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Post by oldchopperguy on Nov 29, 2017 22:48:57 GMT -5
well
i knew Europe pretty well
and both sides of the wall.
there was a 'wall' back then
Ah, memories again!
"Checkpoint Charlie" was an icon of the cold war... I did not get to the East side but saw enough over the wall to know it was not exactly the "paradise" our Red comrades would have liked us to think it was... Great news when the wall came down. Chalk one up for Reagan...Stirring up memories, seems like more than 40 years ago... HMMMM... It WAS more than 40 years ago... Duh...  How time flies! |
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Post by wheelbender6 on Nov 30, 2017 21:07:40 GMT -5
I was in the USMC when the wall came down in Berlin. I was on a Westpac deployment aboard the USS Tarawa.
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Post by oldchopperguy on Nov 30, 2017 23:00:17 GMT -5
I was in the USMC when the wall came down in Berlin. I was on a Westpac deployment aboard the USS Tarawa.
That was a major moment in history! I love how military lore comes together... You served on the USS Tarawa, and my Dad hit the beach on Tarawa in WWII... Now, we need to figure out just how to handle North Korea... Cheesh! It never ends...Off subject (but HAPPY!) today I finally got "Minnie Mouse" out of mothballs and rode to get her inspected and licensed. Snuck in 20 miles on the freeway to blow out the cobwebs... Sure felt good to get some wind on my old knuckles! Back in August, same day as a group ride organized by my dealer, I tripped at home over my own boots and broke my left arm... Missed out on some of the best riding weather here in years! PHOOEY!  Ride safe... And remember: "Just ONE nuclear missile can ruin yer' whole day"...  |
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Post by wheelbender6 on Dec 1, 2017 18:46:20 GMT -5
"Dad hit the beach on Tarawa in WWII"
Wow!. Did he survive it? There were so many casualties from the invasion of Tarawa.
-We were scheduled to anchor off the atoll of Tarawa during our Westpac in 1989, but budget cuts (Gramm-Rudman act) got in the way.
Alas, we never sailed across the equator into the southern hemisphere.
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Post by oldchopperguy on Dec 1, 2017 22:49:16 GMT -5
"Dad hit the beach on Tarawa in WWII" Wow!. Did he survive it? There were so many casualties from the invasion of Tarawa. -We were scheduled to anchor off the atoll of Tarawa during our Westpac in 1989, but budget cuts (Gramm-Rudman act) got in the way. Alas, we never sailed across the equator into the southern hemisphere.
Wheelbender6,
Thankfully he DID survive... And lived through fighting on Tarawa in Betio, endured many other Pacific island landings throughout the Gilbert Islands. Hitting Guadalcanal he arrived on the beach with his helmet shot off, and seven bullet-holes in his fatigues, AND one heel shot off his boot. God REALLY was watching over him.Then, he came home and had me in 1946... Yup!  My Dad was very special. He taught me the absolutes of being honest, truthful and putting others' needs ahead of my own. A good man of honest character, and a good Christian. Sadly, he passed away at 68, due to complications of his entering Hiroshima just days after the atomic bombing. Back then, science just didn't realize the severe dangers of radiation. Clear up to the early 1960's, anything "Atomic" was "all good"... I well-remember a local car-wash with a huge neon sign "ATOMIC CAR WASH"... The logo was a monster sized "mushroom cloud" with cartoon cars being blown into oblivion... Cheesh, WHAT an image for a trademark... LOL! Almost as bad as an EARLY "Soulman's Barbeque" in Irving, TX. Their logo was a surprisingly well-rendered cartoon PIG wearing a chef's hat, sitting in a fire of BURNING LOGS, and EATING HIS OWN LEG...
Oh well, if you could ignore the sign, the brisket was GREAT!Seriously, my Dad was dubiously "blessed" to be in the Army motor maintenance group who hit the islands with the first batch of MARINES, so his men would be there to service and even assemble the FIRST vehicles to arrive by landing craft, and keep them running/moving and off the beachhead while under murderous enemy fire. A few times he and one or two others were the ONLY survivors to reach the beach out of several hundred men.
Miraculously, he made it through the entire war without ever being wounded! However, the effects of radiation from occupying Hiroshima turned his hair snow-white at 22, and did undiagnosed and untreated damage to his organs. It turned out to be a slow, but fatal wound. He only made it to 68 but had a very good life!At 71, I'm now the longest-living male of my family for many generations. I'm still hangin' in there!
Ride safe, and watch out for that enemy fire! Those flying beer cans can be as deadly as bullets! Leo |
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Post by wheelbender6 on Dec 3, 2017 15:18:27 GMT -5
Your dad had an amazing life Leo. After 8 years in the USMC, I still can't imagine what it would be like to storm those beaches in WWII. I really didn't know that soldiers entered Hiroshima so soon after the nuclear blast.
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