After fighting a global war from two sides, why are American veterans who served in the Pacific and European theatres unable to relate to each other? This video takes you on a journey through the devastating effects of WW2. Explore how the traumatic experiences in different theaters caused a forgotten divide between American veterans.
VIDEO HERE (21:40 minutes)
My dad fought in the Pacific Theater and was stationed on Letye, Philippines after the Invasion where the US retook the Philippines.
ReplyDeleteHe, however did relate to the veterans of the European Theater and he would exchange war stories with them. He claimed that on average, the soldiers fighting Germany had it worse than those fighting the Japs.
My dad and 2 of my uncles served in the army on the European front and 2 of my uncles served in the navy in the Pacific during WW2..... I would say their experiences were different but the end game was to win the damn war and go home, which fortunately they all did.
ReplyDeleteJD
And they jumped in, got 'er done, and got out. Real men. Dad fought in Pacific.
DeleteReal men, God bless them all and their families for generations. My Dad and Uncle enlisted. Dad was sent to Alaska and his best friend (my uncle) was sent to Hawaii. Shortly after my Uncle was moved to Germany. He was sent in behind enemy lines and told if he was caught they would deny him being there. He said that he would crawl at night so close to soldiers that he could have touched their boot and never knew he was there.
ReplyDeleteAnother piece of shit video trying to find a divide between vets. Family in all theatres, from Europe to Africa to Burma and they all got along. There was no divide.
ReplyDeleteFuckin liberals, always trying to find something wrong with everything.
I watched the video. Nobody was trying to find a divide between vets, the video was just pointing out the differences they went through in the different theatres.
DeleteOne of my uncles that joined the Navy when he was almost 16, yes he lied about his age, got home from leave the day Pearl Harbor was attacked. His Mom made him lunch and he headed right back out. They called him Pipey and he was the spitting image of Popeye
ReplyDeleteDad flew 49 missions as a B-17 command pilot out of Grafton, England and flew 49 missions over occupied Belgium and Germany. The only story he ever told me one was on his 21st birthday while forming a with a large number of other B-17s for a mission in Germany he was hit from the right rear side in a heavy cloud bank by another B-17 that sheared over half of his wing off. All ten crew members did get out and over a months time all got back to their unit. I was a Huey Gunship door gunner for 2-1/2 years with the same company flying out of the 25th ID's base camp at Cu Chi. When I got shot in August of 67 I told the Red Cross not to notify anyone. After I was discharged I did write him a brief letter telling him what happened and assuring everyone I was good but grounded from flying for 60 days. one month to the day I took another round but not serious enough to be grounded so I never mentioned to anyone at home. When I got back to West Tennessee in dress uniform he noticed ihe award right away. That was pretty much we ever talked about either of our adventures. I greatly regret that on both of our parts.
ReplyDeleteWhen you think about it, the war in Europe and the war in the Pacific were 2 different wars being fought at the same time.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing my Dad ever said about WWII was that being in the Navy was the best of duties, until the boat was sinking...
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a Boy Scout back in 1961 or 1962, our Troop split. Some of the adults went to the new Troop and some stayed in the old one. Everyone who went to the new Troop spend time in the ETO, everyone who stayed w/ the old one spend time in the PTO. All tensions were were not spoken of, but I listen more then I talked (wish I'd stayed that way). I never understood until the subject video.
ReplyDeleteYears ago our church took a bunch of boys camping. The next morning some more men from the church showed up while we were cooking breakfast. Two of them were WW2 veterans (one navy, one army, both PTO). One was a retired dairy farmer asked me, "Jeffery, "your grandpa landed at Normandy, right?". I replied "yes sir". He had a distant look and he said, "at least he was fighting an enemy that had sense enough to surrender". That was that but I knew he had been in the Pacific fighting the Japanese. I'm sure there were differences between the two enemies and tactics, but I've never heard of veterans from different theaters being estranged. One thing I did notice as I got in my late teens was that it seemed to me (there is no scientific method or comparison) that there was a higher incidence of alcoholism among Pacific veterans or at least in my local area growing up vs. ETO vets. Another thing I picked up on was that there seemed to be more redheaded veterans who served in the Pacific. I offer this simply as food for thought.
ReplyDelete