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BamaNomad
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D
Similar with my dad. He was in the Navy in WWII. I do not know what he went through, but I know if was horribly bad. I could NEVER get him to tell me about his experiences.
Looking back, I feel sure he was a candidate for PTSD, because even though he became moderately successful in civilian employment until he died, I remember times (he never knew I was listening) that he spoke harshly about some of the crap he put up with at work.
My family has a good military back ground. Below is Daddy, Me and one of my sons who is today a very successful engineer. He served 2 tours in the Gulf on the carrier Kitty Hawk.
The bottom picture is my uncle (Mom's older brother). He was a B17 pilot. He talked very little about his missions. About the ONLY thing I ever got out of him was that one day he got back on 2 engines and on that mission all of his crew survived. Never learned much more from him.
I have to say, the older I get, the more I understand how those vets felt about their experiences. I will not talk to my kids about my time in Nam.
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Elijah
I will say I am very fortunate to have been a peace time veteran during the Reagan years.
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Dragsix
DZAUTO said:
Similar with my dad. He was in the Navy in WWII. I do not know what he went through, but I know if was horribly bad. I could NEVER get him to tell me about his experiences.
Looking back, I feel sure he was a candidate for PTSD, because even though he became moderately successful in civilian employment until he died, I remember times (he never knew I was listening) that he spoke harshly about some of the crap he put up with at work.
My family has a good military back ground. Below is Daddy, Me and one of my sons who is today a very successful engineer. He served 2 tours in the Gulf on the carrier Kitty Hawk.
The bottom picture is my uncle (Mom's older brother). He was a B17 pilot. He talked very little about his missions. About the ONLY thing I ever got out of him was that one day he got back on 2 engines and on that mission all of his crew survived. Never learned much more from him.
I have to say, the older I get, the more I understand how those vets felt about their experiences. I will not talk to my kids about my time in Nam.
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Tom, maybe reconsider, tell your kids if they are so interested? Once you are gone, so is your experience. That Ray York was so generious telling me about his experiences, it would have been lost forever if he hadn't decided to talk with me. Dont let that happen. It took years and years before this country was even able to come to grips, even just a little, with viet nam. My own father, who served twice during the Korea era (once in the navy and once in the army) never really got what was going on in vietnam or why the men coming home were not like the veterns he knew. All he knew was that it was unlike any other war that he was familiar with and by 1974, he had absolutly no intention of letting his oldest son (me) age into the draft. To let your story and experience go silent would be a tragic loss, and lets face it, you guys are not getting any younger.
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I
Shame on us for allowing the uncomfortable and inconvenient parts of our history to be forgotten, denied, taken down and destroyed or hidden. Our history is our own, it is how we got here and the wise would use it to steer their path to the future we deserve, one that would honor the best among us that kept us safe and free.
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Tabasco
The Fort Worth Vintage Flying Museum has a dance every year. There is 40s Music and a lot of the people dress in 1940s style clothes. Hundreds of people attend every year. My sisters have been going to it for over 30 years.

Every year they have the veterans of each war to stand to be acknowledged. Last year they asked WWII veterans to stand. There was only one.
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D
My grandfather was a WWII vet. He served in one of the early Navy CB units in the Pacific. I have his flag, his "cruise" book, and a bunch of old photos that he and his friends took while in the Pacific. He never really spoke about his service to anyone, not even very much to my grandmother. When I asked her about it, she just said that he didn't talk about it, but had mentioned something about building a bridge for a bomb. He was in the Pacific, in a CB unit that spent time in Hawaii and the Marianas islands, and his cruise book mentions missions that cannot be written down. Pretty sure that his unit must have been the group who unloaded the A-bombs from the ship to Tinian island, and built the airfields there. I need to get in touch with a CB museum and see what records I can find for his unit. One thing on my bucket list is getting to Tinian to see what's left of the airfields and the pits they used to load the A-bombs into the aircraft.

