War Stories

[DREDIOCK]

I posted this true story in a responce I made on another thread but got to thinking it might deserve a thread of its own comprised of this and whatever true war stories you have personally heard over the years.

While this one in partcular is quite sad. not all of the stories need be so serious. Could be anything.

So what about it.
What true war stories have you heard from the people you know that served during wartime?
maybe if it gets enough responce it will even get a sticky.

[DREDIOCK]

My father in law who was a gunner on a cruiser in WWII almost laughed when he saw the ships gunnery here. His exact words were and I quote.

"Jeeessus Chrisst, If the )@*)@ g= AA guns were that _@*)$@ easy back then not a single M)($)%^*#!@ Jap plane would have gotten through and Mac would still be alive."

"Mac" From what I've been able to peice together from the bits and chunks of stories he's told me was a buddy of his with whom for whatever reason he switched places with during a Jap attack in 44.

I say "from the bits and peices" because he has never been able to tell the complete story to me all at once and be able to finish it.
During the most complete version he manages to get out he completely zoned out for about 10 minutes.

Abriviated it goes something like this

"This one day Mac and I decided we were gonna change places when the call came out that there were jap planes comming so we ran to our guns see, and we could see em comming in and this one )(#&*$# Jap was comming right at us like this (holding his hand at about a 15 degree angle) and we're trying to blast the hell out of his but this )()(#(*$# just keeps coming like this and...and...and.."

At this point this tough as nails crusty old man completely zones out. and I mean COMPLETELY zones out and he just keeps saying "and..and" while loooking out into the distance and tears rolling down his face.
I was dumbfounded for a moment. Then I realised he was reliving the entire experiance over again.
So Im like "poppop its ok, you can talk about it another time" but he just keeps looking into the distance and saying "and...and" the whole time. And I keep saying "Poppop while gently shaking him but nothing doing, he's completely locked in another place and time.

Like I said. this went on for like 10 minutes before finally he lowered his hands looked at me wiping the tears from his eyes and said "and the next day we (raising both hands in the air) "Whoosh, dumped em overboard and buried him at sea"

"Damn nice guy too. Just found out he had a kid two days before. And if we hadnt changed places that one day. they would have buried me instead of him"

Its ok popop

[seabat]

My dad enlisted in the Army right after Dec. 7th.   After basic he ended up landing in North Africa.   After a few weeks on the front, his unit was brought back to the staging area for re-supply.   During the fighting in North Africa the Luftwaffe made a habit of flying low over the terrain and then popping up and strafing the supply areas.  The ground pounder practice was as soon as anti-aircraft and other weapons starting going off everyone would grab a weapon and start shooting up.

During an attack he happened to be the first to a .50 cal and guessed right as to the direction the ME-109 was approaching.    He started shooting and tracked the 109 across the supply area and was pretty sure he got some hits.   However in the excitement after the plane had passed and went over a hill he did not let go of the trigger in time and sent some rounds into a truck area.   That had him a little nervous.   He got even more nervous when a captain came down to where he was demanding to know who was on the “.50 cal shooting at the Jerry.”   Thinking that he was in some serious “do-do” he kept quiet until another guy pointed him out.

Turns out the captain wanted to congratulate him on shooting down the 109.  

Ack was over modeled even back then.

[Simaril]

In my work, I come across people of all ages – and when I have a few minutes with guys of the right age, I ask them if they were in the war. Leo told me this story 7-8 years ago, and he’s a pretty straightforward guy – so I have no reason to doubt him, other than the sheer strangeness of the tale.

Leo was the pilot of a B-17G in Europe from 44 on. His ship was named Silver Baby, a natural metal job. After finishing the run over target, his plane got separated from the formation and they had to make their way home alone. They weren’t damaged to speak of, but the weather wasn’t cooperating – heavy overcast, no helpful landmarks visible, not even a clear position for the sun. Either navigator got thrown off by evasives after the run, or was incapacitated  (I think they were hit by fighters, but I’m not sure….don’t remember)….but whatever the reason, they had only the vaguest idea of where they were or even the direction they were going. They had 15-20 minutes extra fuel, so there was only a short window to decide and still make it home.

