The greatest generation

[warpedbored]

Lately there has been a lot of talk about our parent's generation. I thought it deserves a thread of it's own. When you consider their accomplishments it is truly amazing. My father for instance was born in 1923. At 7 years old his mother died and his father was off to parts unknown. He and his 4 brothers were separated and sent off to live with various Aunts and Uncles who didn't really want them. The last thing they wanted during the great depression was another mouth to feed. Many of our parents knew what it was like to be hungry. He married my mom when he was 19 and shortly after the birth of my oldest sister was drafted into the army during WW-2. He walked across Italy with a BAR, was awarded two purple hearts and a bronze star. He would never talk about the combat. He only told us his funny stories about the war. After the war he took advantage of the GI bill and went to trade school where he became an electrician. Growing up I may not have had everything I wanted but I did get everything I needed. Because my father grew up during the depression he would never take any food for himself at the dinner table until all of his children had food on their plates first. To this very day my father is my hero and the standard to which I hold other men and find them lacking.

 

They worked on the WPA and built Hoover Dam, built our interstate hwy system, put a man on the moon and through their hard work forged the United States into the greatest power the world has ever seen.

[Guest Tony n Terrific]

Very well written and a great story Carl.

[Feathers268]

Exellent post Carl. Just a thought, wouldn't this fit into the Stateside forum? This does seem a more serious topic that TC would warrant.

[warpedbored]

Exellent post Carl. Just a thought, wouldn't this fit into the Stateside forum? This does seem a more serious topic that TC would warrant.

You're right Jim, I'll do just that.

[fineart]

Lately there has been a lot of talk about our parent's generation. I thought it deserves a thread of it's own. When you consider their accomplishments it is truly amazing. My father for instance was born in 1923. At 7 years old his mother died and his father was off to parts unknown. He and his 4 brothers were separated and sent off to live with various Aunts and Uncles who didn't really want them. The last thing they wanted during the great depression was another mouth to feed. Many of our parents knew what it was like to be hungry. He married my mom when he was 19 and shortly after the birth of my oldest sister was drafted into the army during WW-2. He walked across Italy with a BAR, was awarded two purple hearts and a bronze star. He would never talk about the combat. He only told us his funny stories about the war. After the war he took advantage of the GI bill and went to trade school where he became an electrician. Growing up I may not have had everything I wanted but I did get everything I needed. Because my father grew up during the depression he would never take any food for himself at the dinner table until all of his children had food on their plates first. To this very day my father is my hero and the standard to which I hold other men and find them lacking.

 

They worked on the WPA and built Hoover Dam, built our interstate hwy system, put a man on the moon and through their hard work forged the United States into the greatest power the world has ever seen.

Carl, you are lucky to have such a wonderful father. That turbulent period of history produced many heros like your father who has iron will, largeness of mind and sea-vast life.

[warpedbored]

Indeed I was lucky to have such a father FA.

 

I have heard of Tom Brokaw's book before but never read any of it. Here is a link to the first chapter. I think I'll buy it.

http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/brokaw-generation.html

[fineart]

Indeed I was lucky to have such a father FA.

 

I have heard of Tom Brokaw's book before but never read any of it. Here is a link to the first chapter. I think I'll buy it.

http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/brokaw-generation.html

I will go have a look at that link. Carl, may I know your father's birth date, if I am not very abrupt? Thank you.

[warpedbored]

Indeed I was lucky to have such a father FA.

 

I have heard of Tom Brokaw's book before but never read any of it. Here is a link to the first chapter. I think I'll buy it.

http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/brokaw-generation.html

I will go have a look at that link. Carl, may I know your father's birth date, if I am not very abrupt? Thank you.

Feb 26th 1923

[Guest Tony n Terrific]

Indeed I was lucky to have such a father FA.

 

I have heard of Tom Brokaw's book before but never read any of it. Here is a link to the first chapter. I think I'll buy it.

http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/brokaw-generation.html

I have the book written by Tom Brokaw. It is very well written and based on historical fact. His book makes you really appreciate what our fathers and moms lived thru if you where born betwwen 1945-1960. They are the greatest generation the US has poduced in our history.

[fineart]

Indeed I was lucky to have such a father FA.

 

I have heard of Tom Brokaw's book before but never read any of it. Here is a link to the first chapter. I think I'll buy it.

http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/brokaw-generation.html

I will go have a look at that link. Carl, may I know your father's birth date, if I am not very abrupt? Thank you.

