Some wonder why its the "Greatest Generation..."

[therealUT]

Just thought I would share some random quotes from some WWII vets...

When we anticipated a casualty for the jump of 20 to 50 percent, and they deemed that acceptable. The initial estimate was that we would lose about 20 percent of the jumpers, and that was because of the conditions of the island itself. If you can imagine all the concrete and the jagged trees, everything that was left over from bombing.

Right after I landed, well, the person I saw was a trooper that was impaled on a steel girder, and it was just terrible, and a lieutenant ran over and shot him in the head to stop his...because he was just swerving and things like that.

When we went out, because of the tunnel system, the Japs could come back up behind us and then ambush you when you were coming back in. So you had to fight your way out and then fight your way back in.

Interview with Ken Rommel, Battle for Corregador.

Stephen Ambrose, in his book, called us a "band of brothers." Yet in the way we took care of each other, protected each other, and laughed and cried together, we really were even closer than blood brothers. We were like twins--what happened to one of us, happened to us all, and we all shared the consequences and the feelings.

When I landed, the only weapon I had was a trench knife that I had placed in my boot. I stuck the knife in the ground before I went to work on my chute. This was a hell of a way to begin a war.

Like mos veterans who have shared the hardship of combat, I live with flashbacks. The dark memories do not recede; you live with them and they become a part of you.

Major Dick Winters, Beyond Band of Brothers

What a lousy way to leave the world. Nobody to say goodbye. Nobody who loves you waving from the door. No friends or relatives at the bedside. How quiet it is--and godforsaken lonely. In the old days the soldiers had drums and bugles. The English still have bagpipes. Nobody gives a damn for us, nobody cares. We'll fight their war, they'll make all the money and get good jobs and gripe about the butter shortage and chisel on the gas ration.

PFC David Kenyon Webster, Parachute Infantry

Most people look upon the WWII vets with a sense of sterility. However, they were human. They suffered human emotions and human pains, and they questioned their purpose as many do now.