My Father was there...
Submitted by Steve on 17 October 2007 - 3:12pm.
My father was a 16 year old French kid who lived in Normandy during the D-Day Invasion. After the Allies liberated Paris, he joined the French Navy and they told him to go home until they called for him because they were still reorganizing after the liberation. A couple months later, my dad found out that he was wanted by the police for being AWOL and he was so scared that he went out and joined the French Foreign Legion. He fought with the Legion until the end of World War II. He was always very grateful to the Americans for coming to Europe's aid, and he immigrated to the U.S. after the war.
My Father
My father was drafted in January 1943. He participated in the Normandy invasion (D+3) and on to Kassel, Germany. He served in the 147th Engineer Combat Battalion. I am currently writing his story based on over 100 letters he wrote to his parents. It is exciting to learn more and more of my father and to hear his voice once again through his letters.
-Ed-
world war two
I was in WW2 and Korea
was at Omaha and Bulge
went all way accross France and Germany on in to
Austria and northren Italy.
didnt much like Korea. People there didnt have morals
as we know them.
littlehope
Thanks for the story
I love collecting personal stories about ordinary people in war. I remember some of the people I met while living in Germany. My Bus Driver, Max, was drafted at 17 into the Bundeswehr towards the end of the war. The first American he met was out on patrol. He got the drop on the GI by a little bit but couldn't pull the trigger. He was captured and spent the rest of the war working a farm in Louisiana. He was treated well and loves Americans to this day.
My first year French teacher was also German. He told us how life changed in the mid 30's. In those days the brown shirts were kind of a joke; they were laughed at when they came into the gasthauses (local pubs). He said one day things changed and you didn't dare laugh at a brown shirt. The Germans lost their power and freedom almost without noticing it. So far Americans haven't fallen to that level . . . yet. keep an eye on Hillary.
My grandfathers were there
Wow, that is a neat story!
My grandfather (adoptive mom's dad) served in the U.S. Army in 1944-1945. He served in France and Italy. I really need to learn a lot more about his experiences, and it's a shame I do not know more, as he lives just across town ... and I used to live right next door to him.
My Opa (birth mom's dad) served in the German Luftwaffe for several years. He was a pilot before the war started, joining at age 17 and training other pilots by age 19. He served of course in WWII; he couldn't say no. His plane crashed three times. The third time left him in a coma. When he awoke, he was in a hospital under American control. It is said the thanked God for General Patton! My Opa immigrated to the United States in 1950, being sponsored by his mother's brother. He reported to the draft board to serve in Korea, but was unable to.
I just found and met my birth family in late December/early January of this year. I met my Opa for the first time in February and saw him only one other time (in June, when he came up from Houston for my 30th birthday party) before his sudden death on Labor Day. I wish I could have learned about his war experiences from him, rather than from his obit and an article, but thankfully, his/my family's history is very well recorded, so at least his story did not die with him.