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You guys like WWII stuff, right? I have a little treat for you. Recently, my Grandpa passed away. Veteran of WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. During WWII he was the nose-gunner on the B-24 Liberator. He kept this little notebook throughout the war where he wrote down all of his missions(there's 27 of them total.) I came into possession of it, and thought it was incredibly interesting to read. Needless to say, I scanned each of the pages to share with you guys. Also, his handwriting isn't the best(he WAS only 18 when he went overseas), so I'll be typing up what each page says in my post. So, it might be a couple minutes between posts. There are some words that I still haven't been able to understand, so maybe some of you will be able to figure it out. Illegible words will be replaced by "[word]", or something in brackets. ANYWAYS, let's start this(I've blacked out his middle and last name): ------- "Gordon [middle and last name] Left- Returned- in case of emergency destroy by FIRE 1. Dec. 28, 1944 Venzone, Italy no flak, no engine trouble, o.k. today we are rookies Ship #19" -------- Side note, I think the whole "destroy by FIRE" line is pretty funny.
Anonymous
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You'd better vacuum seal all of this shit, OP, and not touch it for another hundred years.
Anonymous
Bomber Notebook !!A99pWgxVaX4
So this here was a Thank You card that was mixed in with the stuff I got. It's from a guy named "Melvin", who was the Navigator on my Grandpa's plane. It reads: "Gordon, We did meet you briefly when you came through Norman with your camper a number of years ago. There are indeed [word] [word] when in combat together going through the rigors of being shot at, and even being shot down but able to make it to a Yugoslav fighter strip. We were a good crew. May you and your family have a wonderful New Year- treasure your times together. Love, Mel." ----------- Now, my Grandpa's notebook never mentioned being shot down. One theory is that he wrote it down on those pages that were torn out. Who knows what happened. Now, this Melvin guy actually lives very close to me. I plan on going to see him within a week or so to meet him and tell him about my Grandpa passing away. I hope he's still alive and living at the address on the card(It was mailed in 2008.)
Anonymous
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>>12509509 First shitpost of the thread, folks.
Anonymous
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>>12509097 flak in his turret! must've really puckered up his butthole on that one
Anon
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Nice! my great uncle was a radio operator on B-17s in the same theater, though a bit earlier, and they operated out of North Africa.
Anonymous
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>>12509509 Handwriting is a function of practice, not intelligence.
Industry !!nOiN0HOjBlY
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>>12509509 No need to be an asshole.
DrZomby
>>12509507 The two words you asked OP are "bonds formed."
Bomber Notebook !!A99pWgxVaX4
>>12509531 Ah, thank you! The first word looked liked it had "ou" in it and I couldn't figure it out for the life of me.
Thanks a ton.
Anonymous
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>>12509507 damn those guys were hard, he mentions getting shot down like its nothing and just moves on with his life and sends thank you cards to his war buddies.
DrZomby
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>>12509539 No problem.
Sadly I know of no one in my family fighting in WW2.
All I know is my uncle who was a marine sniper for 'nam.
AVE NEX ALEA
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>>12509406 Fucking awesome.
Definitely copypasta all this stuff down OP; you have a real treasure here.
Again, I know lot of colleges and historical institutions have (or have access to) electronic databanks these days; I hope you'd be into sharing these stories you shared with us with the greater datapile.
Thanks for taking the time to tell the tale.
Anonymous
This was your gramp's view, probably. Imagine being at the helm of tons of steel you have no control of, with flak explosions surrounding your ship, and on coming fire from multiple targets, some much, MUCH faster than you with quicker aim
Bomber Notebook !!A99pWgxVaX4
I guess I could post this too. It's a list of my Grandpa's crew for a WWII bomber association he was in. You can see my Grandpa, Gordon, as a gunner. And the Melvin fellow who sent the letter is there as navigator. I blacked out last names, ASN #'s, and my Gpa's address just for obvious reasons. I would like to try and find everyone on this list. My Dad told me that his Dad wanted him to find the Pilot, Truman, but he never could. Anyways. I get pretty sad when I think that, in 10 or 20 years at the most, there won't be anybody left in this bomber association. In fact, there probably won't be any WWII vets left soon enough. I really wish I could listen to all of their stories, you know? It seems like not many people care about them/their time in the war.
Bomber Notebook !!A99pWgxVaX4
>>12509569 And standing on glass as well. Must have taken a lot of nerve.
He was a really great guy. In the few months before he died(of lung cancer), he suffered from Alzheimer's. I saw him about three weeks before he passed, and he didn't look good at all. I wish that I could have talked to him one more time, he had the coolest voice. Almost like a scratchy-er John Wayne voice.
Bomber Notebook !!A99pWgxVaX4
I found this as well. My Grandpa is in the very front, saluting.
Anonymous
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What a great thread. Kudos, OP - best thing I've read on here in literally 3 months. Thanks for sharing and I'm damn sorry for your loss.
Anonymous
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>>12509638 Classy as fuck.
Anonymous
>>12509621 Thanks a lot OP, awesome stuff
My great grandpa was in WW1 and wrote a journal. He mentions the weather in almost every entry.
Anonymous
Grandfather passed away on Wed. At age 88. He was a mortar crew operator and remembered the battle of the bulge and walking across Belgium. I'll post his notes tomorrow on this thread if it's still alive. I think it will be a fitting memorial.
Bomber Notebook !!A99pWgxVaX4
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Anyways, that's all I have.
Thanks everyone who posted in this thread, and everyone viewing it. I knew you guys would like this.
>>12509660 That's awesome. The father of the woman my Grandpa married was in WW1 as well. I don't know of any journals though. My family has a long history in the military. Almost like Sgt. Dan in Forrest Gump, when he says "Sgt. Dan had a family who fought in every United States war."
