My Dad

[Stroodle]

All:

I thought you might like to see a photo that I did of my fathers accumulated "stuff"
from his time in the pacific. He was assigned to Shore Patrol on a small island in the northern part of the Phillipines. His stories never fail to amaze me. 17 years old, 10,000 miles from home. He told me that he saw them pile up P.T. Boats, at the end of the war, in a harbor, and burn every one of them. That there were piles of flight jackets burned on the beach....it really brought tears to his eyes. When he shipped back to the United States, he disassembled his Thompson, stowed it in his duffle bag. When they entered SanFrancisco bay, all personnel were ordered on deck with their gear/ duffels for a general inspection. He told me that the fantail of the ship was crowded with men tossing grenades, rifles, pistols and one man tossing a bazooka overboard. Needless to say, his Tommy Gun is now at the bottom of the San Francisco Bay, the inspection....never happened.

I made a big print for him, and gave it to him for Christmas.

It really is amazing what our fathers went thru.
Stroodle

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Stroodle, thanks for posting about your Dad. I always enjoy hearing about family members that served in WW2. Funny that you mentioned the "inspection", I have heard just the same from British Vets. The huge material wastage is something that also left an impression too.

Cheers, Ade.

[Jonathan M]

Hi Stroodle, thanks for posting about your Dad. I always enjoy hearing about family members that served in WW2. Funny that you mentioned the "inspection", I have heard just the same from British Vets. The huge material wastage is something that also left an impression too.

Cheers, Ade.

What makes this more markes is the rationing that still continued at wars end!

[Fred S]

Thanks for sharing this family story!

A french 1st Armored div vet told me that when he went back to Algeria when the war ended, the MP took the the only stuff he brought back:
P08 and holster, hanging on Heer belt and buckle set (he was wearing on the belt all different german medals he could find during his campaign...nice belt ).

[Stroodle]

My Dad

One of my favorite stories.....Dad and his ensign use to brew up their own liquor. One night, for lack of anything better to do,and obviously under the influence, they roared up and down an air strip blasting the air raid siren and firing their .50 into the air. This was done within days after the war was over. As dad was just a seaman 1st...he was only following orders. They did not get caught, just put the entire base on alert. Now that is a good time. It really makes you wonder what our fathers did when they were bored.

Another story involved the land crabs that were all over the island. Dad said that they scared the **** out of him, at night you could hear them moving across the
planks in his tent. He tried hitting them with his boots, when that did not kill em,
his 45 did the trick, he still shudders when he thinks about them.

The only time that I really saw him turn pale was when a possum had been hit on the road, and knocked into a creek in our front yard, it had been there for several days. Dad came up the drive way and went immediately to his bedroom and locked himself in. When I asked him if he was okay, he just looked at me and said that it was a smell that you never forget.....nothing else.

Stroodle