Bear Down Wildcats

This is cool: http://www.militarytimes.com/story/mili ... /76655310/" target="_blank

The Nazi soldiers made their orders very clear: Jewish American prisoners of war were to be separated from their fellow brothers in arms and sent to an uncertain fate.

But Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds would have none of that. As the highest-ranking noncommissioned officer held in the German POW camp, he ordered more than 1,000 Americans captives to step forward with him and brazenly pronounced: "We are all Jews here."

He would not waver, even with a pistol to his head, and his captors eventually backed down.

Hitler did have only one ball after all, but it wasn't due to his WW1 war wound, but an undescended testicle.


http://www.thelocal.de/20151218/hitler- ... ntent=link" target="_blank

Merkin wrote:Hitler did have only one ball after all, but it wasn't due to his WW1 war wound, but an undescended testicle.


http://www.thelocal.de/20151218/hitler- ... ntent=link" target="_blank

But Göring's WERE awfully small right?

And Dr. Goebbels had no balls at all!

I only remember that for having to read A Separate Peace . First bromance in 20th-century American lit.

UAdevil wrote:

Merkin wrote:Hitler did have only one ball after all, but it wasn't due to his WW1 war wound, but an undescended testicle.


http://www.thelocal.de/20151218/hitler- ... ntent=link" target="_blank

But Göring's WERE awfully small right?

Himmler was very similar...

You guys seem to know an awful lot about Nazi balls.

Scott Adams of Dilbert fame on Hitler's ball:

http://blog.dilbert.com/post/1356429436 ... -testicles" target="_blank

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-3518 ... ntent=link" target="_blank

Japan and South Korea have agreed to settle the issue of "comfort women" forced to work in Japanese brothels during World War Two, in their first such deal since 1965.
Japan has apologised and will pay 1bn yen ($8.3m, £5.6m) - the amount South Korea asked for - to fund victims.
The issue has been the key cause for strained ties. South Korea has demanded stronger apologies and compensation.
Only 46 former "comfort women" are still alive in South Korea.

My grandfather flew a B17 bomber in WWII. His plane was shot down over Japan and he was the only survivor. I always heard stories from my father, but it was cool to hear it straight from my grandfather's mouth over dinner before he passed away. He was hiding in the forest in Japan and lasted a week. The women in a nearby village would bake pies and set them in the windows to cool off. My grandfather would wait for that to happen and snag one so he had a meal. Eventually one caught on and that was how they found him. Was a POW for a few months but luckily the war ended. He said the Japanese treated him really well and they were fond of him.

We were going through my grandfather's and grandmother's keepsakes a few years back and I came across a letter in a cardboard tube. It was a letter from my grandfather to his mother telling her about the attack on Pearl Harbor and that he was alright. He describes the chaos and how he and others were separated from their weapons and any others, and how they basically had no options but to hide and wait for it all to end. neither my father nor aunt knew such a letter even existed. Pretty cool, probably something that should be in a museum, but I told my father the letter is mine since I discovered it. I have one of his sidearms and I will get all of his medals when my father passes.

My uncle George (father's side) and my father were both in WWII and it was like pulling hen's teeth to get them to say anything about the war.

rgdeuce wrote:My grandfather flew a B17 bomber in WWII. His plane was shot down over Japan and he was the only survivor. I always heard stories from my father, but it was cool to hear it straight from my grandfather's mouth over dinner before he passed away. He was hiding in the forest in Japan and lasted a week. The women in a nearby village would bake pies and set them in the windows to cool off. My grandfather would wait for that to happen and snag one so he had a meal. Eventually one caught on and that was how they found him. Was a POW for a few months but luckily the war ended. He said the Japanese treated him really well and they were fond of him.

We were going through my grandfather's and grandmother's keepsakes a few years back and I came across a letter in a cardboard tube. It was a letter from my grandfather to his mother telling her about the attack on Pearl Harbor and that he was alright. He describes the chaos and how he and others were separated from their weapons and any others, and how they basically had no options but to hide and wait for it all to end. neither my father nor aunt knew such a letter even existed. Pretty cool, probably something that should be in a museum, but I told my father the letter is mine since I discovered it. I have one of his sidearms and I will get all of his medals when my father passes.