I have been to Japan, and visited Nagasaki a couple of times with several of my co-workers. It's a very somber place, especially at the museum and at the hypocenter. We did have one older gentleman giving us a strange look while we were there. I nodded to him out of respect and went on with what I was doing. He appeared to be old enough to be a WWII veteran at the time.

My uncle (Dad's younger brother) is a Vietnam veteran. He really doesn't talk about his time in the service, either. I know that his barracks were bombed one night, and he lost a few friends that night. I sit quietly and listen when he does talk about it, though those times are few and far between. I still have the little camo pants and shirt that he sent me while he was there. He's dealing with some health issues now, likely from the Agent Orange.
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oledad39483
My Dad was the nose gunner on a B-24 Liberator in WWII. Flew 30 missions behind enemy lines. Saw D Day first hand. He turned 100 on Dec. 26, 2022. He is now a resident of the Veterans home in Collins, Mississippi. They don't make men like his generation any more. Farm boys with a job to do. American heroes for sure. I am so proud of him. Steve
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wagonman100
My wife cuts hair. One of her clients was in the Flying Tigers. His name was Mac. He was shot down on his first mission and had to jump out of the plane with his parachute not all the way secured. And he had one mission where he was the only one of his group to come back.
A little while back she started to have to go to his house to cut his hair. He turned 100 last year, but as you may have picked up from me saying his name was Mac, he passed away a few months after his 100th birthday. He was a really great guy. He would often send gifts home to me with my wife. He gave me a gauge panel from the 1930s.
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iquitos46
Just a bunch of kids from farms and cities some of them probably didn't even need to shave yet and they were all thrown together with one common goal to save us, to save the world. They did it, often scared and homesick yet they faced some of the greatest evil ever unleashed and beat it down. When they were done, those that could came home and built a life free for us to live safely. Other boys didn't make it back. I remember some of their families, bedroom doors closed on rooms full of a boy's memories. We were taught to show those folk's great respect. I can't imagine how they would feel seeing that sickening swastika daring to show itself once again. We can't honor them enough but I sure won't see that symbol and not call it out. Rest in peace guys, we owe so much to you.
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angs1957
We all need to learn from history so these events are not repeated, but it seems that now a days its inevitable that different countries are allied together and drawn into conflicts made by others, folks that have seen and battled in wars know the brutality that isn't wiped from their memories, Lest Not Forget.
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Shadetree55
I enlisted in 1973 in the Air Force. During the pull out from Nam. I worked on the B52s and KC135s. It was amazing the condition some of these came back to the states. Patched up, beat up but made it back. IMO any who served in any war or as they called Viet Nam a "conflict" is a hero. And yes, we're supposed to learn from our history. My brother-in-law was the only one in my family that would talk to me about his 3 tours in Nam. He told me things that made me cringe knowing things our military had to do to survive. The Viet Cong were cruel. Send a kid into a group of men with a grenade. Shoot the kid or die. It's not hard to understand the mental state some of our service men and women came home in. My deepest respect for all!!
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Ron Holz
dadsfiveseven said:
My grandfather was a WWII vet. He served in one of the early Navy CB units in the Pacific. I have his flag, his "cruise" book, and a bunch of old photos that he and his friends took while in the Pacific. He never really spoke about his service to anyone, not even very much to my grandmother. When I asked her about it, she just said that he didn't talk about it, but had mentioned something about building a bridge for a bomb. He was in the Pacific, in a CB unit that spent time in Hawaii and the Marianas islands, and his cruise book mentions missions that cannot be written down. Pretty sure that his unit must have been the group who unloaded the A-bombs from the ship to Tinian island, and built the airfields there. I need to get in touch with a CB museum and see what records I can find for his unit. One thing on my bucket list is getting to Tinian to see what's left of the airfields and the pits they used to load the A-bombs into the aircraft.

