I had my sister retrieve my dad's old WWII navy uniform and text me a picture. I looked everything up, and what I found confirms what Dad told me, namely that he was a radarman, petty officer second class, in the Amphibious Forces. He was on a troop ship that landed Marines in the Pacific Theater of WWII.
The ribbons are, from top to bottom, left to right, the WWII Victory ribbon, American Campaign ribbon, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign ribbon with three battle stars, and the Philippine Liberation ribbon with two battle stars.
Our new LT has some big shoes to fill.
One WWII story. Dad told me once his ship was on the way across the Pacific. As a radarman, he was on the bridge, and he detected a signal ahead of the ship. He informed the captain, but he was an old salt from WWI, and had no interest in newfangled gadgets like radar. Old school.
The signal came closer and closer, and finally the old barnacle encrusted captain stationed men to watch, and it turned out the object was one of those sea mines shaped like a big ball with detonators sticking out like pins.
Emergency maneuvers were initiated, and although the mine barely missed, traveling down the side of the ship, there was concern the backwash would suck it and it would go off against the stern. Fortunately, no boom.
Afterwards, the WWI captain had a bit more respect for what the radarman had to say.
Greatest generation. Thank you to your father.
ReplyDeleteSuch thinking is why the Rough Riders had single-shots while the Spanish had bolt-actions.
ReplyDeleteYour dad was one of the best. My uncle was in the Navy and was assigned to a minesweeper. His ship was involved in 4 major invasions. North Africa, Sicily, Anzio and D-Day. He never talked about his experiences and took them to the grave at 80 years of age.
ReplyDeleteDifferent people handle it different ways. I had 3 uncles in WW2. One was Navy and had no problems telling war stories. The other 2 were Army and one never spoke of it. The other would only talk about his wartime history if you became a war veteran.
DeleteWhen I returned from Desert Storm there was a family reception for my cousin and myself. My uncle pulled us off to the side, opened a bottle of early 40's brandy and proceeded to tell of his time in 3rd Army.
I have no problem telling about Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan when asked but I do not generally bring up the topic. My dad would not talk about Korea but had no problems talking about other aspects of military life. He and I are the only ones that retired.
My dad was the same way. He never spoke of Vietnam until I came back from the war.
DeleteI loved my dress blues( cracker jacks) and couldn't stand the whites. Unfortunately I spent most of my time in the pacific,so no blues.
ReplyDeleteGive congrats to the Ell Tee for us.
ReplyDeleteI was at the store today. 3 black guys. We traded elbows, USS Chicago, USS Coral Sea, USS LaSalle and the store clerk from the city's name sake.
ReplyDeleteNot quite like the morons (USN) at sea today.
ReplyDeleteGiven the patch on his shoulder you may want to check out: www.combined.com It's a Brot site dedicated to all the allies who served in the Combined Amphibious Operations during WWII. Plenty of good history of all the Combined Operations forces of which my Dad served in from North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and Normandy.
ReplyDeleteSorry, it's
ReplyDeleteWww.combined.com
Fat fingered it...
Combinedops.com
ReplyDelete