Was it a b-29? I don't think we had any b-17 missions over Japan

rgdeuce wrote:My grandfather flew a B17 bomber in WWII. His plane was shot down over Japan and he was the only survivor. I always heard stories from my father, but it was cool to hear it straight from my grandfather's mouth over dinner before he passed away. He was hiding in the forest in Japan and lasted a week. The women in a nearby village would bake pies and set them in the windows to cool off. My grandfather would wait for that to happen and snag one so he had a meal. Eventually one caught on and that was how they found him. Was a POW for a few months but luckily the war ended. He said the Japanese treated him really well and they were fond of him.

We were going through my grandfather's and grandmother's keepsakes a few years back and I came across a letter in a cardboard tube. It was a letter from my grandfather to his mother telling her about the attack on Pearl Harbor and that he was alright. He describes the chaos and how he and others were separated from their weapons and any others, and how they basically had no options but to hide and wait for it all to end. neither my father nor aunt knew such a letter even existed. Pretty cool, probably something that should be in a museum, but I told my father the letter is mine since I discovered it. I have one of his sidearms and I will get all of his medals when my father passes.

would love to hear more about this and do some more research for you if you'd like. the usaaf bomber forces in europe and the pacific is kinda my niche as far as reading and interests. have spent 20 years reading and researching it. there are some interesting differences in his story that i don't typically see in most (especially pacific war) stories. i can get access to the confidential reports that were filed with interviews regarding your grandfathers shoot down and pow experiences.

B-24s and B-25s too I believe, but being late war probably B-29.

Think grandpa was confused about the pies cooling off in the windows though, that is an American tradition. Really doubt any WW2 era Japanese ever saw a pie or even had an oven to cook one in. Probably something he stole in his youth from an American farmhouse. Pretty much standard Japanese diet was rice, seafood and whatever veggies they could scrounge up.

Just google his name. Looking up my father in law found this. He flew out of England. Thought he said B-17s but I probably forgot.

389th Bomb Group

The 389th Bomb Group, known in more familiar terms as "the Sky Scorpions", flew strategic bombing missions in B-24 Liberators from Hethel, England. They also sent detachments to join bases in North Africa at Benghazi No. 10, Libya, between 3 July 1943...

Doing more googling, it seems that group actually started out in Tucson.


Stations:

Davis-Monthan Field, Ariz, 24 Dec 1942
Biggs Field, Tex, 1 Feb 1943
Lowry Field, Colo, 19 Apr-8 Jun 1943
Hethel, England, 11 Jun 1943-30 May 1945
Charleston AAFld, SC, 12 Jun-13 Sep 1945.


My father in law is actually from CT, and joined the USAAF Reserves there. He eventually moved to Tucson so I wonder if that's where he was stationed at first?

Just texted my father, he said "B17 G bomber." I don't know a thing about planes so I am guessing that was some sort of variant? I do remember he had a reunion with some guys at the museum back in the 90s with a bunch of guys who flew that type of plane. I want to say they had that specific plane in the museum. My grandfather wasn't all there in his final year, but he still seemed to have a pretty sharp memory, as he was telling me some very detailed specifics about the war and meeting my grandmother thereafter. There were a few things I told my father that he wasn't aware of, but the whole experience after being shot down was something he told me even before I had that conversation with my grandfather. He was a very humble and honest man, not the type I believe would embellish or make things up. I've never done any military research, and i'm kind of scared in turning up something that wasn't completely accurate. I guess I could just not tell my father if I do. Anything outside of a simple google search that is a resource?

Edit: I either have a shit memory or he was really losing it. Per my father:

It was over Germany. He was bombing a German ball bearing factory. He avoided capture for over a week stealing food from farmers and houses (pies too). People finally saw him and reported him to the Germans. Spent 23 months in German POW camp. First camp he was sent to temporarily was the British camp Stahlog? where the Great Escape took place. He was there when they were digging the tunnels and saw men with the dirt in their pants. His camp was liberated by General George Pattons tanks. He was at Pearl Harbor hiccum field?, did time in Japan. Then his bomber group went to England. First mission to Germany, a motor got shot up, but they made it back. 2nd mission was when he was shot down.

as far as I am aware B-17G models never operated in any significant amount in the Pacific theater as that model wasn't used until about December 1943. There was one wing that operated out of Italy for the last year or so of the war and many many more that operated with the 8th AF out of England. If he was a B-17G crewmember there's a high likelihood he was based out of England. I'd say a near 75% chance. Like I said if you need anything let me know in PM and I can get some good details and resources for you.

Amazing story. It sounds like be might have been shot down on one if the Schweinfurt missions in August 1943. I'll see what I can dig up!

If you had to be shot down in a bomber, much better to be shot down over Germany instead of Japan!

