We were visiting my husband's (actually, we were not married just then) grandfather in Vermont. It was a classic wintery New England kind of day....blustery, snowy and cold. For one reason or another my husband was called to help out a neighbor or something...but I wasn't to go. So...there I was sitting at the kitchen table with Gramp. I didn't really know him very well and was feeling kinda shy and put on the spot. We started talking about WWII and what branch of the service he served in and I talked some about my grandfather's time in the Air Corps. He told me about the battles he saw and how he escaped injury on many occassions. He then went on to tell me about his trip back to the United States. He refused to get on a plane....he'd had enough of those....so he started his travels by ship. On the way across the Atlantic, the ship sank. He couldn't swim. He survived for hours and hours clinging to a piece of wood that had floated by.

I thought that was pretty interesting....he made it through years of war without injury....but nearly was killed on his way home.

My own grandfather was a radio man on a cargo plane that flew over the China Burma India "Hump". He flew over this area many many times. One morning he woke up and was all stuffed up...a bit of a head cold. He was not allowed to go on the plane that day as the planes weren't pressurized and that would cause further problems for him. One of his buddies went in his place. That plane never returned.

My entire family would not be here today if it weren't for one man's cold. That stuffy nose is responsible for allowing 3 generations of people to continue on. Amazing.

Okay..one last story...I love these kinds of stories and could go on for hours. This one is about my Nana.

My Nana was a very proper lady. She probably could teach the Queen of England a thing or two about manners....very prim and proper...or at least that's what I thought..LOL! She used to tell me stories about her youth. One time she hopped on a local train...boxcar style. She and some of her friends rode it through the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon and hopped off about 20 miles from her starting point. Another time she stole her father's car and went for a drive. Trouble was, she didn't know how to back it up! She had to drive it out of town for about 4 miles to the local country club where she knew they had a circular driveway...LOL...cracks me up!   Yep...I love her old stories.........

Excellent Thread!

Michelle