I was too young

[kenny sd]

an open letter to 'Charlie the Barber" because I just watched this on TV.
It was 1955 and I was a 9 year old kid
I met my Dad at the barber, and it was 6 June.
my dad said..
'do you know what day this is? I said June 6th. and he said. no. it's the day of the Normandy Invasion.
and he said. Charlie the Barber was on the beach that day.

I said I didn't understand...Charlie looked at me and said..
"someday you will'.
Well Charlie. you're long gone now...and I can't tell you face to face.
but
Yes, Now I understand. and Thank You Very Much

Ken
CPT US Army retired.
Vietnam 68 and 69.

[Yellowhouse]

Same age as you and nearly everyone in our small community served overseas. I appreciate them much now and miss them all....wish I couldve told them but like you too young.

[Glen Ring]

I was born on that date and had two uncles that volunteered...Lester went to Germany, Woodrow went to the Philippines. Uncle Lester was wounded, married a German girl and came back to a Normal life. Woodrow was captured by the Japanese, marched to a camp where he died months later. Mom never forgave the Japanese for that. The Germans were Ok because that's what mom's dad was.
I have always greatly admired WW2 vets.

[kenny sd]

I'm a Hospice volunteer. I do military pinning for vets on their deathbed.
I did one in a hospital, he was in his 90 S and not conscious
I had his history, did the pinning ceremony and held his hand as I did it.

his daughter said he was in the Army, and was a Sargent.
I said,
HE WAS NOT A SARGENT, HE WAS A MASTER SARGENT!
YOUNG OFFICERS LIKE ME WOULD STAND OUT OF THE WAY WHEN HE PASSED BUY!

He squeezed my hand HARD, and came awake. and talked to his family for the first time in days.
and the Last. he passes away later that day.

so I did get a chance to say thank you to a vet.
and I've done three dozen Hospice military pinning ceremonies and hope to do more when this thing passes.
Ken

[rgchristensen]

Another D-Day story. I was at a match June 6, 2004 and the MD came on the PA and announced that one of the competitors, "Old Cliff", had hit the beach in Normandy 60 years ago. We all cheered and clapped for Cliff, and he modestly said, "Well, it's not like it was MY IDEA!

CHRIS

[Michael Johnson]

I grew up on Air Force bases. Dad flew F-86s in Korea. He flew fighters for half of his USAF career and then transitioned to multi engine aircraft. He flew C-118s, C-130s, and flew C-123s in Vietnam. Dad’s older brother Maurice flew B-24s in WW2. He flew the first daylight bombing raids to the Nazi oil refineries in Ploesti Romania. He flew bombers in SAC after the war for a thirty year career. My father-in-law flew USN fighters in WW2, Korea and retired after 30 years to teach High School in Menphis TN. None of these gentleman talked much about their wartime experience. They have all passed on: I value what little I know about their experiences mostly gleaned while listening to their talk amongst fellow service members. My wife and I are both USN vets with much less interesting stories.

[johnl]

My great uncle was a prison of war in Germany. Got shot down pretty early around 1940-ish. I remember my brother and me trying to pump him for info on his experiences, however great auntie would always tell us to shush.

[Randy Bohannon]

It has been long understood that if you were captured by the Japanese you had a 80% chance of dying if you were captured by the Germans you had a 80 % chance of survival.

[TAA]

I also was too young.

During WWII my dad was an MP in Anchorage and my uncle was an armorer for Marine land based F4U Corsairs in the Pacific. Both had interesting stories to tell.

However, my father-in-law also shared his experiences. He was wounded by German artillery early the first day of the Battle of the Bulge. He was at the Buchholz Rail Station, just south of the town of Losheimergaben (spell check don’t know this one), on the Belgium/German border. My wife and I visited the exact place where he was wounded, in July 2000, while in Brussels on business.

The winter of 2006, on one of my frequent visits with him, I talked him into going to the range with me during the upcoming summer, to shoot my M-1 Garand with me but he passed in March before we could do it. His telling of his total military experience was something I’ll never forget.

Tom