I have been to Japan, and visited Nagasaki a couple of times with several of my co-workers. It's a very somber place, especially at the museum and at the hypocenter. We did have one older gentleman giving us a strange look while we were there. I nodded to him out of respect and went on with what I was doing. He appeared to be old enough to be a WWII veteran at the time.

My uncle (Dad's younger brother) is a Vietnam veteran. He really doesn't talk about his time in the service, either. I know that his barracks were bombed one night, and he lost a few friends that night. I sit quietly and listen when he does talk about it, though those times are few and far between. I still have the little camo pants and shirt that he sent me while he was there. He's dealing with some health issues now, likely from the Agent Orange.
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I found your article to be very interesting, thanks for sharing that. When you see your Uncle, tell him THANK YOU from a Vietnam Grunt with Agent Orange Cancer. The next time he decides to talk about Vietnam ,ask him about the off the wall stuff he saw, he may open up a bit more for you.
My brother Cpl. Gary L. Holz was in Vietnam when I was ,he was a door gunner on a Huey, he died in Vietnam on 10-08-67 , he was First CAV. I was a ground pounder, 4TH INF DIV. Came home in 67.
Ron in Seattle,WA
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K
Dadsfiveseven!
I have been a Navy Seabee since 7-27-85. I am in contact with all of my surviving brothers and almost thousands more via Facebook and one of my shipmates I served with in ACB1 back in the early 90's, he is an absolute Genius on veterans, and he visits them very often and promotes gatherings here in the Pacific Northwest, another fellow shipmate much older than I, Normand DuPuis, is an active veteran that promotes Sea Bee gatherings across the USA as he travels back and forth across the Unites States.

I am 100% positive that between all the gathered knowledge and history that "someone" will know some of what he experienced and possibly even knew him. I'm aware of several WWII Seabee survivors, we just lost one last week at the ripe age of 102 or there abouts. Our big brothers are fading fast after all these years of being Plank owners of our Creation on March 5th 1942.

I would love to know more.

My Fellow Tri Fivers, ALWAYS tell the stories! Tell them long enough that our youth remember to tell them to their youth! Keep our history ALIVE!
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D
koolminx said:
Dadsfiveseven!
I have been a Navy Seabee since 7-27-85. I am in contact with all of my surviving brothers and almost thousands more via Facebook and one of my shipmates I served with in ACB1 back in the early 90's, he is an absolute Genius on veterans, and he visits them very often and promotes gatherings here in the Pacific Northwest, another fellow shipmate much older than I, Normand DuPuis, is an active veteran that promotes Sea Bee gatherings across the USA as he travels back and forth across the Unites States.

I am 100% positive that between all the gathered knowledge and history that "someone" will know some of what he experienced and possibly even knew him. I'm aware of several WWII Seabee survivors, we just lost one last week at the ripe age of 102 or there abouts. Our big brothers are fading fast after all these years of being Plank owners of our Creation on March 5th 1942.

I would love to know more.

My Fellow Tri Fivers, ALWAYS tell the stories! Tell them long enough that our youth remember to tell them to their youth! Keep our history ALIVE!
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Koolminx,
Grand dad was in the 10th Naval Construction Battalion, Company B, his name was Marion Jackson Daniel, and went by Jack. I have the telegram that was sent to him telling him that his first-born, my dad, had arrived and was doing well. I have a picture of Grand dad standing beside a B-29 Superfortress, the "Dangerous Lady". A little digging on that one and I found that it was assigned to the 505th Bomb Group, 483rd Bomb Squadron stationed on Tinian island. I have a lot of his old pictures, some of which are not suitable for posting here, but I'll try to post a couple soon.
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dadsfiveseven said:
My grandfather was a WWII vet. He served in one of the early Navy CB units in the Pacific. I have his flag, his "cruise" book, and a bunch of old photos that he and his friends took while in the Pacific. He never really spoke about his service to anyone, not even very much to my grandmother. When I asked her about it, she just said that he didn't talk about it, but had mentioned something about building a bridge for a bomb. He was in the Pacific, in a CB unit that spent time in Hawaii and the Marianas islands, and his cruise book mentions missions that cannot be written down. Pretty sure that his unit must have been the group who unloaded the A-bombs from the ship to Tinian island, and built the airfields there. I need to get in touch with a CB museum and see what records I can find for his unit. One thing on my bucket list is getting to Tinian to see what's left of the airfields and the pits they used to load the A-bombs into the aircraft.

