Patton Mercury

Graeme / New Zealand said:
snappydon I stand corrected on the handles you are right. McArthur whether "dugout doug" or " bugout doug", it was for the same reason. He will never be forgiven because of Bataan.

When I'm not working, posting here or working on my old fords, I'm reading on WW2. That's the one Dobie Gillis' dad called 'the big one'. My dad was in the Army air corps in Europe and I've had two father in laws. They both fought in the Pacific and the subject rarely came up in conversation. 'The Greatest Generation'. Hands down in my mind.
Click to expand...
 
GB SISSON said:
Graeme / New Zealand said:
snappydon I stand corrected on the handles you are right. McArthur whether "dugout doug" or " bugout doug", it was for the same reason. He will never be forgiven because of Bataan.

When I'm not working, posting here or working on my old fords, I'm reading on WW2. That's the one Dobie Gillis' dad called 'the big one'. My dad was in the Army air corps in Europe and I've had two father in laws. They both fought in the Pacific and the subject rarely came up in conversation. 'The Greatest Generation'. Hands down in my mind.
Click to expand...
.

GB same here ...both World conflicts. Just finished reading a book on Passchendaele. Hard to imagine the youth of today who wear the crotches of their trousers down to the ground with cap on backwards, atop a scateboard or those that play x box or Playstation all day, doing what their generation did at their age 70 to 75 rears ago.

Graeme
Click to expand...
 
Graeme, you want to go and see Pashendale, both my g/fathers fought there and survived, we spent a week there last year.VERY moving when you learn the number of casualties there.
Lawrie
 
GB SISSON said:
Graeme / New Zealand said:
snappydon I stand corrected on the handles you are right. McArthur whether "dugout doug" or " bugout doug", it was for the same reason. He will never be forgiven because of Bataan.

When I'm not working, posting here or working on my old fords, I'm reading on WW2. That's the one Dobie Gillis' dad called 'the big one'. My dad was in the Army air corps in Europe and I've had two father in laws. They both fought in the Pacific and the subject rarely came up in conversation. 'The Greatest Generation'. Hands down in my mind.
Click to expand...
i dont remember dobie gillis father saying that, but archie bunker said that was the big one a
lot
Click to expand...
 
Lawrie said:
Graeme, you want to go and see Pashendale, both my g/fathers fought there and survived, we spent a week there last year.VERY moving when you learn the number of casualties there.
Lawrie
Click to expand...

Yes Lawrie I plan to in the next couple of years to do a tour of the battlefields of both conflicts. They have just errected a statue here in NZ in tribute to one of our blokes "shot" by the British for so called "cowardice" because he was shell shocked. I admire the Aussies stand when they tried to the same to some of their boys, they told the poms to "bugger off" and did not allow it to happen.

GB
 
I sometimes wonder at the degree to which those whose home is in the South Pacific read and study about WWII...Then I remember that while we here in the States enjoyed full employment for the war effort, after the initial attack on Pearl, the war to us was never again as close as it was for those Down Under for the entire duration of the war.
My father, too old to serve, was employed making bomb casings, working seven days a week for months at a time. He had a single Sunday off, and a pocket full of money to spend on furniture, but no retailers were open on Sunday. He was able to phone a store owner in San Francisco, who met him and opened his store just for him. I was too young to remember that, but my mother never tired of recanting the story!
I'm sure there are those in the South Pacific whose WWII memories are considerably more personal than mine.
 
Just finished reading "Killing the Rising Sun" by Bill O'Reilly. Talks a great deal about the Pacific War including McArthur and Oppenheimer. I wouldn't call Patton a "nut case". He was military all the way and if left alone he would have marched east, right thru Russia.
 
woodiewagon46 said:
Just finished reading "Killing the Rising Sun" by Bill O'Reilly. Talks a great deal about the Pacific War including McArthur and Oppenheimer. I wouldn't call Patton a "nut case". He was military all the way and if left alone he would have marched east, right thru Russia.
Click to expand...

I too, just finished "Killing the Rising Sun"...I found it quite enlightening and educational. Just like all the other "Killing" books he has written.
 
Patton was respected by his men, and feared by Hitler. At the daily German high command meeting, the first question was always, "where is Patton" What more could you ask. He was an excellent leader, whether it was commanding troops, or managing war torn post war Germany. We all have a some quirks, so what, he go the job done.
 
Good posts... Thanks..... My Dad served in Morocco, Algiers, Italy and Austria. Didnt talk about it much..... mostly I remember him saying " I hope nobody else ever has to go through that"...... Mark
 
snappydon said:
I too, just finished "Killing the Rising Sun"...I found it quite enlightening and educational. Just like all the other "Killing" books he has written.
Click to expand...


As for me, I got it last week. I'm 2/3 of the way through it and it's excellent. I never get tired of reading about 'The Big One'.
 
flatford8 said:
Good posts... Thanks..... My Dad served in Morocco, Algiers, Italy and Austria. Didnt talk about it much..... mostly I remember him saying " I hope nobody else ever has to go through that"...... Mark
Click to expand...
Some of my dad's first experience with flathead Fords was training in the Canadian army driving CMP (army trucks, gun towing vehicles etc. In Canada and Britain. Later in Normandy. Somewhere I have a photo of him standing in front of a 1940 Ford woody wagon.
 
ford38v8 said:
I sometimes wonder at the degree to which those whose home is in the South Pacific read and study about WWII...Then I remember that while we here in the States enjoyed full employment for the war effort, after the initial attack on Pearl, the war to us was never again as close as it was for those Down Under for the entire duration of the war.
My father, too old to serve, was employed making bomb casings, working seven days a week for months at a time. He had a single Sunday off, and a pocket full of money to spend on furniture, but no retailers were open on Sunday. He was able to phone a store owner in San Francisco, who met him and opened his store just for him. I was too young to remember that, but my mother never tired of recanting the story!
I'm sure there are those in the South Pacific whose WWII memories are considerably more personal than mine.
Click to expand...
.

We were in the war from day 1 being part of what was the British Empire in those days, where Great Britain went NZ went and so did Australia. We had troops committed to the Middle East when Japan attacked, many down here felt we should be back home in the Pacific defending our back yard when this happened however the "masters" had us remain where we were. We will always be grateful for the US and the role they played down here. Eventually we did have millitary in the Pacific, mainly airforce. The USMC trained here and used us as a "jumping off point" for Guadalcanal. We were a backwater of western civilisation in those days due to our isolation and this was our introduction to " things American" eg Coca-Cola . We did have American cars already though because they handled the ****** roads here. The coming of the jet age "shrunk the world" for us. Now its even smaller with the world wide web.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top