@special:
@special:
Who would be the oldest member? (not me)
It is I!
Leclerc?
Anyone who understands that answer is certainly not one of the “youngin’s”.
My Dad is 87, a WW2 vet, and regularly plays A&A with us. I’m guessing he might be the oldest person playing A&A. BTW, that’s his pic to the left.
“Tall Paul”
That’s impressive, thumbs up for your Dad!
And so it seems that we’ve already established a 74 years age difference between active A&A players.
@Herr:
@special:
@special:
Who would be the oldest member? (not me)
It is I!
Leclerc?
Anyone who understands that answer is certainly not one of the “youngin’s”.
:D very true
@Tall:
My Dad is 87, a WW2 vet, and regularly plays A&A with us. I’m guessing he might be the oldest person playing A&A. BTW, that’s his pic to the left.
“Tall Paul”
That’s pretty awesome!
Does he play the Allies? ;)
Special Forces,
My Dad usually enjoys playing the US. His favorite tactic is when he can overpower the Atlantic Navies and bring a Large Bombing campaign into play.
He personally remembers seeing over a THOUSAND heavy Bombers(mostly B-17s) flying overhead for HOURS on their way to start “Operation Cobra”. He said it was unnerving to have the ground shake that way for such a long time just from all of the engines. He was very impressed by the awesome display of military power,…as I’m sure the Germans were on the receiving end of it.
He has a ton of stories, some impressive, some sad, some funny, but all interesting.
“Tall Paul”
My roomate (Ex JTF2) and I want to know Paul… How many Krauts did he kill? :D
@Tall:
Special Forces,
My Dad usually enjoys playing the US. His favorite tactic is when he can overpower the Atlantic Navies and bring a Large Bombing campaign into play.
He personally remembers seeing over a THOUSAND heavy Bombers(mostly B-17s) flying overhead for HOURS on their way to start “Operation Cobra”. He said it was unnerving to have the ground shake that way for such a long time just from all of the engines. He was very impressed by the awesome display of military power,…as I’m sure the Germans were on the receiving end of it.
He has a ton of stories, some impressive, some sad, some funny, but all interesting.
“Tall Paul”
waw.
I asked because i can imagine the emotional connotations while playing A&A when you were part of the real thing.
I agree, the stories of my grandparents about the war were always interesting as well, i wish they’d had talked more about it.
As for my grandfathers, Belgian soldiers, they didnot see much action.
One grandfather was in a fight, in a trench and ducked for incoming artillery fire. When he and his buddy stood up again, the Germans had actually passed them. that fast they were! :D
So he was a POW mostly.
And my grandmom survived a V2 attack because she came home late. Home was all gone, the only thing still standing was their iron stove.
My other grandmom was a child in the first world war (grandparents here lived through both the world wars, first as a kid, then as a young adult) and her parents had to give shelter for german soldiers, and she remembers most of them crying, with bleeding feet from marching, and just wanting to go home.
So many stories. be sure to remember them well!
By the way, a thousand bombers, that sounds just insane. Where was he deployed? France?
Sorry to hijack this thread like this ;)
Special Forces and Others,
My Dad was in the Army in Europe as an enemy artillery spotter with FOB 3 (Field Observation Battalion). He was out-posted on the front lines, sometimes just inside the German lines, locating enemy artillery using the “sound and flash” methods.
My Dad said it’s like with all soldiers they couldn’t dwell on the personal aspect of death or they couldn’t do their jobs. He hasn’t ever given me a “number” of enemy he killed. His main function was to locate the enemy artillery without a fight and leave the real killing to the line infantry. He always speaks with GREAT RESPECT and empathy for the GI riflemen. “Nothing was too good for them”.
One of his stories had some tired, muddy, Infantry marching past when his unit was re-deploying in their trucks. The FOB guys shouted to the riflemen “What Do Ya’ll need?” They answered: “Dry socks, Lighter Fluid”. All of the FOB guys immediately threw their spare socks to the riflemen and received their “taterred shreds” in return. My Dad, who also drove a GMC 2 1/2-ton truck when they re-deployed, slowed down and told them to open the gas lid on his Jimmy and fill their Zippos. Before long my Dad’s First Seargeant drove up in his Jeep to see what was slowing them down. But he agreed with helping out the riflemen and said nothing. But when my dad’s unit went to replenish their supplies the QuarterMaster didn’t want to give them any replacement socks. My Dad is a BIG MAN, about 6’-7" and during WW2 was pretty muscular. He looked down and sneered at the QM that he had better give them the the replacement socks “or else!”