Leo said they made the best guess they could, and started in the direction they thought led home. It was a scary spot to be in, but what else could they do?

A couple minutes later, the tail gunner called forward, “Cap, there’s something behind us, but it isn’t a fighter….it’s a green light.” This bright green glowing object rapidly caught up with them, went over the top of the plane, and took position ahead. Everyone aboard saw the thing….but nobody believed what they were seeing. The thing then steered off to port, as if it was leading them – and Leo said, “as far as we knew one direction was as good as another, so I figured what the @#%$”. They changed direction to follow the green thing. It remained ahead of them and visible for another 20 minutes, then zipped off.

They crossed the cost of England, found landmarks, and landed late but fine.

When they told their story, the entire crew was pulled from flight status and had psych evals. They were hospitalized for combat fatigue, but everybody’s story was the same and the crew was otherwise functioning completely normally – so after a couple weeks they were returned to flight status and told to shut up about the story.

Some guys will troll for a laugh, but Leo’s not that kinda guy. He was earnestly convinced that he saw a UFO (though the entire idea of UFO’s didn’t come up till after the war). I don’t think he was pulling my leg….he was 100% convinced about what he was telling me. He never had anything else that sounded like a tall tale, in any of the other stories he told or in the professional work we did. But it is definitely a weird story.


He also loved to tell me that the only injury he got throughout the war came AFTER the war, when brakes failed on his 17 as it was landing in postwar Germany -- and he got a broken ankle.

[icemaw]

We had a guy working for our dealership for a while he was the shuttle driver. Turns out Harry was a ball turret gunner in a b17. He flew 30 missions over germany in the later stages of the war. He only saw 3 enemy aircraft on all the missions 1st one was a 190a8 that attacked his plane he fired a long burst at it  but it rolled over and dove away. The other 2 were both 262's being trailed qoute "A gaggle of p51's"  said the pony drivers would just follew them back to base and shoot um down landing.

[icemaw]

Oh heck I forgot about my old parts driver Buck he was a marine had all kinds of pics he would bring in and show us. He told me the most scared he ever was is when a buddy of his a b24 pilot. Asked him if he wanted to come on a mission with him. Buck said ya sure beats walking around in the jungle. So off they go on a noe bombing and straifing run. He had some great pics of this. Looking over the shoulder of the tail gunner he had a couple pics of parafrag bombs being dropped on a Japanese base. Man they were low. You could see the bombs exploding and people running. One pic showed a bomb just before is impacted a hut the next one show it as a cresent of debris flying up in the air. After they landed his buddy asked his if he wanted another ride and buck told him to PISS OFF you friggin guys are crazy.

[Pooface]

Originally posted by Simaril
In my work, I come across people of all ages – and when I have a few minutes with guys of the right age, I ask them if they were in the war. Leo told me this story 7-8 years ago, and he’s a pretty straightforward guy – so I have no reason to doubt him, other than the sheer strangeness of the tale.

Leo was the pilot of a B-17G in Europe from 44 on. His ship was named Silver Baby, a natural metal job. After finishing the run over target, his plane got separated from the formation and they had to make their way home alone. They weren’t damaged to speak of, but the weather wasn’t cooperating – heavy overcast, no helpful landmarks visible, not even a clear position for the sun. Either navigator got thrown off by evasives after the run, or was incapacitated  (I think they were hit by fighters, but I’m not sure….don’t remember)….but whatever the reason, they had only the vaguest idea of where they were or even the direction they were going. They had 15-20 minutes extra fuel, so there was only a short window to decide and still make it home.

Leo said they made the best guess they could, and started in the direction they thought led home. It was a scary spot to be in, but what else could they do?

