Memorial Day, the Greatest Generation and hats

[Chuck Bobuck]

I lost my uncle last week at the age of 93. He was my dad's twin brother. My dad passed away in 2007, age 91. Both served in the armed forces in WW II. Dad was in the 3rd Armored Division and loved to attend the reunions. Both of them were proud to be a part of the allied effort in the war. Dad met my mom in England and managed to convince her to leave England, come to the U.S. and marry him.

I remember dad had a wide brimmed, fedora he kept in the closet. I don't recall him wearing it, but I sure remember examining it as a young boy. I can only remember him wearing stingy brim Stetsons in the 60's and later. By the 90's He wore mostly tweed or cloth caps and fedoras. I guess he changed with the times and simplified his life as he got older. I found a camel colored furfelt Stetson, hardly worn, in the closet after he passed.

With Memorial Day approaching I thought I'd make a post remembering my dad and his twin. According to the Dept. of Affairs, once 16 million strong, U.S. veterans of World War II are dying at a rate of more than 1,000 a day and now number about 2.5 million. The Greatest Generation, the guys who fought in WW II and who were, generally, the last generation of men to wear a fedora are passing away rapidly.

I found this drawing of the man in the fedora in a family album. I think my dad's brother, who passed away at age 21, drew it. I'm not sure what year, but I'm guessing early 40's. I don't know who the subject is, I believe he's just a fictional character dressed in the style of the day.

Dad in uniform, uncle wearing fedora...

Dad in coat and fedora...

 

[Jabos]

If you don't mind a story about my grandfather and your Dad's 3rd Armored Division, I'll post it here. My grandfather flew P-38 Lightnings in Europe. Pilots were assigned for two week stints as air ground liason with tank units. In Jan '45 my grandfather's time came and he was assigned to a unit of the 3rd Armored. They had just come off the line after the Bulge to be refitted.

Nobody would speak to him. Finally a guy came up and told him, "Lieutenant, it isn't you. We just got wiped out by a P-38 outfit". They had several tanks destroyed and lost a lot of guys. As my grandfather said, "That could have been us that did it. We were in that area and we were 'working' tanks." He said there was one guy who had been with the tank outfit since D-Day and he had the shakes so bad he could hardly light a cig. Fortunately for my grandfather the outfit didn't go back on the line until after his two weeks were over. He was so relieved he didn't have to go into combat with them. He said they taught him that he should never get out of the tank for any reason in combat. The pilot that replaced him with that unit went back on the line with them. My grandfather learned that pilot got out of the tank to loot and was shot and killed.

My grandfather is now in declining mental health. This is a very sat time indeed. We should never forget. You are no doubt proud of your Dad and Uncle. What they did was extraordinary.

 

[Mr. Paladin]

Thank you both for the poignant posts regarding your loved ones and their sacrifices. We would be unrecognizable as a nation without men like these.

The stories give life and insight to your respective avatar pictures.

God bless them and those like them, and God bless the U.S.A. :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[hatflick1]

My uncle on my father's side drew his first enemy fire in North Africa from the French. He hated them ever since. From combat there, he served as a foot soldier in Sicily and then fought up the Italian boot. He was captured, the patrol walking directly into a German U-shaped ambush. He spent 18 months as a POW. I inherited the postal cards he sent home, each bearing a stamp with a portrait of Hitler's profile. He escaped three times. Each time he was found and brought back much like Steve McQueen's character in The Great Escape. Interestingly, he spoke German. He claimed that toward the end of the war, the guards often discussed how the Gestapo could, at any minute, come for them. Naturally, the guards also began befriending the American POW's, hoping to surrender to the Yanks rather than the Russians who were approaching. Evidently, whatever Soviet POW's the Germans captured and interned in this Stalig were marched over a hill and never seen again. So it goes, as the late Kurt Vonnegut would have said.

