Tribute to WWII Veterans!

#27
#27
Virgil Ritchie 82nd airborne WWII 1942-45 Grandfather. Passed when I was still young so I never had a chance to really talk him about the war. Probably wouldn't have said much about it save for a few funny stories he told my dad, like one about a monkey that stayed in their base and would drink their beer and eat their toothpaste. But I remeber him well and loved visiting him and riding around in his orange '56 Chevy. And yes he was a vols fan :)
 
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#28
#28
70 years ago today, 1941 Tennessee basketball All-American Gilbert Huffman participated in the amphibious attack on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France (June 6, 1944). His courage on D-Day epitomizes what it means to be a Volunteer!
 
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#29
#29
My uncle, John Lee Powers, was an infantryman in the Battle of the Bulge. He earned a Purple Heart. I remember hearing a story about him shaving years later and the blade catching on some shrapnel working its way out of his body.

I can remember being about 10 or so and him showing me a collection of pistols and nazi daggers that he had brought back from the war. That was really the only time I can remember him really talking about it.

He was a good man. RIP.
 
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#30
#30
Thomas Creasy (great uncle) - served on USS Arizona; x-ferred off (luckily 2 weeks b/4 Pearl Harbor). Serve 44 years in Navy. I have a laminated "liberty card" from the USS Arizona with his picture on it. I talked with him extensively about his experience - incredible.

Foster Creasy (uncle) - served with Patton's third army as they marched across 5 European countries; hit Normandy on day 3

Owen Creasy (great uncle) - Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima (need I say more)

Loyd Brooks Meador (uncle) - Battle of the Bulge

Ollie Creasy (grandfather) - WWI - motorcycle courier and message runner (one of the most dangerous positions on the battlefield in WWI)

Thanks to these guys and all others.
 
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#31
#31
My grandfather Alfred Landgraff 82nd and later 101st airborne paratrooper Awarded silver star for valor on D Day for jumping behind enemy lines and securing gun on the merderette river with a Thompson sub machine gun. I have a photo he took as they were preparing to jump from the planes. He wrote on the back here we go!
 
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#33
#33
Moving briefly from the realm of family members to someone in whom we can all take pride, there was this fellow named Robert Reese Neyland, who "served in the China-Burma-India Theater, supervising the transportation of material through monsoons and across the Himalayas to the troops commanded by General "Vinegar" Joe Stillwell. During his military career he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal and the Legion of Merit and made a member of the Order of the British Empire.

He retired from military service a second time, in 1946, with the rank of brigadier general." Robert Neyland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
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#36
#36
My Dad and all his brothers were involved during these times. Some in the landing on the beach, some in the snow covered ditches around Berlin and others in places they never talked about. They all went in to do what they thought was right at the time. It affected each of them in different ways. Every single person who participated in that war to secure victory for our side was a hero no matter what they did.
 
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#38
#38
My grandfather fought in WWI. He was hit with mustard gas & if affected him the rest of his life until he died in 1959 in Bristol. My uncle was in WWII & lived in Dickson until his death in 1996. My dad served in the Air Corp during WWII, serving in Borneo, the Phillipines & Okinawa. He turned 90 last month and lives in Chattanooga. It's men like these that we owe our freedom to. I'm thankful to them & thousands of others like them. May we never forget what they gave to keep us free & may we make sure future generations also know of their sacrifices. All gave some. Some gave all.
GOD BLESS AMERICA
 
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#39
#39
tennrich1 said:
My father who will remain nameless....he was at Normandy and on the first wave into Okinawa on April 1, 1945 (Easter Sunday and April fools day) He was awarded the bronze star with valor, purple heart and all the other typical WWII era medals which I have had replaced and now own. All this should be required studying by the time a child can read and comprehend what war is....but alas....we seem to busy teaching them social issues and other tolerate ramblings to concern them with history that LITERALLY saved our nation....no exaggeration whatsoever....If you don't believe it...next time you're around a typical high school aged kid ask them some questions about WWII and you'll be amazed at what they JUST DONT KNOW....
Click to expand...

I completely agree. Shameful.
 
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#40
#40
Papaw served in the European Theater, Army - Infantry, Two Bronze Stars, He's 93.
Neighbor served in both European & Pacific Theaters, Army & Air Force, He's 91.
Neighbor served in the Pacific Theater, Air Force, He passed away last Summer @ 91.
God Bless Them All
 
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#41
#41
My dad fought in WWII. He wasn't involved in D-Day, but he did fight in the European Theater. He died in 1991. He wasn't a big and tough kind of guy, but he was part of the Greatest Generation.

He received his master's degree from UT on the GI Bill after WWII and talked about watching Gen. Neyland conduct football practice. My dad played high school and small college football before the war and later coached high school football in West Tennessee.

The tears I have rolling down my cheeks while writing this are the highest honor I can give to him.
 
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#43
#43
volboy81 said:
My grandfather fought in WWI. He was hit with mustard gas & if affected him the rest of his life until he died in 1959 in Bristol. My uncle was in WWII & lived in Dickson until his death in 1996. My dad served in the Air Corp during WWII, serving in Borneo, the Phillipines & Okinawa. He turned 90 last month and lives in Chattanooga. It's men like these that we owe our freedom to. I'm thankful to them & thousands of others like them. May we never forget what they gave to keep us free & may we make sure future generations also know of their sacrifices. All gave some. Some gave all.
GOD BLESS AMERICA
Click to expand...


Was your grandfather involved in the Battle of the Argonne Forest? If so, it is possible that he and my grandfather crossed paths. My paternal grandfather suffered for decades from tuberculosis and emphysema due to having been exposed to mustard gas in the Argonne Forest. When he came back from the war, doctors gave him perhaps six months to live. He outlived all of their erroneous predictions, finally passing away in 1986 at the age of 90 or 91.
 
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#44
#44
My father. He jumped from a landing craft and charged up Omaha Beach. Can you imagine how lucky I am to have had a hero like that for a Dad? I was truly blessed to have him. He died about 10 years ago, but he no longer hurts today and his cancer is all gone.

Thanks to all the men who served on D-Day 70 years ago. You were truly the Greatest Generation.
 
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#45
#45
Volosaurus rex said:
Moving briefly from the realm of family members to someone in whom we can all take pride, there was this fellow named Robert Reese Neyland, who "served in the China-Burma-India Theater, supervising the transportation of material through monsoons and across the Himalayas to the troops commanded by General "Vinegar" Joe Stillwell. During his military career he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal and the Legion of Merit and made a member of the Order of the British Empire.

He retired from military service a second time, in 1946, with the rank of brigadier general." Robert Neyland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Click to expand...


Exactly VolRex, a great man, general, and leader.
 
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#48
#48
Earl T Cureton; the T is for the Tennessee Volunteers; United States Navy. Died in April this year. Exceptional Grandfather! I miss you Grandad.
 
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#49
#49
Uncle Infantry, (Tennnessee)

KIA age 23 . August 4,1944

God rest his soul.

Always wrote pleasant letters to parents, (I have a letter, along with a unique knife he brought back) even though he was going through hell.
 
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#50
#50
Don`t know if this is still going on, but the French people use to have there children tend to the grave sites of Allied troops so they would know first hand the cost of there freedom.
We need something like that over here. The young people of today and I`m talking about 30 and under have know understanding of what these young men did.
I think they would be shocked to find out on D-Day that if you were over 25 years old you were an old man.
 
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