oldroy Loc: Western Kansas (No longer in hiding)

I have tried a number of those tests and scored pretty well on all of them. I taught American History for 25 years in high schools and always did a lot on WW II since I have always believed that it was very important in our history. I thought there were a few too many questions like the Nutella one too. One of the most important foods they developed because of the war was Spam and I really loved it. My wife won't let me eat it now because she thinks it has too much fat in it.

EN Submarine Qualified Loc: Wisconsin East coast

I have to admit, I had an insight on many of the items on the quiz. I began 1st grade the month Germany invaded Poland.
Was visiting relatives after church on 7 Dec 1941 and heard about Pearl after returning home to the battery powered Atwater-Kent console radio.
Further, was called in from chores to listen to the broadcast from Normandy on 6 June 1944.
I remember rationing, scrap drives, War Bond drives, etc. WWII was not fun for anyone. The nature of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not revealed at the time. Lived in a farming community but there was a shortage of help because people were driving to Kingsport or Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Kingsport due to the wartime expansion of Eastman kodak and Oak Ridge because of building the facility for the centrifuges to separate the isotopes of Uranium for the nuke bombs.
If anyone has questions, just ask and I will give you my best shot.

badbobby Loc: texas

threw me too Loki

oldroy Loc: Western Kansas (No longer in hiding)

My oh My you are surely an old fart. I was 9 ten days after Pearl Harbor. We learned about the bombing when we got to my uncle's house about 13 miles from home. He was so overcome by it all since he was 27 and sure he would be drafted soon. He was killed about 4 months later.

EN Submarine Qualified Loc: Wisconsin East coast

Was your uncle drafted? A war casuality? May he RIP regardless.
I had an uncle who survived the Bataan Death March and 3 years in the copper mines in Japan.
A cousin shot down and MIA in South Pacific as a gunner on a B-25 in 1942.

badbobby Loc: texas

how old were you when you enlisted EN?
I was barely sixteen
born August 1926

EN Submarine Qualified Loc: Wisconsin East coast

date of birth 10/29/34. I was in the Recruiting office 10/27/1951. When asked my age, I told them, "I'll be 17 Monday" I gave them what probably was the easiest recruitment of their careers. Sworn in 5 Dec 1951. Headed for Great Lakes by train that evening. Honorably discharged 23 Jan 1961 (56 years ago to the day). Did 4 more years in active reserve, 14 total and some change.

Big dog

Ooh boy, you guys make me feel like a puppy. I was stationed in Barbaras Pt, Oahu, just east of Pearl harbor. We camped out on the beach often and found lots of old munitions, some spent and some live. I also had the chance to wonder around Midway Island a couple of times. Saw some amazing history there.
Of course, I really am just a pup, I enlisted in '75 at age 17. My parents had to sign for me.
I got to see Kwajalin Island and enrolled Truk Island.
I never got to European side of the pond.

badbobby Loc: texas

my error
thought you said you were in WW2
thank you for your service

pafret Loc: Northeast

Reminds me that around 1950 there was a slang insult wherein you called someone "a raunchy plumber in a Spam Can". It was grossly insulting but I have no idea what it meant other than the equivalent of nyah nyah.

Hawaiians allegedly love Spam, the few time I tried it I came to the conclusion I would rathewr have a tablespoon of lard out of the pail. I am not fond of Pennsylvania Dutch Scrapple either, but my wife was a fiend for the stuff. She wouldn't eat the finely crafted sausage I made or any commercial sausage, so go figure. De gustibus non est disputandem!

pafret Loc: Northeast

I was five years old on 12/7/41 but I remember rationing, blackouts, scrap drives and severe shortages of gasoline and tires. I saw a guy in a flivver riding on the wheel rims because he couldn't get tires. The local theaters used to offer free admission on Saturday afternoons if you brought in scrap iron. We kids used to start for the movies and tear down other peoples wrought iron fences and gates as we went. We crossed the tracks to get there and if there were any joiner plates lying around the ties they weren't there after we passed.

For meat we had victory burger, you started with a patty the size of a dinner plate and ended up with a slider and a pan full of grease. Of course you saved the grease for the collectors to make nitroglycerin.

Everyone had opaque blackout shades and when the sirens went off all lights went out, the shades came down and the neighborhood safety warden would circulate through the neighborhood in a blue helmet carrying a big flashlight. If he saw a light you never heard such cussing.

oldroy Loc: Western Kansas (No longer in hiding)

My uncle was a heavy drinker and he was trying to navigate a catwalk over the Panama Canal (eastside) late at night and fell in. Natives all said they didn't know anybody who ever made that one when there was a ship coming out and the gates open. I don't know how far out to sea the body was when they recovered it. He was in a chemical outfit that would have let the smoke roll in case of an attack.

I had a cousin who avoided combat at one Pacific island when he broke his ankle jumping from the landing boat. Another cousin was on a light tank that got blown all to hell by a German 88 from a heavy tank. My favorite story from that thing was an Infantry BAR man. He said he saw several times when Germans bailed out of 2nd and 3rd story buildings when the BAR came through the door.

My uncle was drafted before January 1942. He had two kids but I guess they liked his age.

oldroy Loc: Western Kansas (No longer in hiding)

My favorite thing about Europe in 1956 and 1957 was that there were so few signs of the war in Germany. Those people really worked at rebuilding to get that all done in 10 years. Pictures I saw of the Munich area around the train station convinced me that they were hardworking people. Every time they got the place running again along came the Americans and the station was once more rubble. Coming in on the train you could see lots of damage, still, pock marks in the buildings and like that. There was still a lot of rubble across the street from the station which proved that the Americans had to have done most of the bombing there. Everything was pretty much destroyed in that main part of the city other than the buildings that were the headquarters of the government, a couple of churches and some more like that. All of those things were untouched although just across the streets everything was gone. The Americans did most, if not all, the daylight bombing and could pretty well lay those things on the money when they could see where it was they were to hit.

QuestGirl Loc: Jayhawk Country

My grandfather survived the Bataan Death March. He was awarded a medal as a Colonel in the US Army by the Phillipine military. He was not Phillipino. I meant him only once in the very early 1960's on his death bed.

PeterS

I got 24 our of 30.