Mike  I gotta admit though that last letter made me flinch a little.

Yeah, I'll probably get kicked off the Internet... 

Another story, from right after the war. Daddy (Sid) worked with a couple of
other sign painters in Maryland. Here's Joe and Sid and Pete and some guy
with a tie. 



I'm not sure if my mother was present or not, but it was her I
heard the story from. My father was at Joe's house, it was apparently
somewhat more upscale than some of the houses of black people he'd
seen in South Carolina. He matter-of-factly told Joe that he had a pretty
nice house for a black person. Daddy was taken by surprise when Joe was
insulted.

-Mike "as the world turns..."

[The emperor has no clothes]

It’s just the way they talked back then. My entire family did. Some still do.

[KUGO]

I really hope everyone on this forum takes the little time it requires to read this entire thread.  Every word.  In an age where history is re-written on self-serving political whims, this was an enlightening insight into what people (not that far removed from us, generationally and time-wise) lived through.  I'd like to thank everyone who posted personal and family experiences while we still can remember them and pass them on to others.  Another example of me signing on to just check on what's up since the last time I checked, and then end up walking away with a real experience that I didn't expect.  I come from a family that has a lot of military history.  They've rarely spoken of it.  Understandable.  Thanks again to all who shared.

[old2soon]

      I may or may not have mentioned this before but I had a half Brother on Moms side that was Occupation Forces Japan after Japan surrendered. Had Japan not surrendered he would have been amongst the first for the landings on the Japanese homeland. So in a way the nuclear weapons unleashed on Japan saved my half Brothers life. He's gone now too. He didn't go into great detail even after I came home from my first tour off Nam. Off at a tangent riding P G R has given me more insight into how Families cope with the loss. All these years later the loss of a Friend and Cousin in Viet Nam Still Hurt. I too have taken the time to Read the entire thread. One Must Keep uppermost in ones mind-Freedom is NOT Free-it has been and continues to be paid for in the blood of AMERICAN  Patriots                                                       RIDE SAFE.

[..]

      One Must Keep uppermost in ones mind-Freedom is NOT Free-it has been and continues to be paid for in the blood of AMERICAN  Patriots                                                       RIDE SAFE.

And their Allies.

[The emperor has no clothes]

      One Must Keep uppermost in ones mind-Freedom is NOT Free-it has been and continues to be paid for in the blood of AMERICAN  Patriots                                                       RIDE SAFE.

And their Allies.

[old2soon]

      One Must Keep uppermost in ones mind-Freedom is NOT Free-it has been and continues to be paid for in the blood of AMERICAN  Patriots                                                       RIDE SAFE.

And their Allies.           

                     Thank you for the reminder Paul as I obviously needed one. Partied with some Allies in the P I and seem to remember English and Australian accents. VERY alcoholic fog I might add. As an observation from a Man that served-why do old farts such as myself send our youngest and finest to fight their wars? RIDE SAFE.

[Willow]

      One Must Keep uppermost in ones mind-Freedom is NOT Free-it has been and continues to be paid for in the blood of AMERICAN  Patriots                                                       RIDE SAFE.

And their Allies.

While I appreciate very much what the individual service members (excluding Montgomery) of our allies did in World War II historically the allies of the U.S. were getting their asses kicked until the U.S. entered the fray.   

[The emperor has no clothes]

      One Must Keep uppermost in ones mind-Freedom is NOT Free-it has been and continues to be paid for in the blood of AMERICAN  Patriots                                                       RIDE SAFE.

And their Allies.

While I appreciate very much what the individual service members (excluding Montgomery) of our allies did in World War II historically the allies of the U.S. were getting their asses kicked until the U.S. entered the fray.   

No doubt. But would we have been able to win without them ?

[Willow]

      One Must Keep uppermost in ones mind-Freedom is NOT Free-it has been and continues to be paid for in the blood of AMERICAN  Patriots                                                       RIDE SAFE.

And their Allies.

While I appreciate very much what the individual service members (excluding Montgomery) of our allies did in World War II historically the allies of the U.S. were getting their asses kicked until the U.S. entered the fray.   

No doubt. But would we have been able to win without them ?

I guess we'll never know.     History doesn't provide us with the story of the road not taken.