 

[Colby Jack]

They were truly one of a kind individuals. They loved and appreciated this country, because many knew first hand what it was like to live under facism, communism and socialism. They fought for the most unique country in the world. Even the Hollywood elite left their comfortable lives to fight and possibly die for this country. God bless that generation, remember them and they're wonderful fedoras.:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[Widebrim]

My father, T-5 Lee Bartoletti, 17th INF REG, 7th INF DIV, U.S. Army. In early '42, Dad was listed as a Penn. coal miner, and so was exempt from service. He wrote the government, stating that he was no longer a miner (he had moved to NYC) and that he wanted to enlist in the Army; Uncle Sam very happily (I'm sure) obliged him...He participated in the following campaigns: Aleutians (where the first Japanese banzai occurred, on Attu), Eastern Mandates (Kwajalein Atoll), Leyte (Philippines), and Ryukyus (Okinawa, where he said he encountered the fiercest fighting). Awarded Bronze Star, Purple Heart (two awards), American Campaign Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, CIB, and others.

For years my father would only speak to me of his experiences, but then later opened up, and even began to attend local Memorial and Veteran's Day services. (A very fond memory I have is of him marching with other vets at a Forest Lawn, Glendale ceremony, wearing his garrison cap with sky blue piping, Ike jacket, and full set of ribbons.) Dad is now 91, and remembers very little of his war service, but I have a full interview on audio cassette, and partly on VHS, of his recollections. He is the true hero of our family. (And he still wears a dress fedora...)

 

[Colby Jack]

Bravo!:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap
I have family buried at Forest Lawn...a beautiful place it is.

 

[nulty]

So sorry at the loss of your Uncle. Blessed was he and your dad to live to such an age. I don't think we will see a generation of men like that again. So modest of their accomplishments.

I was surrounded as a child by the folks who came of age in the depression and lived through the WWII years. I undoubtedly have come to be who I am due their influence but I doubt they would recognize it in me.

We lost an Uncle, one of the last of that generation in my family last year at the age of 90. He flew in B-17's . That I know and I believe he was a radio operator. The only story he ever told me was of seeing the Enola Gay on a tarmac in Hawaii and how bad the food was in the army and how cheap the cigarettes were at the PX on the base...

I don't think we can Thank enough or ever fully understand the sacrifice made by our relations in those days. I for one would like to honor it more often. I try each time I wear a hat....and in my heart where it lies.....

 

[Doc Smith]

My wife and I are taking our son down to DC for the Memorial Day weekend. Part of it is business, but you can bet there will be a family visit. My father (enlisted in the Signal Corps in Jan '42, retired as a COL from the USAF in '68) and mother (officer's wife from '45 to '96) are there, in the most exclusive old folks home on Earth: Arlington Cemetery.

Hats off to them, and all their neighbors.

 

[scottyrocks]

Speaking of WWII vets, my father-in-law passed away May 7. He was 88. He was a radio operator on a B25 during the war. He was about the nicest guy youd ever wanna meet, maybe too nice.

 

[univibe88]

My grandfather on my mom's side was a year into law school when the US entered WWII. He promptly enlisted in the Marines. I once asked him why he would enlist while in the middle of his degree. He enthusiastically responded, "Because they bombed Pearl Harbor, that's why!"

He became a Drill Instructor and trained troops in San Diego before shipping out to the South Pacific. He saw action in Guam and Guadalcanal before landing on Iwo Jima. He left his arm there but came home alive, and received a Purple Heart.

He ultimately finished law school and went on to live a very full life. He will be 96 this summer. He is frail but his mind is all there. It's amazing to talk to him about his childhood and the war. He's a walking, talking Golden Era movie. Everything is a romantic story.

 

[Boodles]

Salute to the lot of them

I cannot image that we'll ever see people like those guys again. I hope we do but don't expect that we will.

 

[Chaps]

My Dad passed away in 1989. He served in the Navy during WWII and served in the Air Force during Korea as an AP (Air Police). He was tougher than a nickel steak. I miss him dearly.

Danny

 

[FedoraFan112390]

My grandpa joined the Army in 1939. He was originally stationed in Panama, guarding the Panama Canal, but around early '42 was sent to Europe. We don't know much about his service except that he served in N. Africa, France and Luxembourg. We also know he reached the rank of Staff Sgt., received a Bronze Star and was given the title of ''expert marksman.''

