My grandfather was from Nebraska. He said many airmen spoke multiple languages. Mine was fluent in German but as someone said prior to this there were dialects not just to SS but to areas. So you had to know where you would say you were from by how you spoke the language. He also knew some Italian but was told to never use it and I don't remember why exactly, but they did like the fact he knew it. He always said he thought he was picked for his size and skill, not everyone could fit in the places he could, but his education which was worlds better then than now got him through doors others could not go.

I'm halfway through reading The Longest Day right now. The stories and pictures y'all are posting are amazing. Please keep 'em coming.

We've discussed before how Ryan didn't say much about Rudder in "Longest Day".

I recall it was because Ryan sent Rudder a bunch of questions about his part in D-Day, and Rudder replied, "We accomplished our mission."

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Who knows if any of my dads side would be here had they not gotten stuck in seaweed.

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This is always a crazy thing to think about. My kids' direct lineage includes the Omaha survivor I detailed on the first page, a Bataan death march survivor, and two survivors of a Nazi polish forced labor camp. Long odds.

By June 1944 my grandfather had been sitting in a Nazi concentration camp for about a year. He joined the resistance in his country shortly after Germany invaded in 1940 and he and several of his comrades were given up by a Nazi sympathizer in early '43. The family was sitting down for dinner one night when they heard a knock at the back door. When my grandmother answered, several SS entered and explained he was being taken into custody. My dad tried to hug him as he was being led away when one of the SS guards pistol whipped my grandfather and knocked him out cold. They dragged him out in front of my grandmother, dad, and his brother.

My grandfather was transferred between several internment and concentration camps and was forced to engage in both hard labor and some skilled labor as he was a tradesman. The prisoners frequently cast lots or entered a lottery to determine those who would be transferred to camps in Germany including Dachau, Buchenwald, and Bergen-Belsen. He drew seven times but thankfully was never selected. Over 1200 of his resistance comrades were transported into Germany and more than 200, including several boyhood friends, never returned home. He was transferred for the last time in mid-1944 and remained there until his camp was liberated in May 1945. He made it home just in time to watch Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery lead a column of British troops through his hometown in a victory parade, and it was the first time he had seen his family in over two years.

My grandfather was offered a factory manager position at home but decided to bring the family to the United States instead. He had spent a couple of years in the States in the mid-1930's as his brother had already immigrated and he fell in love with America. I think he also wanted to escape some of the memories he had from the war. His brother sponsored him and the family came over a couple of years later and settled in Houston. I never got to hear any of the details of the war from him as he died when I was 10, but I learned a lot from my dad and uncles after his passing. He is one of my two personal heroes in life and I am glad to have known him.

Thanks to the OP for starting this thread! So many fascinating stories and some amazing history.

ccard257 said:

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Who knows if any of my dads side would be here had they not gotten stuck in seaweed.

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This is always a crazy thing to think about. My kids' direct lineage includes the Omaha survivor I detailed on the first page, a Bataan death march survivor, and two survivors of a Nazi polish forced labor camp. Long odds.

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My mother in law, who was 5, witnessed the Nagasaki bomb devastation. They had heard about Hiroshima, and in preparation for the American invasion they had stored food and supplies in caves on nearby islands. They headed to the caves days before. She heard the plane overhead, heard the explosion and roar while hiding in the caves. That's all she would say about it. She married a Marine from S Texas that had served in Korea and was stationed in Japan where he went on to serve 3 tours in Nam. She died in her mid 50's of cancer.

My kids direct lineage is Nuclear survivor, D-Day, Korea, and Nam.

Weekend bump. Please keep sharing stories.

Alright, I've got another. Same grandfather who got the Luger thrown at him I posted about on page one.

They're sitting outside of some town getting shelled by mortars, my grandfather and a buddy are laying in the foxhole hugging the earth as much as they can. All of a sudden a loud thudding sound right on the edge of their foxhole. They look over and a mortal shell buried itself about 8 feet away in the side of their foxhole, a direct hit, but didn't go off. After the shelling subsided and they secured the area, they went back and hooked a really long rope around the shell and pulled it out and drug it along the ground with a jeep to try and get it to explode. When it didn't, they finally had an explosives/ordinance guy come over and take it apart removing the priming charge and the main explosive.

Just like the Luger, my grandfather wasn't one to leave anything not nailed down behind, so he shipped it back to the states and we still have that mortal shell to this day. I did a report on it back when I was in middle school for history class, brought it to school and everything. Too bad that would never be allowed to happen in today's world.

Had it gone off, very likely would have killed him, which means my dad wouldn't have been born, which means I wouldn't be here. So I guess I have to thank the good Lord and whatever German factory worker messed up when they were assembling that mortar shell.

Could have been sabotage. Jewish slave labor was used in some factories, such as Penumundie, and they sabotaged what they could.

Ok. Different story.

My father while waiting for d day walked into a pub. Being a 6 ft 17yo Dutch man, a trained paratrooper and full of himself, he managed to get in a fight and they threw him in the cellar. After 30 mins he scrounged around and found and stole a 2 ft long shillelagh. He thought about going back upstairs but instead he broke a window and escaped.

I still have the shilelagh

None of my family went to Europe. Pacific theater. Grandfather was stationed at Guadalcanal with the Navy, He was the exec for the the outfit that maintained the radios for the planes stationed there. He said even though he was not a pilot, he went up a couple of times in a Dauntless. His brother was a Naval Aviator. Flew a AD 4 off the USS Princeton during Korea, Hit by AA fire, managed to land at a friendly field, Retired as a Captain. Buried at ANC. Father served on subs during Korea. Buried at Ft Rosecrans, San Diego. FIL was with the 4th Marines at Iwo Jima. His CO told him if they got off the island alive, he would give my FIL a job back in the States. They both did and the CO was good on his word. My FIL was with the company over 50 years. D Day related. I participated in Rudder's Funeral at G Rollie. They had a group of students line up in columns between GRollie and the street where the dignitaries got out of their cars. I got to shake hands with LBJ. He was a big man with the boots and hat on.