Childhood Idols gone too soon

2dueces

Some gone too soon. Some just passing. Born in Buffalo at the time the only major team were my Bills. Reliving the championships from 1963 and 1964.
Elbert “Golden Wheel” Dubenion just passed last week and my all time idol Jack Kemp gone long ago.

2dueces

But to add my childhood hero was my father. Joined the army December 8th, 1941. Was a tail gunner in WWII and flew 37 missions over Europe. Was gone way too soon.

doubledragon

I lost my father in 2017, so I feel your pain. My mother is still here, but the day I lost my father was the worst day of my life.

stevek

@2dueces said:
But to add my childhood hero was my father. Joined the army December 8th, 1941. Was a tail gunner in WWII and flew 37 missions over Europe. Was gone way too soon.

Of course all the positions were dangerous, but wasn't the tail gunner considered the most dangerous position in the plane? Maybe i'm mistaken.

in any event, your father had courage far from anything i will ever know.

2dueces

It was the most dangerous. They put the smallest guy in there. My father was 5’7” and a buck twenty. If the landing gear was jammed and the turret damaged the plane had to land on its belly with the gunner still inside. Lucky for him (and me) it never happened. I asked if he ever shot a plane down. He told me it was like trying to shoot a basketball bobbing in an ocean. The date he enlisted is significant, the day after Pearl Harbor. He was just 17.

doubledragon

I've watched a lot of documentaries on WW2, and listened to a lot of interviews from veterans, and from what I've seen and heard, I can tell you that being a tail gunner was terrifying. The fact is, every time they went on a mission, they didn't know if they were coming back.

DIMEMAN

Sorry to here about your Father. He definitely was a true Hero! I lost my Father the day after Christmas 2002, so I know the feeling. He was in the Navy during WWII, which is a whole different set of dangers.

JRR300

My father also served in WWII, but he would never speak to us about it. I can't remember him speaking about it at all to anyone. He died suddenly in 96 of a brain hemorrhage. I still remember going through his things after he died; we found a bottle of Cognac from the 1940's which he must have brought back from when he served in France. My father in law died several years ago. He had a certificate and plaque honoring him as one of the remaining survivors from the battle of the Bulge. Both good men who are missed

stevek

@doubledragon said:
I've watched a lot of documentaries on WW2, and listened to a lot of interviews from veterans, and from what I've seen and heard, I can tell you that being a tail gunner was terrifying. The fact is, every time they went on a mission, they didn't know if they were coming back.

Yes, that's where i thought i recalled hearing it, from one of those documentaries.

Very interesting insights from 2dueces on his father's experiences.

stevek

I was never in the military service, but serving in the Air Force or Navy would have scared the chit out of me. Being in a plane thousands of feet in the air and the plane malfunctioning, or being on a ship in the middle of the ocean and it's sinking are two thoughts i don't wish to experience.

For some reason, perhaps because i am adept at firearms and have shot firearms from an early age, being in gun battle on land wouldn't terrify me. Frighten me yes, but i could handle it. At least if you get shot, you fall to the ground, and hopefully a medic is near by. With a plane or ship, you're in the middle of nowhere if you go down.

Suffice to say if the Ruskies or any other soldiers ever come uninvited into our country, it will be the Army i would join.