BS: Wartime Memories

Subject: RE: BS: Wartime Memories
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Feb 02 - 04:47 PM

Doug R, Nothing adventurous or gung-ho happenings. I was fascinated to see many former soldiers returning to this part of Ireland to relieve some happy memories of time spent, away from the hell of war. Our local paper has covered many stories throughout the past years on a similar vein, sadly now it is some of their middle aged children [as was the case with the Belgian lady] who return. It was nice to think that those who did make it through the war had a period of calm before the battle, lots of the US troops stationed here finished their lives on the beaches of France. Ard Mhacha.

Subject: RE: BS: Wartime Memories
From: DougR
Date: 17 Feb 02 - 10:08 PM

I could offer some insight on what it was like from age 11 to 16, but I think you are looking for more adventurous stuff than that. The only hardships we in the U. S. endured was rationing. That was nothing to what those in Europe and the South Pacific endured. It was more an inconvenience.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Wartime Memories
From: Steve in Idaho
Date: 17 Feb 02 - 08:59 PM

Yes Amergin it does -

Steve

Subject: RE: BS: Wartime Memories
From: Tone d' F
Date: 17 Feb 02 - 03:53 AM

I'm putting together my late fathers memoirs to be published next year.

One I've yet to transcribe goes something like this,

after being captured they were put on parade a german officer game them a lecture finishing with the comment

"after the war I will take a bicycle and ride around the whole of the Third Riech".

A cockney two rows behind him replied "and what are you going to do in the afternoon"

They were left on parade for an extra 3 hours as punishment which my father and freinds thought was worth it

Subject: RE: BS: Wartime Memories
From: Amergin
Date: 17 Feb 02 - 01:02 AM

My cousin was in the CIA when he first went to Thailand and Laos...to train the hill tribes to fight....and to train them to train others....he goes back fairly often...to visit his inlaws...and old friends....

Does that count?

Subject: RE: BS: Wartime Memories
From:
Date: 17 Feb 02 - 12:49 AM

Kaleea, I run an email group called Sanctuary for women affected by the Vietnam war..either as participants, wives, fiances, family members etc. You would be more than welcome to join, as would other women who have a connection (other than those who might want to come on board to argue politics etc.) My email is [e-mail]. mg

Subject: RE: BS: Wartime Memories
From: Kaleea
Date: 17 Feb 02 - 12:36 AM

I had Great Grandads in the Civil War. My Daddy's father was in the Navy in WWI. My Daddy's brothers (twins) in WWII-Navy & Army. My Daddy a Marine in Korea. My first boyfriend in Viet Nam (who never came back). There are more than mudcat men with war stories. And the war stories are not limited to the soldiers. There too many to tell.

Subject: RE: BS: Wartime Memories
From:
Date: 16 Feb 02 - 11:05 PM

you can get the In Country CD from Lydia Fish at [e-mail] . Chuck Rosenberg sang Boonie Rats on it. mg

Subject: RE: BS: Wartime Memories
From: Steve in Idaho
Date: 14 Feb 02 - 12:09 PM

Then I would have to say - my Dad did return to the field he flew out of. He talked about the enormous flood of memories as he walked into the briefing hut - it was still standing at the time.

Steve

Subject: RE: BS: Wartime Memories
From: GUEST,Ard Mhacha
Date: 14 Feb 02 - 06:32 AM

Thanks for the response, but, I was more interested in those Troops who returned to where they were billeted during the War. Cetainly most of you would have stories galore, but the fact that quite a few came back to this area to recall old memories and in particular happy memories. The Belgian lady asked me to take her photo in the drive of Brownlow House, this large residence was the home of Lord Lurgan and also the famous Master McGrath featured in one of the Mudcats previous threads. The US Troops whilst stationed there were paid a visit by Generals Eisenhower and Patton, the room in which Patton stayed overnight is now proudly shown to visitors. Ard Mhacha.

Subject: RE: BS: Wartime Memories
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 14 Feb 02 - 03:53 AM

I lost one of my dearest buddies just a few weeks before Christmas.Johnny was an old soldier, on e of the "Desert Rats". This was a label stuck on the British forces in North Africa by Erwin Rommel---a general, by the way, much respected by those same "desert rats". [They took the name to their hearts.] Johnny came through it all, from Alamein to the Italian River Po. The songs which he brought home with him were many and varied, and I can still get through most of them. "Lilli Marlene" was the most famous of the songs from the African war. Another from the same theatre was "D-day Dodgers" [Hamish Henderson]. I still sing "Bury me out in the Desert", an old Desert Rat song. The bawdy version of the Egyptian National Anthem was a favourite; "Up yer pipe, King Farouk, hang yer b----cks from a hook---". Johnny left me his accordion in his will [as if I needed it---I have five now----but that one is precious.] I was home in Scotland Christmas and New Year, and as I had promised, I took Johnny's accordion to his local club, sat down, and played "Bury Me out in the Desert". There were tears all over the top of that "box", I can tell you, and I was kinna loth to raise my head at the finish---but when I finally did, I found every damn' table in the place topping up their beer with teardrops. Never mind---Johnny wouldn't have wanted more than that wee tribute so what followed was a bit more cheery. Hey---d'ye want a book written? ---I could write one, nae bother!!

Subject: RE: BS: Wartime Memories
From: Steve in Idaho
Date: 13 Feb 02 - 08:14 PM

The following is excerpted from John Del Vecchio's book "The Thirteenth Valley." It is a song held in trust by John and any profits derived from it are to be sent to him for placement in the trust fund for Viet Nam Veterans. No exceptions.