B-17 and pie story makes much more sense now.

95% survival rate in German POW camps, only 50% in Japanese POW camps.

The German Air Force (Luftwaffe) also ran their own camps for downed allied airmen, so I imagine they were better than the regular army (Heer) camps.

Stalag Luft III was where the Great Escape occurred, although it was from the British camp, not American. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_Luft_III" target="_blank

My father did mention that detail, about the Brits and the Americans being separated, but he was said he was there temporarily and saw the dirt. I'm ignorant to how the compounds worked, how they were separated, etc, but I did find something where someone says there were Americans who helped with/were around the great escape before being moved to the other compounds, but they were not among the group of 76. http://www.ww2f.com/topic/18340-was-the ... at-escape/" target="_blank (Bottom post, not sure how accurate that is)

The google searching I was able to find listed him as a POW at:

Stalag 7a Moosburg Bavaria 48 12 Work Ca; Work Camps 3324-46 Krumbachstrasse 48011 Work Camp 3368 Munich 48-11. 6/25/43-6/7/45

Now I am really curious to see what Scum can dig up. I was never into the history of WW2, and like I said, my grandfather was a very humble and modest man. That was the first time I ever heard him talk about the war in my life. And I think the only reason he told me then was because I was asking him about how he met my grandmother, and I would ask follow up questions and one thing led to another. Growing up, my father would mention things here and there during a movie or tv show but I never paid attention. Wish I had and wish I would have thought to ask more, but who knows, maybe he didn't like talking about it for more than one reason. My father said he has the POW paperwork (not sure exactly what that is) and a bunch of other stuff. I'm going to start paying more attention now lol. I know there was a samurai sword that was supposedly pretty valuable that a shithead felon step cousin stole from my grandfather back in the late 80s.

I wonder if he was involved in the Kiel air raid being shot down in June of 1943?

SUNDAY, 13 JUNE 1943
(Eighth Air Force)
VIII Bomber Command Mission Number 63:
151 B-17’s are dispatched against the Bremen, Germany U-boat yards; 122 hit the target claiming 2-2-1 Luftwaffe aircraft; we lose 4 and 31 are damaged; casualties are 8 WIA and 32 MIA.
A smaller force of 76 B-17’s is dispatched against the Kiel, Germany U-boat yards; 60 hit the target and claim 39-5-14 Luftwaffe aircraft; we lose 22, 1 is damaged beyond repair and 23 are damaged; casualties are 3 KIA, 20 WIA and 213 MIA.
Heaviest fighter attacks to date against Eighth Air Force accounts for 26 B-17’s, mostly of the force attacking Kiel.
- See more at: http://ww2today.com/13th-june-1943-usaa ... gdQAu.dpuf" target="_blank

I found some info that I pm'd about a mission on June 25, 1943 with the 379th Bomb Group.

This is great stuff guys. Thanks for helping out, I had no idea all of this info was available. Im going to share w my father.

rgdeuce wrote:This is great stuff guys. Thanks for helping out, I had no idea all of this info was available. Im going to share w my father.

It's not avail any place else, just here.

So if I am reading everything the right way, the first mission where they lost an engine but made it back was likely the Bremen attack on June 13 (Scum established he was 379th Bomb group and they are mentioned in your article Merkin) and June 25 is when he was shot down based on what Scum sent me through PM. Crazy

Those Schweinfurt 1943 raids were nearly suicide. Tough time to be a bomber crewman then

ASUHATER! wrote:Those Schweinfurt 1943 raids were nearly suicide. Tough time to be a bomber crewman then

Hater, could you get any info on my father in law? My wife remembered he kept his flight logs, but pretty sure her estranged brother sold them at a garage sale.

He never did complete his 25 missions. They were so stressful he was discharged due to a stress related medical condition.

Better stick with sd86. I know a bit but he has definitely more knowledge than I on the subject.

Merkin wrote:

ASUHATER! wrote:Those Schweinfurt 1943 raids were nearly suicide. Tough time to be a bomber crewman then

Hater, could you get any info on my father in law? My wife remembered he kept his flight logs, but pretty sure her estranged brother sold them at a garage sale.

He never did complete his 25 missions. They were so stressful he was discharged due to a stress related medical condition.

Send me a pm with his basic info and I'll see what pops up. It's hit or miss sometimes.

