Meeting a WW2 veteran

[Hershy]

Dear All,

I was born in 1996 in Hong Kong, just before the handover.

Recently, another veteran of the namesake battle has died. The government and most of the population refuse to commemorate and much less remember liberation day or what's happened. Our military history, alongside anything pre Handover, is being scrubbed out.

Knowing this, I want to know what's the best way to meet a world war 2 veteran (from any country) before these wonderful men and women finally perish forever. I'm desperate to meet one.

Sincerely Yours,
Hershey.

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

Dear All,

I was born in 1996 in Hong Kong, just before the handover.

Recently, another veteran of the namesake battle has died. The government and most of the population refuse to commemorate and much less remember liberation day or what's happened. Our military history, alongside anything pre Handover, is being scrubbed out.

Knowing this, I want to know what's the best way to meet a world war 2 veteran (from any country) before these wonderful men and women finally perish forever. I'm desperate to meet one.

Sincerely Yours,
Hershey.

What a noble gesture on your part, Hershey.
Just Google “how to contact WWII vets”, and several sites will pop up to help in your search.
Hope this helps and good luck in your quest. They will enjoy your company and deserve it so very much.
Be well and safe.
Bowen

 

[Peacoat]

A great idea and a "noble gesture" as Bowen said.

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

Ps: Hershey.
Some of the most interesting and amazing people i have ever met in my life were WWII vets that i met and cared for at a large VA hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana back in the 80s.
Every sort of personality one could imagine and the stories...not so much battle stories but the stories of life. Rarely boastful, most often so humbled to be alive. True grit in life, humble and gentle to hard as rock, weary, worn but not bested.
Those were some of the most meaningful patients i ever had the honor to have met including the vets i served with.
You probably realize most will be in their 90s. I hope you can be a blessing in their 12th hour and be honored by them as i have been.
God bless
B

 

[Harp]

Ps: Hershey.
Some of the most interesting and amazing people i have ever met in my life were WWII vets that i met and cared for at a large VA hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana back in the 80s.
Every sort of personality one could imagine and the stories...

I had an appointment at Hines VA Hospital a year or so ago, fell into conversation with a WWII
veteran/South Pacific, and foxholes during mortar barrage consumed most of wait time.
I remarked that I dove feet first and adjusted thereafter. He gave me some pointers, since he
was visiting Hines for a shrapnel wound to the buttocks; justly claiming that if he hadn't dove in
head first that particular day Japanese pigiron would have slammed his skull.

I thanked for the head first advice as his name was called. He turned and concluded that
on second thought shrapnel would have bounced off his thick skull and he wouldn't be such
a pain in the ass today. He had to be in his 90s, spry as a teenage kid.

 

[onnie Purcell]

I'm 66 years old and have been fortunate enough to have met many Word War Two veterans in my life before most of them passed. My father-in-law lied about his age to get into the U.S. Marines and fought in the Marshall Islands. We were talking once and he mentioned he would like to sometime get another K-Bar Marine Corp. fighting knife like he carried in the war. I bought one and gave it to him for Christmas. We were setting side by side on the couch and he was studying the knife turning it over in his hands when he leaned over close to me and quietly said "A lot of Japs were done in with these." Another fellow was an ammo carrier for a .30 caliber machinegun squad but that's another story.

 

[Edward]

I'm 66 years old and have been fortunate enough to have met many Word War Two veterans in my life before most of them passed. My father-in-law lied about his age to get into the U.S. Marines and fought in the Marshall Islands. We were talking once and he mentioned he would like to sometime get another K-Bar Marine Corp. fighting knife like he carried in the war. I bought one and gave it to him for Christmas. We were setting side by side on the couch and he was studying the knife turning it over in his hands when he leaned over close to me and quietly said "A lot of Japs were done in with these." Another fellow was an ammo carrier for a .30 caliber machinegun squad but that's another story.

I've heard it said you never forget the one you killed with a blade. I remember an acquaintance elsewhere years ago had a father who fought in the British army in WW2. Reckoned he killed about forty men in the course of the war, but the one whose face haunted his dreams to the point where he occasionally woke up screaming decades later was the one he'd had to bayonet - the rest were shot at more of a distance.

 

[onnie Purcell]

I can understand that. When I was very young I was friends with a kid whose dad had been at Tarawa. He always treated me well but I instinctively knew to keep the straight and narrow around him. Just a feeling. I build scale model airplanes and though that hobby I have been lucky enough to have met pilots from both sides of the war. Geoffery Paige, a British fighter pilot who fought through the war but was sidelined for a time recuperating from serious burns suffered during the Battle of Britain. Hubert "Hub" Zemke, commander of the 56th Fighter Group, Zempke's Wolfpack. Erich Hartman, German fighter pilot who fought mostly on the Russian front with 352 kills. Ensign George Gay, only survivor of Torpedo 8 squadron at the Battle of Midway. There are more. Who says model building is a geeky hobby?

 

[Peacoat]

You were fortunate to have met Geoffrey Page and Erich Hartmann; they were legendary fighter pilots from both sides of the war. Welcome to the Lounge. PC

 

[Harp]

I've heard it said you never forget the one you killed with a blade.... but the one whose face haunted his dreams to the point where he occasionally woke up screaming decades later was the one he'd had to bayonet - the rest were shot at more of a distance.

I let a man live once whom I had intended to kill because our eyes locked. Close range, seared into memory
and conscience. He quickly fled, gone but alive. Dreams, nightmares, depression over how close I came.
He was about sixteen, I eighteen or nineteen, cannot recall my age that day. But he was so young to me,
a child really. I have wrestled with my conscience over many things since then but when my conscience
whispers some subtle despise that is a soldier's lifelong guilt, this one incident has always saved;
drawing a checkmate against my own self.