I have been to Japan, and visited Nagasaki a couple of times with several of my co-workers. It's a very somber place, especially at the museum and at the hypocenter. We did have one older gentleman giving us a strange look while we were there. I nodded to him out of respect and went on with what I was doing. He appeared to be old enough to be a WWII veteran at the time.

My uncle (Dad's younger brother) is a Vietnam veteran. He really doesn't talk about his time in the service, either. I know that his barracks were bombed one night, and he lost a few friends that night. I sit quietly and listen when he does talk about it, though those times are few and far between. I still have the little camo pants and shirt that he sent me while he was there. He's dealing with some health issues now, likely from the Agent Orange.
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You might want to start your search here:

United States Navy Seabee Museum

www.history.navy.mil www.history.navy.mil

The museum is located at the Port Heuneme Naval Station near Ventura, CA.
Bob
57 Matador Red Sport Coupe, 2x4 carbs
San Diego
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iquitos46
I did some therapy with a Viet Nam Veteran trying to work through his PTSD many years ago. When he finally opened up it was like staring straight into hell. Like so many, he went in just a country boy, good natured and whole....didn't come back the same. There were a lot of tears shed during that time, not all of them his. He finally found some peace and stayed above ground.
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BamaNomad
I was born when my father was 26, two years after being discharged from the Navy after the end of WWII. He died at 84 in 2006 (17 yrs ago). I served in the USAF from 1968 til 1972; It will not be very long before we'll be having the same conversations about 'Vietnam vets' as we're having now about WWII vets... Time moves on and waits for no one!~
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D
I followed the link to the Sea Bee museum, and they had a link to the history of the different CB units. There is no direct mention of Tinian in the history of the 10th, but there are a couple of somewhat cryptic entries about verbal orders to undetermined locations. I'll really need to get his service records to know for sure.
Pics as promised... Pictures of pictures. Granddad is in the middle in the first two. The last one with the Dangerous Lady may not be him after all. The Pic is fairly small, but I was able to zoom in on the electronic version. If it's not him then I have no clue who it is.
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Dragsix
What great photos!
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D
silfox said:
You might want to start your search here:

United States Navy Seabee Museum

www.history.navy.mil www.history.navy.mil

The museum is located at the Port Heuneme Naval Station near Ventura, CA.
Bob
57 Matador Red Sport Coupe, 2x4 carbs
San Diego
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Bob,
I can't thank you enough for that link. Things are falling into place more now than they have before. Based on what I already had in-hand, I see that he was initially in the 10th CB's, and was transferred at some point to the 50th CB. The telegram announcing my father's birth, beer ration card, etc. that I have shows 10th CB. The cruise book that I have is for the 50th CB, and I had already found him listed there in Company A. The picture he is in is of the men who were assigned to the 50th after the initial pictures were taken on Midway Island. I followed the link to the history of the 50th and it confirms that they were assigned to Tinian. There is also a statement about 17 men and one officer who were on temporary duty with the pontoon detachment 3rd Brigade returning to the Battalion. They had participated in the assault phase on Anguar (Palau, next to Peleliu, long way from Tinian), having gone ashore on their "D" day. I'll have to get my hands on my grandfather's actual service records to find out if he was one of those 17 men or not, but I do have some clues that he may have been. I have a couple of pictures of a dead Japanese soldier, and a few pictures of my grandfather and his friends with several skulls on some crates. Maybe that is why he never really spoke about his time in the service. I really don't know, maybe I never will.
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