Merkin wrote:

ASUHATER! wrote:Those Schweinfurt 1943 raids were nearly suicide. Tough time to be a bomber crewman then

Hater, could you get any info on my father in law? My wife remembered he kept his flight logs, but pretty sure her estranged brother sold them at a garage sale.

He never did complete his 25 missions. They were so stressful he was discharged due to a stress related medical condition.

I can't imagine what those guys went through with all that flak and then the fighters. Jesus.

azgreg wrote:

Merkin wrote:

ASUHATER! wrote:Those Schweinfurt 1943 raids were nearly suicide. Tough time to be a bomber crewman then

Hater, could you get any info on my father in law? My wife remembered he kept his flight logs, but pretty sure her estranged brother sold them at a garage sale.

He never did complete his 25 missions. They were so stressful he was discharged due to a stress related medical condition.

I can't imagine what those guys went through with all that flak and then the fighters. Jesus.

Not to mention standing or sitting for 6-10 hours in a cramped plane with an oxygen mask on. Earlier b17s and b24s were open to the elements with open windows. So you stood by an open window at 20000 feet with 150 mph -30 degree wind blowing in while being shot at.

The one time my father in law talked about it, he said his biggest complaint was how cold it was, although they did have heated suits.

I have this conversation recorded on tape somewhere.

Only other thing I remember was him saying they sometimes had to kick the bombs out as they would get stuck.

Earlier in the war they didn't have heated suits. Sd86 and I have flown inside a b17...and it's not made for anyone over 5'8" to be in. And those engines are LOUD. We were wearing earplugs and my ears were ringing for hours afterwards. At full power on takeoff it was deafening.

then combine that with 4000 other engines and flak explosions and the hammering of hundreds of 50 cal machine guns. dunno how anyone had any hearing left.

My father in law wore hearing aids as long as I knew him, and even with them he couldn't hear very well.

Cool conversation. I love coming here and learning new stuff.

No relatives in the Air Force, but coming from a (US) military family and having a mother who grew up in Germany during the war, I've heard lots of debate over the years about the bombing campaign from both sides. My mom's home town, Würzburg, was 90% destroyed in a British night firebombing raid one month before American forces reached it. You might understand why I have so much respect for the way the Americans conducted the bombing campaign...

Puerco wrote:Cool conversation. I love coming here and learning new stuff.

No relatives in the Air Force, but coming from a (US) military family and having a mother who grew up in Germany during the war, I've heard lots of debate over the years about the bombing campaign from both sides. My mom's home town, Würzburg, was 90% destroyed in a British night firebombing raid one month before American forces reached it. You might understand why I have so much respect for the way the Americans conducted the bombing campaign...

I have a friend who was a Hungarian refugee as a babe in arms. Her mother had stories of the 'Americans strafing the refugee streams'. I am a long way from an expert, but it didn't sound right - my hesitation to agree had nothing to do with 'American righteousness', I know evil things happen in wartime, but I didn't think the Americans had fighters operating that far east. But like I said, what do I know - maybe someone here can enlighten me?

Anyway, it took a couple of days of playing with Dr. Google to find an order from Eisenhower that said he had heard of such things happening by Allied forces and they had damn well better stop immediately. There was no indication of which Allied forces he was referring to but my friend at least got the 'closure', if you will, that it wasn't policy or tactic and was more likely some loose cannon. I figured it was more likely Soviets given the location, but the mother was adamant that it was not - and she hated the Soviets with a passion.

My Dad's wife was going through some of our old toys to find things for the grandkids to play with and came across a tape recorder that my brother used to interview my grandpa about his experiences with the tape still in it. Really interesting stuff. I knew bits and pieces of the stories (started out training to be a fighter pilot on a PT-17 Stearman, did something stupid, got bumped to a radio operator on a B-29), but there were a lot of things I didn't know and the detail was amazing. My Grandpa has been gone since 2004, so it was really cool to hear him talking about those things in his own voice.

Hopefully you are able to digitize it for posterity.

The quality was poor, but she bought a USB cassette thing, I ripped it to a .flac file, my brother's friend did some digital wizardry and made it easier to make out what was being said, and my Dad's wife transcribed it and burned it to a DVD. Hopefully I can get her to upload it to YouTube as well so I can share it.

RichardCranium wrote:

Puerco wrote:Cool conversation. I love coming here and learning new stuff.

No relatives in the Air Force, but coming from a (US) military family and having a mother who grew up in Germany during the war, I've heard lots of debate over the years about the bombing campaign from both sides. My mom's home town, Würzburg, was 90% destroyed in a British night firebombing raid one month before American forces reached it. You might understand why I have so much respect for the way the Americans conducted the bombing campaign...