In late January 1945, two days before the Battle of the Bulge ended, while serving in Luxembourg, he was shot in the leg by a sniper The bullet shattered the tibial bone and he nearly lost it; he remained in the hospital for over a year, going for surgery after surgery--he lost a chunk out of his lower leg but still was able to walk, run etc, though with a limp. He only very rarely spoke of the war; he didn't even say much to my grandmother, his wife of 20 years. He died in 1975 and so whatever he did in the war died with him. Of his time in the services, he only said two stories, one grim and one happy.

Here's the happy story.

1- While serving in Europe, he and his men were one day ''clearing out'' a perfume store of Germans. When they had finished, ''clearing'' out the store, they went in. One of his men began stuffing bottles of the perfume down his shirt, saying something to the effect that he'd make a lot of money back home. Moments later, they heard machine gun fire errupt and they ran out of the store and jumped into a nearby foxhole--which caused the bottles under his shirt to burst all over my Grandfather's soldier, causing him to reek of perfume.

 

[Widebrim]

My Dad passed away in 1989. He served in the Navy during WWII and served in the Air Force during Korea as an AP (Air Police). He was tougher than a nickel steak. I miss him dearly.

Danny

We need more men today who are tougher than a nickel steak, but with a heart of gold underneath (which I suspect your father likely had).

 

[Cigarband]

Back in 1975 I had the honor of working with Master Sgt. Bill Fleming. He was 75, and picking up a little work to keep busy. He joined the Army in 1918 and went to Europe in the AEF. (American Expeditionary Forces) Was wounded at Chateau Thierry, and received the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. After the Armistice, he spent two years in Germany with the Occupation Army. He returned to CONUS and was mustered out in 1920. In 1930, having a family to support and no work, (The Great Depression) he rejoined the Army, and was a Drill Instructor until 1940, when he retired on a half pension and opened his own Service Station. The day after Pearl Harbor, at age 41, he reenlisted in the Army, and trained Americans to fight, until 1944. In April of that year, his wife was killed in an industrial accident while building B-26 bombers. In May he transferred to England, where he served as a Master Sgt. in an Infantry company in the Third Army, commanded by Gen. George Patton. He fought in every action the Third Army undertook, and was awarded one more Bronze Star, a Silver Star, and one more Purple Heart. He was demobilized in 1945. He returned to CONUS, remarried, raised another family, and ran his Gas Station until he retired at age 70. At 75, he got bored and came to work with us in the Mailroom three days a week.
When I left a year later, he was still there. He went west in 1989. He was of the generation before The Greatest Generation, but it was men like Master Sgt. Bill Fleming
who taught them how to be great.:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[jpbales]

My grandfather Ron Bales was a Captain in the Navy during WWII. He passed when I was young and I know little about his military career except he was the captain of landing craft and we still have his M1911.
I would just like to honor him and all veterans that have served our country. God bless you all!
Semper Fi

 

[Widebrim]

Back in 1975 I had the honor of working with Master Sgt. Bill Fleming. He was 75, and picking up a little work to keep busy. He joined the Army in 1918 and went to Europe in the AEF. (American Expeditionary Forces) Was wounded at Chateau Thierry, and received the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. After the Armistice, he spent two years in Germany with the Occupation Army. He returned to CONUS and was mustered out in 1920. In 1930, having a family to support and no work, (The Great Depression) he rejoined the Army, and was a Drill Instructor until 1940, when he retired on a half pension and opened his own Service Station. The day after Pearl Harbor, at age 41, he reenlisted in the Army, and trained Americans to fight, until 1944. In April of that year, his wife was killed in an industrial accident while building B-26 bombers. In May he transferred to England, where he served as a Master Sgt. in an Infantry company in the Third Army, commanded by Gen. George Patton. He fought in every action the Third Army undertook, and was awarded one more Bronze Star, a Silver Star, and one more Purple Heart. He was demobilized in 1945. He returned to CONUS, remarried, raised another family, and ran his Gas Station until he retired at age 70. At 75, he got bored and came to work with us in the Mailroom three days a week.
When I left a year later, he was still there. He went west in 1989. He was of the generation before The Greatest Generation, but it was men like Master Sgt. Bill Fleming
who taught them how to be great.:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

Loved this account! I wish that I had met the man.

-"Pick up your weapon and follow me, I am the INFANTRY!"