Some funny stories from WWII.
Dad and best buddy, Jim, had been stationed together, and trained for several years before WWII. One of their jobs was to operate a 50 caliber machine gun. Their company was sent to a Pacific Island, during WWII. It was their first battle. Dad and Jim were sent to defend the left flank, and set up their gun. The word was there was going to be a Banzai Attack that night. Dad wrote mom a letter after the battle, and I read it not too long ago.
The two men were about 100 feet from the closest Marine. Their job was to protect the left flank. After hours of waiting for the attack, a noise was heard in the brush not far away. The tension rose, and dad and Jim were ready for action. After many minutes, finally, a Billy goat came out from the brush, and went over to the men. Dad and Jim fed the goat some of their rations, and had a good laugh. Because of the restrictions of war, no word of a battle was included in the letter.
My dad was there for the battle of the Philippines. Finally, when Douglas MacArthur returned, my dad and his buddies were on the beach where the General landed. They made a sign:
"With the help of God and the United States Marines, MacArthur returns to the Philippines"! Lots of pictures were taken, and the SP's chased the Marines with the sign off the beach. Then there are pictures of MacArthur standing at the open gate of an LST, about to enter the water to walk to the beach. His pant legs were wet up to the knee.
It is said that MacArthur landed at only one spot. I am sure he landed at many places, and not just one.
I saw those pictures when I was a kid, and dad left when I was 8. When I found dad's third wife, I met her in Vista, California. She has the albums, and I opened them. It is amazing how it was as though it was 1949, and I was a kid, looking at those pictures. This occurred in October 2002, right after I discovered my dad had died October 1999.
Many of my friends from W6MLK, Red Cross Radio Amateur Emergency Communications, which I belonged to, were WWII vets. W6URA, Lammy Yeoman, was a radio operator on B-17's, in 8th Air Force.
Lammy's plane was about to land at an English base, and Lammy had forgotten to wind in the long wire antenna (200 feet long). As the plane landed, the antenna wrapped around a huge power pole, and pulled in out of the ground.
Tom