A couple minutes later, the tail gunner called forward, “Cap, there’s something behind us, but it isn’t a fighter….it’s a green light.” This bright green glowing object rapidly caught up with them, went over the top of the plane, and took position ahead. Everyone aboard saw the thing….but nobody believed what they were seeing. The thing then steered off to port, as if it was leading them – and Leo said, “as far as we knew one direction was as good as another, so I figured what the @#%$”. They changed direction to follow the green thing. It remained ahead of them and visible for another 20 minutes, then zipped off.

They crossed the cost of England, found landmarks, and landed late but fine.

When they told their story, the entire crew was pulled from flight status and had psych evals. They were hospitalized for combat fatigue, but everybody’s story was the same and the crew was otherwise functioning completely normally – so after a couple weeks they were returned to flight status and told to shut up about the story.

Some guys will troll for a laugh, but Leo’s not that kinda guy. He was earnestly convinced that he saw a UFO (though the entire idea of UFO’s didn’t come up till after the war). I don’t think he was pulling my leg….he was 100% convinced about what he was telling me. He never had anything else that sounded like a tall tale, in any of the other stories he told or in the professional work we did. But it is definitely a weird story.


He also loved to tell me that the only injury he got throughout the war came AFTER the war, when brakes failed on his 17 as it was landing in postwar Germany -- and he got a broken ankle.

a great friend of my granddad's, jeremy, was a mossie pilot in 1944, doing nightraids. he said one night, they had a 109 on them, and dove under the cloud layer at full throttle to lose him. they managed to shake him in the clouds, but in the excitement totally lost where they were. they climbed above the clouds again, trying to find the rest of the group, but couldnt see them anywhere of course. they called up the flight leader asking for directions, but had no idea where they themselves were, so it was impossible.

he said at that moment, a bright blue pulsing light flashed in the sky to the right of them. they thought it was a flare, and thought that AA gunners were trying to pin point them, so they went into the cloud again. this really got them totally lost. they saw the light again, just to the left this time. they turned up the power a bit, and kept following the compass, but had no location to plot on the map, so were finding it difficult to find a safe way home. suddenly the light zoomed towards them through the cloud. they apparently thought it was flak shells or some kind of weapon, and were naturally scared cheeseless of it, but right before it smacked into the cockpit, it stopped, just feet away from the glass, as if it had changed speed and direction instantly. the light stayed infront of their plane for over 20 minutes, until they had a radio message from a radar station checking their identity. from there, the light zoomed into the air, and went behind them. they were given flight directions and a grid reference for their position, and the made it home fine. they told their CO, and were of course dismissed as crazy, and told not to mention anything to other pilots in the squadron, but apparently, weeks later the same thing happened again, this time to 2 crews from the same squadron, and the word slipped out. after that sightings went through the roof, but these were almost definitely just hoaxes or exaggerations.

anyways, thats his story. im a little rusty on it, because last time i saw him was a few years ago.


cant remember what all the pilots used to call the UFO's, anyone else?

[Slash27]

Foo fighters.

[Pooface]

Originally posted by Slash27
Foo fighters.

yeah thats it, anyone else ever hear other foo fighter stories? i find them quite interesting, not because of the alien thing, but because i saw this thing on TV about them, and how the sightings may have been linked to german rocket technology, was quite something

[parin]

What about that band:D Just kidding.


They were called "kraut fireballs"  as well.

[Pooface]

well, another, less serious story would be that of my other grandfather, who was a young sailor at the beginning of the war. he went on to be a commodore and the big boss at culdrose (some of you brits may know it).

anyways, in his earlier days, he was in command of an MTB. one day out on the water he was adkes to come back in, just him, and he was not to be followed. he followed orders and went back home, where they fitted radar to his lil boat. his MTB was the first british vessel to be fitted with marine radar. he was ordered to keep it top secret, and to go out and test the system range and effectiveness. he and his crew, all of which were big jokers, went round until late at night, jumping other boats in the dark with the radar, and beeping the horn right behind them lol. said it was one of the funniest things he ever did lol