Families of the Lounge

[MisterCairo]

^^^
Almost identical! Models so similar, the windscreen divided, the trim, custom plate. Little differences such as the side mirror, the time not going all the way to the edge (possibly broken off, but it doesn't look it to me).

Is your photo of the Dodge or Desoto?

 

[2jakes]

Missed this file of my dad in Iraq, about 1942. Perfect shot - but for the closed eyes!

Now it’s perfect !

I used the other image of your dad . Looks great !
I have only one of me dad during WW2 . I’ll post it when I find it.

 

[MisterCairo]

^^^

Love it! Thanks,

Sean

 

[2jakes]

My dad @1941.

Daddy gave it to my mom prior to shipping off to the Mariana
Campaign WW2.
It was my mom’s favorite. But as of last month, I have it.
And now they are together again.

 

[GHT]

I have only one of me dad during WW2 . I’ll post it when I find it.

Me too, this is my father in 1939, aged 21. He was captured on the Island of Crete. Spent most his time in a POW camp in Dresden, within six months he was speaking German, a further six months on and he had cracked Russian, he learnt it from his two Russian fellow prisoners. His linguistic skills were put to use as a translator at the Nuremburg trials. Dad died peacefully in his bed, in 2009 aged 92.

And this is his brother, a war time bomber pilot, he never came back.

 

[2jakes]

I must say, after looking at the previous photos of these fellows with their $$$$ smiles....

They must’ve made many gals swoon back then !

 

[Babydoll]

My great uncle Tom was a B-25 pilot in WWII. The way he described it to me, he "flew over The Hump". He's here with my great aunt Eileen (my grandma's sister).

They are both gone now, but I can still hear their voices in my head. They were such special people.

 

[Fading Fast]

I must say, after looking at the previous photos of these fellows with their $$$$ smiles....

They must’ve made many gals swoon back then !

Agreed, GHC's and MC's dads were scripted out of central casting as handsome WWII military men.

 

[Babydoll]

One of my cousins found some information about my grandpa that we didn't know before. He was a POW (in Bataan), and apparently he was one of the longest held prisoners that survived the war.

Grandpa is kneeling down in the front. My aunt (the baby) was born in September of '39, so maybe fall of '40. (Just realized that this was probably Easter of '40. The Easter corsages, etc. That makes more sense with how old the baby is.)

This must be shortly after he came back home. My mom was 6 weeks old when he shipped out, and she was 4 when he came home. She's the youngest of the three girls in front.

He aged so much in those few years of being held prisoner.

And about 15 years later, at their 25th anniversary party.

 

[Babydoll]

Oh, and his POW record.

 

[Babydoll]

Gran and three of her brothers. I can only identify for sure the one in the white trousers is Walter. The others I think are Tryg and Nic, but I can't be sure. There were six boys and I'm used to seeing them in photos when they were older.

 

[2jakes]

^^^^
Thanks for sharing all the wonderful images.
I can see where your precious daughter gets that
beautiful sweet smile .

 

[Babydoll]

A few of the brothers, their wives, and the children. My favorite part of this photo is the leather aviator helmet on the little boy in the front. I'm not sure which boy he is, but I'm sure he was a stinker!

 

[Babydoll]

^^^^
Thanks for sharing all the wonderful images.
I can see where your precious daughter gets that
beautiful sweet smile .

You're so kind! I just realized I had similar photos of Gran/mom, and myself/Lily.

 

[Babydoll]

A few of the brothers, their wives, and the children. My favorite part of this photo is the leather aviator helmet on the little boy in the front. I'm not sure which boy he is, but I'm sure he was a stinker!

And the only adult that is still around from this photo is the lady on the right (next to the guy in the white trousers). That is Aunt Esther. She's almost 100, and still lives alone in the house she shared with her husband Walt for years and years. (He's Mr. White Trousers.) Most of the kids are in their 60s and 70s now.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Thanks!

 

[2jakes]

Aviator helmets & military jackets were very popular for kids
back then.

 

[GHT]

He aged so much in those few years of being held prisoner.

The stories that I have heard about brutality at the hands of The Japanese, it's a wonder that he survived at all. Small mercies. My father was much more fortunate, so much so, that whilst working on a railway, he was on a low-loader, used for carrying armaments, this particular rail truck was stacked with rail sleepers, dad had climbed up the side of them for some reason, he then went to stand up. One of the prison guards yelled a warning to him, causing dad to instinctively duck. Had he have stood up, his head would have touched the overhead electric cable. His command of German saved his life.
When he finally came home it was only for a few months, he wasn't demobilised because, as I said previously, he was a translator at the Nazi trials. It would be 1948/9 before he was finally released. He was however, granted regular leave, here's a shot of him, with my Mother, holding my hand, taken around spring of 1948. It's in one of London's famous street markets: Portobello Road.

 

[Babydoll]

He wrote of his experiences once he was home. I have a copy of it, and it took me years to work up the nerve to read what he'd gone through. He was sick a lot, hungry always, but he had the presence of mind to do what he could to grow/gather/barter for food or supplies to take care of himself and his men so they could make it home.

 

[MisterCairo]

I am copying photos from various albums and, for the most part, boxes (multiple plurals with exponents on exponents of boxes!). My mum had one album, and we're making duplicates and digital files for sharing, several of the examples from Scotland above come from that album.

Here's a great shot, mid 60s, of my uncle Bob, mum's brother, and his wife Helen, with their two oldest, Ian and Pauline. I have only met Pauline (and the youngest, Keith), and then only once as they were west coasters.

My uncle Bob I only met twice, and then sadly owing to my Aunt Nettie's illness and then funeral in 1979. Both Bob and Helen are gone now, as are sadly Ian and Keith (cancer and AIDS respectively):