Feb 26th 1923

Your father is a great pisces man! Edited August 16, 2009 by fineart (see edit history)

[chengdu4me]

I have to agree. My fathers generation was the greatest so far. We(Americans) have reaped what they have sown and squandered the harvest. My Dad was born in 1917. A family of 7 children. All you need to know about his upbringing, you can learn at the dinner table. When he is done, you can put his plate back in the cabinet..no need to go near the sink with it...it is so clean, it looks polished. Everything he has ever done has been for the good of his family. For himself, he asks nothing. The golf clubs he uses everyday he bought at a flea market back in 1935. He just repairs them and uses them. All original (well, more Weldwood and Contact Cement than wood and metal), but he never complains about them and he still drives 275 yards (He's 92) He has never owned a new car. Mom always had the new one. Dad never bought a car for himself that was less than 10 years old.

 

I will say this. He was never a "Dad". He was always a "Father". No play time with the kids. Never came or cared about the kids extra-cirricular activities. Never came to a baseball, football game. Didn't even want to hear about them. If we weren't studying or working, by his standards, we were wasting our time and he would have nothing to do with it.

 

I don't fault him for that attitude. It is all he knew. He, like everyone else, is a product of the environment they grew up in. He grew up in a tough one! The Depression in Arkansas was nothing to take lightly. Then, as soon as there was something to eat, the war came. Life for him was never easy.

 

Fast forward a few decades...I find out my Dad is the chief inspector for the rockets that will take man into outer space! The company he worked for was a sub for Boeing and other aerospace companies and they were making the rocket frames. My Dad was the man that put the official Okey-Dokey on every single rocket frame that was launched in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space flights.

 

Many years later, I found out from my Uncle that my Dad is the man that was the first person to ever be able to weld aluminum successfully. Want to know how? He did it in the bathtub so the aluminum wouldn't melt under the extreme heat of a torch. Did that back in WWII for the Generals airplane that he was crew chief.

 

Many times I was surprised about my Dads accomplishments! He never said a word about them. To him, that was his work. That is just what he did.

 

My Dad and I are alike in many ways. But we are worlds apart in many ways. I learned a strong work ethic from him. I learned good morals and ethics from him. Bu that is where it ends. Everything about us other than that are as different as night and day!

 

I wouldn't trade him for any other Dad in the world!

[warpedbored]

Excellent post! This is the kind of posts I had hoped to get when I started this thread. Keep them coming.

[Feathers268]

I'm in the situation were I'm 2 generations away. My Grandfather was too old for service in WWII and my Father being 11 mo old when Pearl Harbor was attacked. My Grandfather was a blue collar worker in Fresno and had raised 4 children in a modest little house literally a 5 minute walk to the metal shop off of the Santa Fe tracks. I remember my Grandmother not being worried about us Grandchildren because she had seen it all with her kids, and they all turned out alright so what ever we were up to, she knew we were going to be OK.

[knloregon]

William Wilson Jr.

 

Bill was my neighbor for 15 years, I moved next to him in a small cul-de-sac developed by WW Vets. A navy fighter pilot, an engineer and machinist working on the ammunition ship (below decks) which shadowed the 'Mighty-Mo' across the Pacific, and resupplied her big guns...

 

All three attended Franklin HS together here in SE Portland, but only the fighter pilot managed to graduate before Pearl Harbor, and so, went on to officer training. The other two quit school shortly after Dec. 7, and enlisted. ---The Greatest Generation.

 

But Bill was special. He had to lie about his age to get into the Army Air Corps. At 17, he was in a B-17, training in Texas, as the radioman, who happened to sit just aft of the bomb-bay doors, so one of his duties was to take pictures of 'bombs away' as they left the plane. During night training, an engine caught fire, so that proved his first experience bailing out of a B-17 ---as all but the pilot did.. (the pilot managed to land the plane in one piece.)

 

Then---welcome to war. His outfit was stationed in the boot of Italy, and more and more, their target were the German oil refineries in Ploesti Yugoslavia, a back door (not glorified) operation which involved 10-12 hour flights, with no fighter cover. Huge numbers of B-17's usually more than 100 planes... safety in numbers was the theory.. but the target was so important, that it was defended massively.

 

Another of Bill's assignments was top turret gunner as the German fighters swarmed over the much slower formation of B-17's... If you lost an engine to the fighters you were done.. as the loss of power forced the plane to fall out of formation, the fighters moved in for the easy kill. But the real hell started when the fighters abruptly pulled off----you were now in the range of the ground anti-aircraft.. It was interesting to young Bill---at first. Very colorful bursts of bright orange and oily smoke, and unless it was vry close to the plane, you couldn't even hear it---for two reasons---one the engine noise, and the second reason----hard to believe, but these guys were flying at 30 thousand feet---where modern jets fly, but the air is very thin---and cold---IN UNPRESSURIZED PLANES! 10 + hours in the air, wearing heated suits, and oxygen masks---that Plus facing enemy fire! So how do you know when you are in trouble? that is---if its not a direct hit the folds up the plane? When the shrapnel of the anti-aircraft blast pokes holes and rattles around the plane.

