WWII in photos

[CaptainCrunch]

I'm watching a special on the Juno invasion, and one Canadian kid takes a bullet through his face, loses half of his jaw and half of his teeth and takes shrapnel in his shoulder, and shrugs it off and keeps going forward. He gets on the beach and moves forward again, and gets rocked by an explosion takes a beer can sized chunk of shrapnel in the side of his head, reaches up and pulls it out and keeps going forward refusing evacuation.

That to me is double tough.

[FlamesAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I'm watching a special on the Juno invasion, and one Canadian kid takes a bullet through his face, loses half of his jaw and half of his teeth and takes shrapnel in his shoulder, and shrugs it off and keeps going forward. He gets on the beach and moves forward again, and gets rocked by an explosion takes a beer can sized chunk of shrapnel in the side of his head, reaches up and pulls it out and keeps going forward refusing evacuation.

That to me is double tough.

Ya I'm watching the same thing right now on History. Tough indeed.

Probably going to have to record that 2 part series on the actual Juno part of the invasion airing on Friday as well. Looks pretty good.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I'm watching a special on the Juno invasion, and one Canadian kid takes a bullet through his face, loses half of his jaw and half of his teeth and takes shrapnel in his shoulder, and shrugs it off and keeps going forward. He gets on the beach and moves forward again, and gets rocked by an explosion takes a beer can sized chunk of shrapnel in the side of his head, reaches up and pulls it out and keeps going forward refusing evacuation.

That to me is double tough.

D-Day to Victory? Good show.

[chalms04]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Canadians made up 20% of the Bomber Command loses in the war. They weren't twiddling their thumbs in England until D-Day. My Grandfather survived a 30 mission tour as a bomb aimer, most of his buddies he went through training with didn't.

Shameless plug for my cousin's book that tells the story of my great-uncle Alfred who was a Lanc navigator that was shot down over Denmark.

This link goes into some of his research behind my great-uncle's last flight, and subsequently finding his grave site.

http://members.shaw.ca/johnchalmers/LM479/



And this second link is about the book:
http://members.shaw.ca/johnchalmers/Navigators/

[T@T]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I'm watching a special on the Juno invasion, and one Canadian kid takes a bullet through his face, loses half of his jaw and half of his teeth and takes shrapnel in his shoulder, and shrugs it off and keeps going forward. He gets on the beach and moves forward again, and gets rocked by an explosion takes a beer can sized chunk of shrapnel in the side of his head, reaches up and pulls it out and keeps going forward refusing evacuation.

That to me is double tough.

Jesus, was he a newfie by chance?

My uncle tells the story of a newfie named Art who was like that, as they tried to give him medical attention for half his face blown off and two bullet holes in his stomach he suddenly got up and mumbled "Leave me the f%^k alone till I get the fu%kers who shot me, he ran towards a cliff where they found him later..dead, from another round to the chest.

I don't think tough can describe that dude.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by chalms04

Shameless plug for my cousin's book that tells the story of my great-uncle Alfred who was a Lanc navigator that was shot down over Denmark.

Nothing shameless in my opinion.looks like a good read.next time I'm in Kensington I'll pick up a copy.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by T@T

Jesus, was he a newfie by chance?

My uncle tells the story of a newfie named Art who was like that, as they tried to give him medical attention for half his face blown off and two bullet holes in his stomach he suddenly got up and mumbled "Leave me the f%^k alone till I get the fu%kers who shot me, he ran towards a cliff where they found him later..dead, from another round to the chest.

I don't think tough can describe that dude.

The guy they were talking about last night survived.

It was almost heartbreaking watching these old vets talk because for a brief minute beyond the toughness that they were displaying to this day, you could envision the scared teenagers watching the boats around them getting shelled and hitting mines, feeling the beach slide under the boat and the sound of bullets hitting the ramp.

Then the doors opening into your own personal view of hell.

Some of the quotes that were just really revealing.

"I wish I could tell you what fear is like"

"You see your friends getting blown away and you almost go into a psycosis (sp?) where the only thing that matters is getting the guy that killed your friend"

"You ran past arms and legs and heads, but you just kept going because if you stopped you'd join them"

And the one humorous one

"Jeez a fellow could get killed out here"

[Northendzone]

It is impossible to wrap your head around how people could function at any level with all that stuff going on around you

[T@T]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

It is impossible to wrap your head around how people could function at any level with all that stuff going on around you

After talks with 2 uncles who fought I got the sense that because of the hatred (and fear) of the enemy in WWII they were very focused on killing the enemy and actually wanted to fight. Every time they think of the friends they lost or even saw die they call them heroes, the only day they tear up is on today's date.
A third uncle was really pissed off when the war ended the day he set sail to go overseas,even know by that time it looked good for a win,he still wanted a piece of the action.

Today's soldiers don't hate nor do they have fear of an enemy actually taking over their country. Stakes were far higher in WWII.

[bigtmac19]

In Honour of my Father on Remembrance Day.
A statement in Parliament by our MP honouring my father, Ian MacDonald, and another Dieppe veteran, both of whom passed away within days of each other in late August.
Rest in Peace Dad!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUz0Y...e_gdata_player
Lest we Forget!