My mom was a WWII vet. Joined at the lovely age of 15 (ran away from home and convinced the army she was actually 21..really). Turned out she was the youngest woman but there's a whole organization of WWII vets who joined underage. There's a woman's WWII vet organization as well. Mom learned to drive by taking jeeps on the training track. Officers thought she was just a daredevil and promptly promoted her to motorpool. She drove officers around in US & Japan. Her WWII experience shaped her whole life. Nothing scared her after viewing Japanese POW camps.
My husband’s father was stationed on the USS Chew, and he and my mother-in-law, Carmen, were at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked. Carmen actually saw the Japanese planes flying between apartments bombing them, and she also watched the planes bombing the military bases. Her husband was home at the time, and immediately ran to his ship to report for duty. Carmen helped out in the hospital, and suffered a miscarriage as a result of the stress of the attack.
A funny story, Carmen was in a “bread line” to get food, and noticed that there were only men in the line. As it turned out, the line was for a whorehouse.
My dad landed at Normandy, and was promptly shot through the jaw. He was lying on the battlefield, and the medic arrived. They could not believe their eyes when they saw each other: the medic was from the same teeny-tiny farming town, Evesham, Sask. Canada, and so, of course, they knew one another. My father was moved to the very front of the triage line, and so he survived, came home to my mother, and they had two more children.
My father was not a "happy warrior". He only spoke of it to my mother. He told her the stories, and she told us. He told her that he believed that he only survived because he had an "in" with the medic. He said that they left many soldiers to die because it was not expedient to save them.
My mom was a WWII vet. Joined at the lovely age of 15 (ran away from home and convinced the army she was actually 21..really). Turned out she was the youngest woman but there's a whole organization of WWII vets who joined underage. There's a woman's WWII vet organization as well. Mom learned to drive by taking jeeps on the training track. Officers thought she was just a daredevil and promptly promoted her to motorpool. She drove officers around in US & Japan. Her WWII experience shaped her whole life. Nothing scared her after viewing Japanese POW camps.
ReplyDeleteLloyda
My husband’s father was stationed on the USS Chew, and he and my mother-in-law, Carmen, were at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked. Carmen actually saw the Japanese planes flying between apartments bombing them, and she also watched the planes bombing the military bases. Her husband was home at the time, and immediately ran to his ship to report for duty. Carmen helped out in the hospital, and suffered a miscarriage as a result of the stress of the attack.
ReplyDeleteA funny story, Carmen was in a “bread line” to get food, and noticed that there were only men in the line. As it turned out, the line was for a whorehouse.
My dad landed at Normandy, and was promptly shot through the jaw. He was lying on the battlefield, and the medic arrived. They could not believe their eyes when they saw each other: the medic was from the same teeny-tiny farming town, Evesham, Sask. Canada, and so, of course, they knew one another. My father was moved to the very front of the triage line, and so he survived, came home to my mother, and they had two more children.
ReplyDeleteMy father was not a "happy warrior". He only spoke of it to my mother. He told her the stories, and she told us. He told her that he believed that he only survived because he had an "in" with the medic. He said that they left many soldiers to die because it was not expedient to save them.