 

B-17's never went over Ploesti low, but they did go over slow, in straight formations without evasive actions, so vital it was to get accuracy on the target. But it was carnage for the bombers. On one such run Bill earned the first of his two distinguished flying crosses.. Their formation over-ran the target in heavy anti-aircraft fire. Many would drop the bombs, and begin evasive action, in a situation like this---the larger formation was turning and heading home. They didn't.. they went around, relined on the target, and went in for a second run. But they now were the sole target for the whole anti-aircraft defense. Of the seven planes, most managed bombs away on target, but three were blown out of the sky. Bill's plane was hit hard, and immediately lost one engine. Another was hit as well. But the four managed to regroup for an air defense against the fighters. Two able planes slowing to form up with two wounded planes. As one might expect, they were easy targets, non the less, And in the end, One of the able planes, who could have possibly regrouped, was shot down. The second wounded plane, was shot down. Bill's plane took more hits, and, eventually, lost all but one engine. continued. To the German's surprise, I guess, this sickly group did manage to shot down one of their fighters.

 

B-17's can't fly on one engine. So coming out of the sky, from a very high height, it was a classic effort, now alone, but out of fighter range, to lose weight. out went the machine guns, all the ammo ---everything that could be spared.. Didn't quite make it back but did ok. They ditched in the Adriatic Sea, on what Bill described as a beautiful. calm day, and clear water. His pilot put it down so well that it was almost like a slightly abrupt landing. They scrambled to get out fast, but by now the plane was so light, and low on fuel, it wasn't going down in any hurry, so they hung out on the wings until it settled, and then got in the life raft. Tito's ( the Yugoslavian resistance) men got word of a low flying B-17, and put to sea, rescuing the whole crew after several hours, returning them to Italy---to fly another day.

 

As they did.... and Bill went on to earn his second distinguished flying cross... Another story for another time..

[Yuanyang]

I have to agree. My fathers generation was the greatest so far. We(Americans) have reaped what they have sown and squandered the harvest. My Dad was born in 1917. A family of 7 children. All you need to know about his upbringing, you can learn at the dinner table. When he is done, you can put his plate back in the cabinet..no need to go near the sink with it...it is so clean, it looks polished. Everything he has ever done has been for the good of his family. For himself, he asks nothing. The golf clubs he uses everyday he bought at a flea market back in 1935. He just repairs them and uses them. All original (well, more Weldwood and Contact Cement than wood and metal), but he never complains about them and he still drives 275 yards (He's 92) He has never owned a new car. Mom always had the new one. Dad never bought a car for himself that was less than 10 years old.

 

I will say this. He was never a "Dad". He was always a "Father". No play time with the kids. Never came or cared about the kids extra-cirricular activities. Never came to a baseball, football game. Didn't even want to hear about them. If we weren't studying or working, by his standards, we were wasting our time and he would have nothing to do with it.

 

I don't fault him for that attitude. It is all he knew. He, like everyone else, is a product of the environment they grew up in. He grew up in a tough one! The Depression in Arkansas was nothing to take lightly. Then, as soon as there was something to eat, the war came. Life for him was never easy.

 

Fast forward a few decades...I find out my Dad is the chief inspector for the rockets that will take man into outer space! The company he worked for was a sub for Boeing and other aerospace companies and they were making the rocket frames. My Dad was the man that put the official Okey-Dokey on every single rocket frame that was launched in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space flights.

 

Many years later, I found out from my Uncle that my Dad is the man that was the first person to ever be able to weld aluminum successfully. Want to know how? He did it in the bathtub so the aluminum wouldn't melt under the extreme heat of a torch. Did that back in WWII for the Generals airplane that he was crew chief.

 

Many times I was surprised about my Dads accomplishments! He never said a word about them. To him, that was his work. That is just what he did.

 

My Dad and I are alike in many ways. But we are worlds apart in many ways. I learned a strong work ethic from him. I learned good morals and ethics from him. Bu that is where it ends. Everything about us other than that are as different as night and day!

 

I wouldn't trade him for any other Dad in the world!

 

Sounds familiar of my Dad too.

 

 

 

It also reminded me of my grandparents (his mom & dad) ... sitting in a cold (for Texas) house with sweaters on and the gas space heater in one room. Wouldn't spend the money for heating rooms they weren't in for long.

 

Same thing with the window A/C. Dad and his brother bought it after both had nearly fainted from being outside in the Texas heat ... could hardly get them to turn it on unless the temp was over 95F.

 

 

 

BTW grandparents were sitting on over 4,000 acres of paid for, working property. Hey! Maybe they were Chinese?