Happy veterans day

[Smit]

Salute

[BrianP.]

Thank you Larry and all the others on here that have served or have a child who has.

[beej]

I spoke to a gentleman a couple of weeks ago who was wearing a WW11 hat at a church breakfast. I thanked him for his service and asked if he had served in the pacific or in Europe. He said, I got to Germany 3 months before the end of the war.

Then with a smile and a wink, he said, I finished 'em off!!

LOL I loved that line

[Smit]

I spoke to a gentleman a couple of weeks ago who was wearing a WW11 hat at a church breakfast. I thanked him for his service and asked if he had served in the pacific or in Europe. He said, I got to Germany 3 months before the end of the war.

Then with a smile and a wink, he said, I finished 'em off!!

LOL I loved that line

Nice story.

There are so few World War II vets left. I think they were indeed the greatest generation.

On a side note, if anybody has an opportunity to go to the World War 2 museum in New Orleans you should do it.

The WW1 museum in KC is pretty darn good too.

[beej]

another story: An old friend of mine, Billy Bear, who is now passed away told me this story of his own life:
during WW11 he and a buddy signed up for the navy. a couple of country bumpkins from rural Illinois. They went through the naval academy and at the end of their training a guy talked to them about joining him on a submarine. He told them they would get hazzard pay.

Billy, talked to his buddy and said, if we do one of those submarines we get "hasser pay".  His buddy said, what's hasser pay? and Billy said I think it means we get more than the other guys. So they did it.

He told me he was a year in before someone explained to him that it was Hazzard pay, not Hasser pay, and what hazzard pay meant. He said, BOY! were we dumb!

[Jim at Gentex]

My father-in-law had a similar recruiting story.
He and his buddy Mark both turned 18 near the end of WWII, so they decided to join the Navy instead of possibly getting drafted.

They went to a big recruiting center in Scranton where they had Army, Navy, and Marine Corps recruiters.
They were at the end of a very long waiting line when this guy in uniform says "Hey guys, there's no line over here at my desk. I can take care of both of you."

Long story short, they filled out all of their paperwork, signed everything, and took the oath.
The recruiter claps them both on the back and says,
"Congratulations boys, both of you are now United States Marines!"

Next thing they know, they are on a bus to Parris Island wondering WTF they got themselves into!

Luckily they both made it through their tours in the Marine Corps unscathed, and my father-in-law actually lucked out getting stationed in Hawaii for a good part of his enlistment, but he and his buddy Mark always had a great recruiting story to tell! 

[Rstewart]

I called and talked to my buddy first thing this morning.  He was an Army Ranger.  His vehicle ran over an IED in Jbad around 2012.  They got him repaired physically to 95%, but I can tell he always has a lot on his mind.
Thanks to all that served!