Nate Posted June 6, 2014 Share #1 Posted June 6, 2014 Our boys hit the beach in Normandy France My Uncle Roy was a sergeant with the 29th Division. His unit landed at Omaha Beach June 6, 1944 Roy survived. He drove truck after the war and also was a really good artist. He would get commissions to paint murals, portraits, all kinds of stuff. But what he loved to paint was landscapes. There was something about the quiet farmland here in Pennsylvania that he saw real beauty in. It isn't too hard to imagine why Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randomguy Posted June 6, 2014 Share #2 Posted June 6, 2014 Wow, that is wild! Did he get all shot up, or was he one of the lucky ones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopped Liver Posted June 6, 2014 Share #3 Posted June 6, 2014 No one at Normandy can ever be described as lucky..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randomguy Posted June 6, 2014 Share #4 Posted June 6, 2014 No one at Normandy can ever be described as lucky..... Well, you could feel comparitively lucky if you didn't get your butt shot right off of you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gump Posted June 6, 2014 Share #5 Posted June 6, 2014 My grandfather and his three brothers all served during WWII in Europe. Two of his brothers were part of the D-Day invasion. All made it home safely from the war. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Posted June 6, 2014 Author Share #6 Posted June 6, 2014 Roy hardly ever talked about the war. My Granddad either, especially to us kids. But sometimes at a big family get together, the men would be talking and they would let me and Jimmy and Mikey and some of our other cousins sit and listen if we kept our trap shut. the only story I ever heard of that day was one time Roy told this story about being pinned down under the cliffs there at Omaha beach. The guys were just crouched up against the rocks, hunkered down. This one fella was sitting on the ground with his back to the rocks and up on the cliffs above a German got hit with a shell and somehow the German's buttocks landed in this fella's lap. the guys said something like "My God, did I get hit THAT BAD?" and Roy said everybody just was falling down laughing. It was just the craziness of the situation. They all thought they were going to die, they were all scared as hell, and then when something funny happened, it just broke down the floodgates and they guys couldn't help laughing Roy said they were just glad for something that wasn't dead serious that morning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Posted June 6, 2014 Author Share #7 Posted June 6, 2014 My grandfather and his three brothers all served during WWII in Europe. Two of his brothers were part of the D-Day invasion. All made it home safely from the war. that's the same here. Grandpa was in the engineers in the Army. He was in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and France. Roy got wounded in the breakout from Normandy, but he was back in the war that fall and was assigned to Patton's 3rd Army where he met my Uncle Harvey. Harvey married my aunt Jean when they came back to the States. Roy and Harvey were part of the spearhead that relieved Bastogne My uncle Charlie was a career Navy man. He was captain of a destroyer in the Missouri battle group. He was there on the deck of the Missouri the day Japan surrendered. He was the skipper of a cruiser during the Korean War, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopped Liver Posted June 6, 2014 Share #8 Posted June 6, 2014 Neither of my grandfathers would talk about the war.....nor would this one guy I met that was alamo scout. All he would say is "we cleared the mines out of the harbor". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pokey Posted June 7, 2014 Share #9 Posted June 7, 2014 My Dad, Uncles Jim and Don and my Grandfather all served in WWII. Dad was infintry, Don was a waist gunner in B17's, and Jim was Navy in the Med. All three came home. Dad was hurt pretty bad, but healed ok. Both Uncles came back unhurt. My Grandfather...MIA North Africa. But not before Rommel got a taste of his Long Toms. It was years before we found out exactly what happened to him He was a ninteresting guy. Came back from WW1 at age 18 a sargent, went to West Point and made his career in the U. S. Army. No one ever really spoke of thier trials...but they would tell the goofy/funny side of the time they spent in the war. God Bless all who have served. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former member Posted June 8, 2014 Share #10 Posted June 8, 2014 Dad was in the South Pacific seventy years ago, but he saw more action than I would ever care to witness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now