I have a friend who was a Hungarian refugee as a babe in arms. Her mother had stories of the 'Americans strafing the refugee streams'. I am a long way from an expert, but it didn't sound right - my hesitation to agree had nothing to do with 'American righteousness', I know evil things happen in wartime, but I didn't think the Americans had fighters operating that far east. But like I said, what do I know - maybe someone here can enlighten me?

Anyway, it took a couple of days of playing with Dr. Google to find an order from Eisenhower that said he had heard of such things happening by Allied forces and they had damn well better stop immediately. There was no indication of which Allied forces he was referring to but my friend at least got the 'closure', if you will, that it wasn't policy or tactic and was more likely some loose cannon. I figured it was more likely Soviets given the location, but the mother was adamant that it was not - and she hated the Soviets with a passion.

My mom has lots of stories about taking the train to school and having it stop and get all the passengers to hide under a bridge until the Allied fighter planes stopped strafing. A train's a train and is a legitimate target. She never seemed to hold that against them.

The Americans bombed the hell out of Hungary, and their escorts may well have gotten adventuresome and done some ground attack while returning home from raids. Common tactic for the long range fighters later in the war. I'm still amazed by the technology America had to incorporate both range and performance in their fighter aircraft. No other country had anything close to the Mustang-D. Something we seem to have forgotten in this modern age.

*SIGH*

Merkin wrote:

Europe got fucked up. Think of the history that was lost.

UAdevil wrote:

Merkin wrote:Hitler did have only one ball after all, but it wasn't due to his WW1 war wound, but an undescended testicle.


http://www.thelocal.de/20151218/hitler- ... ntent=link" target="_blank

But Göring's WERE awfully small right?

Hitler also had a very very small dick.


http://english.pradesh18.com/news/adolf ... 74974.html


Adolf Hitler had a micropenis, new German medical records claim

Merkin wrote:

UAdevil wrote:

Merkin wrote:Hitler did have only one ball after all, but it wasn't due to his WW1 war wound, but an undescended testicle.


http://www.thelocal.de/20151218/hitler- ... ntent=link" target="_blank

But Göring's WERE awfully small right?

Hitler also had a very very small dick.


http://english.pradesh18.com/news/adolf ... 74974.html


Adolf Hitler had a micropenis, new German medical records claim

I wish he would have just bought a big car.

Can any of the knowledgeable ones here confirm this?

MYSTERIOUS NAZI SUBMARINE FROM WWII DISCOVERED IN GREAT LAKES

http://theseventales.weebly.com/blogue/ ... reat-lakes" target="_blank

Niagara Falls| Divers from the U.S coast guard took part this morning, in a delicate wreck recovery operation to bring to the surface a Nazi submarine discovered two weeks ago at the bottom of Lake Ontario.

The U-boat was spotted for the first time by amateur scuba divers in late January and they had contacted the authorities. Archaeologists associated with Niagara University of and master divers from the U.S Coast Guard were mobilized on site to determine what it was, and they soon realized that they were dealing with a German submarine that sank during World War II.

A wreck recovery vessel of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society was mandated to refloat the ship and bring it back to Niagara Falls, where it must be restored before becoming a museum ship. The delicate recovery operation took nearly 30 hours to complete, but the submarine was finally brought down on the bank with relative ease.

Hoax. What tipped me off was amateur scuba divers in Lake Ontario in January.


http://hoax-alert.leadstories.com/60452 ... lakes.html" target="_blank

Merkin wrote:Hoax. What tipped me off was amateur scuba divers in Lake Ontario in January.


http://hoax-alert.leadstories.com/60452 ... lakes.html" target="_blank

Would have been a cool story though.

Very cool, although I don't think anyone could afford to refurbish that sub. Been to the one in Chicago years ago, very cool.

Did see this story today:

Sherman Tank Recovered From Ship Torpedoed By German U-Boat Off Russian Coast

https://m.warhistoryonline.com/war-arti ... coast.html" target="_blank

ASUCatFan wrote:. Hopefully I can get her to upload it to YouTube as well so I can share it.

And here it is! My step-mom put about 12:40 of music and biographical information at the beginning. Fast forward to 12:45 if you're interested in hearing the interview. The quality is pretty poor, but we (mostly she) did a great job of transcribing it.

It was really cool to hear my Grandpa's voice again. He died in 2003, and I had never heard some of these stories.