An interesting site

[Keith Lane]

I was poking around last night looking for Battle of Britain info on the interweb, and ran across this site dedicated to a relative of the site creator who was killed in France in 1944 flying P-47's. Click on the photo on the homepage, then on the pictures of the shoulder patches on the page that follows. It shows life in the US Army Air Corps from basic training through deployment to England. Just think how little time passed from flying PT-19's to flying combat missions in what was then one of the most advanced high performance planes in the world.

http://creativefatcat.com/lobdell/

 

[write-stuff]

If you're still looking for BofB stuff, I found some great vintage films online at www.archive.org yesterday. Also, just finished reading With Wings Like Eagles by Michael Korda (on my Kindle). Very good book and different from the first person accounts most of these books are. He did a great job of describing the strategies and politics on both side. - Russ

 

[ScottM]

I lived in England for a couple of years. My land lord was a former Lancaster bomber pilot in the war. On more than one occasion he and I would sit, drink a sherry and he would tell me of his experiences. It was fascinating.

I lived in East Anglia and there were many reminders of the war. Many bases, several still in use from that era. One would see pill boxes on the canals and it was not uncommon for construction crews to find unexploded ordnance in the ground.

 

[write-stuff]

You're a lucky man, Scott, to have been able to spend some time with the Lancaster pilot. These types of opportunities are becoming rarer by the hour...

 

[ScottM]

You're a lucky man, Scott, to have been able to spend some time with the Lancaster pilot. These types of opportunities are becoming rarer by the hour...

My father and many of my relatives were WW2 vets. It has not been uncommon to be around them as I grew up. I got to know even more when I joined the VFW after my military stint. These guys were all so amazing that I often failed to notice.

I recall my 7th grade sociology teacher. He told of stories of his war time episodes and brought in souvenirs of his exploits. It was not until a few years ago I realized how amazing that was. His souvenirs were ones he got when his unit captured the Eagle's Nest. Yes he was in the 506th PIR that was the unit followed on the TV series the Band of Brothers. What a lost opportunity for me, but I was 11 and it was no big deal to hear war stories.

Even my dad told many and it was not until recently I realized what he had done. I have a souvenir of his that he got from a Japanese prisoner that he had made for my dad. My dad was overseeing that and a few other prisoners after they had retaken Corregidor in the PI. That battle was horrendous. Only 15 Japanese troops were taken. Dad was there and fought, in the end he was a little part of history.

I did not know him, but I knew many of the friends of Jimmy Micheals. Jim's best friend became one of my good friends, this was all VFW stuff. Who was Jimmy Micheals you may ask?

Jim is holding the carbine in the foreground

I have met many other heroes of WW2, they were all heroes. There are also dieing at over a 1000 a day and will all soon be goon. But at least I knew some of them.