But for live performances, Viet Nam Veterans, and the use for Veterans activities it is free. We have no idea who wrote the song. According to John it was given to him by a medic who found it on the body of an M-60 Machinegunner killed in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam in 1970.

The Boonie Rat Song

I landed in this country,
One year of life to give,
My only friend a weapon,
My only prayer to live.

I walked awayfrom freedom,
And the life that I had known,
I passed the weary faces
Of the others going home.

Boonie Rats, Boonie Rats,
Scared but not alone,
300 days more or less
Then I'm going home.

The first few days were hectic,
As they psyched my mind for war,
I often got the feeling
They're trying to tie the score.

The first day with my unit
We climbed a two click hill,
To find an enemy soldier,
To capture, wound, or kill.

Boonie Rats, Boonie Rats,
Scared but not alone,
200 days more or less
Then I'm going home.

The air was hot and humid,
The ground was hard and dry,
Ten times I cursed my rucksack
And I wished that I could die.

I learned to look for danger
In the trees and on the ground,
I learned to shake with terror,
When I hear an AK round.

Boonie Rats, Boonie Rats,
Scared but not alone,
100 days more or less
Then I'm going home.

'SKYHAWKS' is our motto,
'AIRBORNE' is our cry,
Freedom is our mission,
For this we do or die.

Boonie Rats a legend
For now and times to come,
Wherever there are soldiers
They'll talk of what we've done.

Boonie Rats, Boonie Rats,
Scared but not alone,
50 days more or less,
Then I'm going home.

They say there'll always be a war,
I hope the're very wrong,
To the Boonie Rats of Viet Nam
I dedicate this song.

Boonie Rats, Boonie Rats,
Scared but not alone,
Today I see my Freedom Bird,
Today, I'm going home.


I am the author of one arrangement to this song and hope to one day put it into an mp3 - but it has several arrangements that have been done over the years. Jazz, country, rock and roll, blues, you name it one of us has done it. Mine, although I wasn't a Folk Musician at the time, probably wrote a Folk arrangement.

Steve

Subject: RE: BS: Wartime Memories
From: Chicken Charlie
Date: 13 Feb 02 - 07:00 PM

Back to post #1, what I've always wanted to do is follow my grandfather's route thru La Belle France with the 40th Division in WW I. He kept enough of a journal so that I believe I could get very close to the actual trail.

CC

Subject: RE: BS: Wartime Memories
From: wysiwyg
Date: 13 Feb 02 - 06:57 PM

I have my friend Jack Hart's memoirs of childhood in England during the blitz. I may get permission to post them, from his widow.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Wartime Memories
From: Kenny B (inactive)
Date: 13 Feb 02 - 06:19 PM

Click here for a personal account of one night of the war in the west end of Glasgow and try a Google search on "Clydebank Blitz"
In the late 60's I lived in a tenement flat that overlooked one of the sites mentioned in this account. I often wondered why the vacant site had not been built on, after reading this account I can now see why.

Subject: RE: BS: Wartime Memories
From: Steve in Idaho
Date: 13 Feb 02 - 06:18 PM

I've a song from the Viet Nam war I'll post tomorrow - or later if I get on tonight.

Steve

Subject: RE: BS: Wartime Memories
From: Deckman
Date: 13 Feb 02 - 05:59 PM

I suspect that this thread will be huge. It will include people from both sides of the pond. Speaking as an American, and only speaking for myself, I suspect that 9/11 has made a huge impact on our feelings of vulnerability. (where is my spelling book when I need it?). I have close family in Finland, I am in daily contact with friends in G.B. I am tied to the world. Because of my contacts, and studies, I am very aware of what Europe went through in WW2. What a long and horrible time. As we get older ... and we do, you know ... some of us tend to try to understand the past. I've always known that you cannot understand the present unless you understand the past. So ... thanks for posting this thread. I hope a few songs will appear, but if not, it will prove to be very useful in understanding ourselves. CHEERS, Bob

Subject: RE: BS: Wartime Memories
From: little john cameron
Date: 13 Feb 02 - 05:33 PM

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/aroundscotland/ww2/spys_area.shtml

Subject: RE: BS: Wartime Memories
From: little john cameron
Date: 13 Feb 02 - 05:31 PM

Subject: RE: BS: Wartime Memories
From: Steve in Idaho
Date: 13 Feb 02 - 05:23 PM

Wow - I've been doing a bunch or research about my Dad and his part in WW-II. He was a tail gunner on a B-17 with the 96th Bomb Group. They flew out of Snetterton-Heath. I have incredibly vivid memories of my Dad's stories about the war. I was also priveleged enough to meet his crew before they died. I'm not sure what kind of stories you want - but more than I have the time to tell here -

And as far as my own memories - enough to see them in my sleep most nights so I'll not belabor that one. But I certainly appreciate you asking.

It's odd to me that all of a sudden these stories are being sought out. It has never been a priority for most. Is it because we are all suddenly at risk of becomming soldiers no matter our vocation, position, or place of residence?

Steve

Subject: Wartime Memories
From: ard mhacha
Date: 13 Feb 02 - 04:52 PM

Whilst on our daily walk around our lovely Park yesterday, my friend Joe and I met a Belgian lady who was tracing her Fathers footsteps, when he was stationed in Lurgan in 1944. She had a number of old Postcards of the Town dating back to that wartime period, as well as photos of her Father and his fellow soldiers. Over the years we have had many UK and US old soldiers coming back to relive old memories, how many old Mudcatters can recall their wartime memories. And is their any UK or US old hands that can recall their fathers stories of that period.