met an old guy that claimed to be a WWII 8th Air Force veteran?

[green papaya]

I was out today and met an old guy that says he was a WWII vet that served with the 8th Air Force

he says he's 80 years old and was born in 1931

that would make him only 14 years old in 1945?

 

[Shangas]

Maybe his dad did, but I doubt they allowed teenagers into the air-force, even back then...

 

[The Wolf]

Either he didn't tell you his real age or didn't tell you his actual military experience.

Sincerely,
The Wolf

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Too bad you didn't get this fellow's name. You could have matched him to this database. Or if he isn't on the list yet, you can alert them.
http://www.pownetwork.org/phonies/list_of_names.htm

 

[dhermann1]

There were probably plenty of 16 year olds who squeezed by in 1945, but 14? I very much doubt it. Sometimes octagenatrians can get confused about things. He may have served in Korea. Or he may simply be full of you know what.

 

[green papaya]

he did mention that he runs some type of museum out of state for the 8th Air Force

might be one of the docents or vollunteers

 

[Two Types]

Not very likely. I know there was a Canadian gunner who died in 1945 aged just 16. And a Canadian named Thompson who joined the army aged 14, serving in Normandy aged 18. I believe there were 17 year old Australian and Canadian Spitfire pilots, both of whom died in combat.

The youngest british army prisoner of war that i know of was just sixteen. And certainly plenty of 14 year olds got into the army at the start of WW2. usually to get thrown out again when their mothers found out. The youngest british casualty was 13, but he was in the Merchant Navy. I also know of a 12 year old who served in the merchant navy throughout the war and was just 18 in 1945.
But the airforces tended to be different. Certainly in the UK, there was more attention paid to whether people had school qualifications. Thus the chance of extreme examples of youths in the air forces is, in my mind, less likely.
That said, there is always a chance that he is telling the truth. I researched the subject of underage British volunteers in detail for my most recent book (Blitz Kids, The Childrens War Against Hitler') and know that the truth is just as strange as most people's lies!

My conclusion: highly unlikely, but just about possible.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

That guy's definitely more the age to have been in Korea. My grandpa was born in 1930 and was supposed to go, until he fell out of a church window and broke his leg.

 

[Tango Yankee]

Sounds about right, Tom. My father was born in 1927 and served in the Korean War. He did talk about serving in the Merchant Marines towards the end of WWII, which would have put him in the 17-18 year-old zone at that point.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

My dad who was born in 1928 was in Korea with the 40th Infantry Division where he served in the division's signal company. And my uncle who was in the Air Force around that time or a little after was born in 1931. At 80 he still goes golfing and goes to car shows.

 

[Frankie Lamb]

I've run into people like that, and one sure way to find out if they're legit is to ask questions about where they served; like, what unit, what type of aircraft they either worked on or flew; ie, what kind of engines did they have, Pratt and Whitney, or ?. Also, get them to tell you about the weather where they were, and what kind of chow. All of these things you can make a mental note of and check up on it later. In the meantime, you might just find you've been talking to a real, honest to God gen-u-wine hero. I was only thirteen when I enlisted ( Korea ) and got away with it all the way to the end of the first day, following my medical exam. Incidentally, for those of you who've been in the service, that was my first experience with, "turn your head and cough!" They sent me back home ( after feeding me ) and told me to come back when I was older. Then, when I was 21, they had the nerve to draft me !!
As for believing the old guy's story, it's like Ronald Reagan said; "Trust, but verify."
Frankie Lamb

 

[old barnacle]

I served in a parachute battalion (of course not in WW2), every time I hear those Walter Mitties " I....para this and that.....", I must laugh.
When I ask then about their service number, they usually come up with crap numbers which don´t exist in the military, and when I suggest to have a jump, they usually drop a load in their pants, haha.

 

[Lily Powers]

Sometimes people, for whatever reason, feel the need to build themselves a more intriguing life. Maybe they're down on their luck and feel no one would give them the time of day if they had nothing grand to share, or maybe they admired the bravery of others in a specific era, or perhaps they're just plain unbalanced. In the course of my work, I handled matters involving a woman who had died and whose friends had planned on donating her artwork to a Holocaust museum. For the decades she knew these friends, this lady told stories about her work in French Resistance. Trying to find next of kin for her, the research ended up debunking her story. Her friends were shocked (but didn't lose their fondness for her) and her belongings went to her siblings in another state. Yeah, claiming to be a WWII vet when perhaps he wasn't is cheesy and disrespects the veterans who earned their place in history, but unless the guy is trying to claim the glory or scam someone, at 80+ years I might be inclined to cut him some slack and ignore it.

 

[lframe]

My great-uncle, Builo, went in at sixteen. All of my other great-uncles were enlisted in different branches and he wanted to be there with them. My Great-Granny lived on the family farm and they were ten miles to the nearest phone or telegraph in those days, so there was no way for her to rat him out. Because he did that though? She got her say when he was back home. He enrolled in highschool at 21 and had to graduate. She made sure all of her kids graduated high school.