My Dad was always very UN-EMOTIONAL. He had hidden all of that deep inside himself. I remember when I took him to see “Saving Private Ryan” it made him remember some “stuff” and he started having to “deal” with a lot of things. Long story, short, he “dealt” with the memories, wrote about 100 articles in his monthly newspaper, and became a better, more loving guy. Thank GOD.
Like I said, my Dad has a LOT of stories about most everything and everyone. Saw Gen. Patton 3 times, shook Bing Crosby’s hand, drove Dinah Shore around France for 2 weeks and saw a lot!
I didn’t mean to “hijack” this thread but just thought I’d answer the question.
Everyone,
Several questions were asked about my Dad’s experiences. I would gladly answer them if nobody objects. But I didn’t want to “hijack” this thread unless it was OK with everyone.
“Tall Paul”
Thanks for sharing this, Tall Paul.
(i don’t know if there is a topic for these kind of stories, but there should be one)
Chants
HERO! HERO! HERO!
Chants
Special Forces,
My brother Bill was named after my Dad’s best WW2 friend Bill Eneman. Eneman was killed by a 500 lb. bomb dropped by a ME-262 jet. My Dad had just talked with Bill and then turned to get some water from the Jeep when Bill was eviscerated by the bomb and my Dad ended up with large pieces of shrapnel in his wrist, arm and butt and Bill’s blood & flesh all over him. War is definately HELL!
“Tall Paul”
Gargantua,
Thanks but NO. My Dad would NEVER agree to think of himself as a Hero.
I however have a LOT of respect for his service and sacrifices.
I think he and all of his generation ALL made a lot of sacrifices and thanks to them most of us haven’t had to deal with.
“Tall Paul”
I hereby rename this thread!
Hey I’m 49 and still a kid at heart and my wife will tell ya that I still act like a child and I say thats why I get along with my 11 & 12 year old kids or should I say your as young as you feel or act
Hats off to your DAD Tall Paul, and I’ll give him a salute. I would also like to say tanks for all the sacrifices he and his generation endured so that we could keep our way of life and our values. I hope he wins from the U.S.A. every time
We all should meet in the center of the country for a weeks vacation of A & A war gaming, or book a cruise thats exclusively A & A.
I love this web site
Wow,
I just logged back on and this thread has been re-named “Tall Paul’s Dad”. Honestly, I was just answering SF’s and other people’s questions. I hope I haven’t done anything wrong. Thanks Zallomallo.
Well, does this mean ya’ll want to ask more questions about my Dad and his service? Hear some of his stories?
BTW, my Dad came back from WW2, went to college, got his degree in Printing (and Finance) and after a few years opened his own Printing Company. Harwell Printing Co.
When he bought the property for his shop the Post Office asked him what address he wanted(there was only one other building on the block). He said, Well, this is the 3700 block and it’s 1956 so make it 3756. He still works EVERYDAY although he moved his shop to his residence about 10 years ago. Let’s see that’s 55 years and still going, wow. Anyway about 20 years ago he took over complete control of a small country newspaper he had been printing for a long time. After seeing “Saving Private Ryan” with me and having his “re-birth” so-to-speak he started remembering his experiences and then writing them down. They became a string of articles of his complete experience in WW2. Who knows, we might publish them as a book one day. I try getting him to “fill in” some things that I think would round out a good book, such as a listing of all of the unit’s personel. This might actually happen now as he is the absolute last man remaining from the 3rd FOB. There were some people who he didn’t want to embarass by telling true stories about them. Like “Jake the Fake”. An officer who put on airs of superiority but was a true coward. I remember he said “JTF” once rolled up about a half-mile of communication wire on his Jeep’s drive shaft because he was too scared to stop and unwrap it in a front line area. The commo. team “loved” him for that one.
Oh, I’m sure everyone here has seen the old movie “Battle of the Bulge”. Well most of the men that the German SS massaquerred(?) at Malmedy were 3rd FOB guys.
BTW, I have about a hundred pics of my Dad during WW2. But when I had them professionally scanned onto a DVD I had them do it at the highest dpi so they would be sharp and clear. But that makes these files a bit too large to post on here. I’d be glad to share these pics with everyone if somebody knows a way I can post them here on A&A.ORG. Any ideas anyone?
“Tall Paul”
@Zallomallo:
I hereby rename this thread!
Elegant solution :)
