Stories from D-Day
Below are a few interesting WWII/D-Day stories related on a message board I regularly visit......
Both of my grandparents fought in WWII. One of them was a POW in a prison camp for most of the war (shot down while doing a bombing run), while the other fought in North Africa, Sicily, then entered France D-Day+4 the whole way through V-E Day. Neither of them spoke too much about it and I never understood why until recently. After reading and watching documentaries (Band of Brothers), you realize that the men don't want to talk about it because the memories of it are so horrific.
I often wonder how I would've reacted if placed in such a situation. Having the boat pull up to the shore and once that hatch goes down you know that your chance of living is less than 50%, but you still do it for the honor of your country. The heroism just amazes me.
I only got to personally thank one of my grandparents for what they did. I did it in a letter only months before he passed. But anytime I see someone with a hat or shirt that says WWII vet I make a point to go up to them and thank them. It does seem like much but each time I get a smile and a short story.
My Grandad was at Dunkirk. He lost a few good friends there, and I'm not sure he ever really got over what happened during Dunkirk in particular. I do know that he very nearly drowned that day, a man who was a stronger swimmer saved his life basically. They had to swim out to the boats that were picking them up, as the water was too shallow for them to come in. He wouldn't of made it if not for this other guy who basically saved his life as I say.
Previously to that they were in the sea for 24 hours or more. The Germans were bombing the beaches, and the water was the safest place as it lessened the effect of the bombs apparently. He is still afraid of water to this day.
He quite often talks about other things that he witnessed in WWII, some good, some bad. One particular story was when he was going in convoy going through France, at night so that they wouldn't be spotted. He was driving a truck, following another that had about a dozen guys in the back.
The trucks had little glow lights underneath the chasis, so that the guy behind could follow, but planes couldn't see from above. Suddenly, this glow light 30 or so yards ahead flew off to the right like "some sort of UFO". This truck was actually hit by a train, which was also traveling with its lights out. I presume most of, or all the guys died in the truck, I didn't want to push the issue.
On the bright side he met my Gran whilst on leave, and spent 40 odd happy years with her. He met her whilst on leave in WWII.
I think my Grandad feels pretty daft for enlisting in the army. The young boys were lied to about what to expect, they were made to believe there was a lot more glory involved than there actually was. (I'm English BTW, I can't speak for circumstances in the states) He was underage, just turned 17 when he signed up. To some degree I think he felt a bit of a mug for getting involved in such a situation that he didn't have to, due to his age. In light of this I've never really thanked him as it didn't seem appropriate. He did what he had to do really, there wasn't a heck of a lot of choice involved.
My grandfather actually enlisted before the draft. He told me that he knew there was going to be a draft so he thought he might as well choose which branch he wanted to go into.
He wrote his brother back home and told him to enlist in the Navy because in his opinion he was safer on a boat. His brother did and while in the Pacific his ship was split in half by a Japanese Torpedo. He survived and it was a running joke between the two for years to come.
