Another family farm WWII story.

My wife's grandfather farmed in ND north west of Grand Forks. In 1940 my father in law and his 2 brothers were old enough to do the farming so he, seeing war coming joined the US Army. He was sent to the Philippian's where he was when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. He survived the Bataan Death March and was subsequently shipped to Japan where he performed slave labor for the rest of the war. After he was repatriated, was discharged and returned home his health was so bad he decided that keeping the farm wasn't fair to the "boys" because he wasn't able to do the work any longer. He sold the farm and moved to Battle Lake MN. He died in the mid 60's because of the health issues from the POW camps. His sons all served at least one hitch in the military with my FIL serving 22 years in the Navy.

Some did give all, even if they didn't die right away. My FIL always regretted the sale of the farm and claimed that he would have stayed there and farmed for his dad has he wanted to keep the farm.

On my side my grandfather lost the farm during the 30's. My dad wound up in the army and was stationed at Ft Snelling when the war broke out. He was wounded and lost his left leg between the knee and ankle retaking the Philippians in early 45. He was subsequently discharged then was able to rejoin. He served 31 years active duty then bought his dream farm.

The boys and men who survived the depression then went on to fight in WWII, then returned to life in the US and became farmers, factory workers, businessmen and politicians knew a very hard life and are richly deserving of our respect!

Rick

Yes ,, They Deserve a Great big Salute!,,.my family included ..

Members of the "Greatest Generation" for sure. We owe a lot to that generation.

I love these stories. I am glad that all of you are willing to share with the rest of
us.That is a tribute to those of whom you are remembering. Those stories need to be
retold so that our and future generations do not forget that the freedoms we enjoy
are not free, but have been paid for dearly by others before us. My thanks for
sharing. Ben

Oldtanker, I don't mean to hijack the thread, hope this just adds to it. This story was in our local weekly newspaper this week. I would like to add it here in honor of the Greatest Generation. joe
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Oldtanker funny you should bring up Battle Lake. I was just up there last Sat. Exactly a 4 hr. drive from North Mankato. My best friend has a son-in-law that farms about 8 miles south of there. We
went up there to celebrate friends birthday and to see the son-in-laws new Caseih 4 wheel drive.

100% agreement, Rick.

My Mother served three years as a nurse in MacArthur's army in the South Pacific.

She first met my Father in the officers club in Leyte Gulf in early 1945.

My first job when I was 14 or 15 was for a WWII Marine veteran who had been through hell on Guadalcanal.

Dean

Rick, my uncle, who was my dad's best friend as a boy, was a civilian working on Guam on Dec 7, 1941. As you know, it wasn't just Pearl Harbor that was attacked, but Guam as well. He was captured and put in a civilian POW camp near Kobe, Japan, where he stayed til the end of the war. The Japanese apparently didn't use the civilians for slave labor, except to provide their own cooking fuel and some of their own food. He had some real psychological issues for a while, and didn't talk about his experiences until just a few months before he died, when he sat down and told a lot of the story to my brothers and sisters. I didn't get to hear any but the very end of it, as I was otherwise occupied at the time, but they told me it was quite a story he told. He survived another 40 years or so after the war.

My uncle got tired of picking corn by hand
and joined the Marines. He was in the
Philippines when war broke out and was on
Bataan and escaped to corrigedor . There he
got a battle field promotion from gunnery
Sargeant to captain. There is a book out
if somebody's interested I can try an find
the name but it list the men put on the
hell ships . He ended up in manchuria and
was freed by American paratroopers
apparently they didn't trust the Russians .
The story I heard was another day and he
would have died. On gaining freedom he was
demoted to sergeant . He made it home but
the effects were to much he didn't make 40
.

Dean, a month or so ago you mentioned a book - 'war at the end of the world' about Mac's army in New Guinea and surrounding areas. Did you get to read it yet?

Not yet, Jerry, but it's on my list.

I'm waiting for the new book about MacArthur, Douglas MacArthur, American Warrior, which will be available in June.

When it is available, I can buy both at the same time on Amazon and get free shipping.

Dean

As many of you know I'm proud of my family's service to this country. We have a total, starting with my dad and carrying on through my youngest son who is currently a SGT in the National Guard, 112 years of continuous service including my 3 brother in laws and 3 of my children who have served/are serving.

I still maintain that the all volunteer force of today proves that the youngsters today are pretty darn good too!

Feel free to add any stories past and present.

Rick

Dad told me that he was too young for WWI, and too old for WWII. But my brother was 33 years Army, his son just finished 30 years, other son is a Lt. Col in Army Reserve. I served 3 years in the Green Berets in the mid 60s, my son was a Reservist for 8 years, and daughter still serving at 7 years in Special Ops at Ft. Bragg. She"s gonna ETS this summer, go to graduate school. All listed are paratroopers, except for my son.

my family has served since 1776. Never as a career, only during the wars.

I checked the other one out from the library about a month ago. I'm not a big fan of Mac but it was a good read.

Absolutely! They are leaving us at a fast rate. We can't honor them enough.

Good to know, and thanks for the update.

If you have not yet read Castles of Steel by Thomas Massey, I expect you would like it.

His companion work, Dreadnaught, is also a good read but more about the decision makers than the ships.

Dean

(quoted from post at 04:14:54 04/09/16) I checked the other one out from the library about a month ago. I'm not a big fan of Mac but it was a good read.

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Mac-The greatest general this country ever produced.If he were still around he'd eagerly verify!