Memorial Day Story from a WWII vet (sad story)

[jtexas]

My Dad (now 86) never talked about his war experiences until a couple years ago, and now just bits and pieces now and again. He caught the tail end of the war in Belgium on an anti-aircraft gun crew with the 555th.<br /><br />This morning, reading about Major Tillman, he shared this with us [paraphrased]:<br />"Talk about friendly fire, that happened all the time. Our HQ got strafed one time by one of our own, and one old boy pulled out his machine gun and opened up. Captain ordered him to stop shooting, he said, 'he's shootin' at me, I'm shootin' back.' Pilot just got lost, thought he was behind enemy lines." Then Daddy got quiet and lowered his head. "We shot down 2 P-38's, thought they were Germans." I asked when he found out. "One of 'em, about 30 minutes later, they went out in a truck and picked him up and brought him back to camp. The other one...the plane just disentigrated in the air...never did find him." Couple minutes of silence. "They were both Majors on their last missions...would've gone home right after..."<br /><br />He had to stop at that point because he didn't want us to see him crying. That was the first time he'd told that story in 60 years - carried it around with him all that time.<br /><br />Hope I didn't bum y'all out - it can be kind of weird sometimes to learn about the experiences that shaped a person you've know all your life.<br /><br />To all the veterans, Thank you very much!<br /><br />jtw

 

[bubbakat]

Re: Memorial Day Story from a WWII vet (sad story)

jtexas There are probably some stories in all that saw combat. You never want to think about things that could and did go wrong.<br />I share your dads feelings on this and know how he feels. It is something he is not proud of but something he accepted after all these years because he knows it is the truth inside him.<br />Very heartfelt indeed

 

[Fly Rod]

Re: Memorial Day Story from a WWII vet (sad story)

There's been friendly fire in every war!!!<br /><br />My uncle was on a navy ship during WW2 and had told how they were attacked by German planes Minutes after that attack a bunch more planes flew over head and thinking they were german planes again they shot down a 1/2 dozen of our own in the confusion!!!!