I don't know about anything prior to WWI, but every war since then I've had a family member in. My family has been traced back to the 1750's in Virginia as well, so it's very possible I had someone in The Revolution or Civil War.
>>12509683 That sounds awesome man. Start your own thread though so you get a clean thread. I'll definitely be looking for it.
Again, thanks guys.
Anonymous
>>12509590 You're fucking awesome, you need to show them the journal and ask them if they ever remember writing them down or what might of been in those missing pages.
Gordon's speed, komrade.
Anonymous
>>12509708 When I typed "writing them down" I meant to say, "ask them if they remember your grandfather ever writing them down."
Anonymous
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Surely your grandpa was a great man, OP. Thanks for sharing this.
Anonymous
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If you talk to the Melvin guy and get some more stories (especially the one about being shot down) be sure to tell us about it. Thanks for the great thread.
Bomber Notebook !!A99pWgxVaX4
>>12509713 >>12509708 >Gordon's speed Haha, from what I understand he got the nickname "Lighting" later on. Pretty fitting.
But yeah, I don't even know where to start looking for these guys. I would guess that most of them are dead, but where do you go to look up where people live? Is there some sort of Veterans thing to get in contact with them?
I am going to visit Melvin though. He lives probably 10 minutes from me and I'll be sure to bring along the pictures, notebook, etc for him to look at.
I sure hope he's still living there.
Anonymous
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OP, what you have here is truly remarkable. It's not something shiny, or really stand outish. It's not a medal, or a loot trophy, but the truth. The inner thoughts of a young man at war. This is a key that unlocks for us the mentality of the largest and deadliest human conflict in the history of the world. For the sake of future generations, OP, hold on to this. Treasure it, share it with your family, and make sure when you are an old man, it goes into the right hands. Something like this is priceless and should be kept forever. I thank you for this.
Anonymous
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>>12509736 Maybe once you get in contact with Melvin, if you can, he might have some information to go off.
I'm not sure, but if he can give you full names,ages, shit like and their last known location, it'd be a whole lot easier; I'm sure there's a WWII veteran database out there for the veterans to reach out to eachother, don't know for sure.
Lightning's speed, komrade
Be sure to keep that trip and try to get your threads archived, I'll be looking for them.
Anonymous
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>>12509736 As with most things the Internet is your friend. Start by doing a simple first name plus last na,e search, adding the middle initial if it's a common name. You'll het nationwide white pages listings and phone number records...and some will have aporximate ages listed. From there calling will be your best bet. It's all in the legwork.
Anonymous
Anonymous
Bomber Notebook !!A99pWgxVaX4
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>>12509805 You know, I remember a year or two ago there was a B24 that you could pay to ride on coming through our town. My Dad wanted to buy two tickets for him and my Grandpa, but they were like $500 each so he ended up not doing it. It was also around the time my Grandpa started to get a little worse so there's that.
Anonymous
Anonymous
Anonymous
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>>12509507 >"We were a good crew." Man, that's awesome but sad at the same time.
Here, listen/watch this if you want some manly tears.
http://www.beforeyougo.us/play_byg Also
>WWII, Korea, and Vietnam Your Grandpa was a badass. There's not many out there that were in all three of those wars.
Take care man. I hope you get to see Melvin.
Anonymous
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I wish I could talk to each WWII vet too. That'd be a cool project. Put a thing in newspapers around the country asking for vets to write stories all about their service and send them in. Would /k/ fund this?
Anonymous
>>0 I'd donate. Set it up.
Win~Win
OP, check out The Mighty 8th Air Force Museum here in Savannah, GA. Its fuckhuge and they love this kind of stuff. I believe its the worlds largest aeronautical wartime museum. They will prolly make an exhibit out of that if you provided digi copies. Good luck and share this as much as you can.
Bomber Notebook !!A99pWgxVaX4
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>>12509916 I'll be sure and check that out. I'll probably Email them about this stuff. Thanks.
Anonymous
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>>12509899 I don't know about me doing it, I'm not much of the leader type.
Anonymous
>>12509352 "Gen. Hgrs." I believe is actually "Ger. Hqrs." meaning German Headquarters.
>inb4 'dude that was 23 posts ago' also. badass piece of history there. I have most of my grandfathers stuff but he never had a notebook.
Bomber Notebook !!A99pWgxVaX4
>>12510185 That would make a lot more sense. Thanks bro.
Phil Ossiferz Stone !!esSirF6LRYN
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>>12510327 God bless you and your asskicking forefathers, OP. Please do rapidshare the whole thing and put it up someplace with the same commentary you gave us.
Anonymous
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My mom is an R.N. at a local nursing home. He gets attatched to alot of the Vets that come through because my grandfather was infantry in the pacific theatre, and his brothers served in Korea. She introduced me to an old sailor once who had suffered a dibilitating stroke, so I never heard his voice but when he learned that I was interested in history he handed me a dusty shadow box with ribbons and rank insignia and a picture of an old ship in it. He was the first Master Chief Petty Officer assigned to the carrier Ticonderoga (CV-14) in 1944.
why are you a f--? !KI62nNb6fo!!pIE1SruxqmF
why are you a f--? !KI62nNb6fo!!pIE1SruxqmF Sat 18 Aug 2012 10:20:09 No. 12510622 Report Quoted By:
OP is awesome. Thanks for sharing bro.
Anonymous
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>>12508585 [something] is probably the word "accurate"
>>12509507 [word] [word] is the words "bonds formed"
Anonymous
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Thank you OP, made my day. Your grandfather bombed the shit out of my country and I am thankful. >tfw not born yet to slay nazi scum
Anonymous
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This is the best /k/ thread in a very long time.
Anonymous
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that blue black ink is delicious do you still have his pen, op?