- Garry_Redmon
2. I met the widow of a member of the Army Air Corps whose responsibility was to remove and clean human remains from inside bombers that had returned from missions in the ETO. She said that he was not the same when he returned from the war. She also said that one of his friends committed suicide because of the gruesome work.
- Garry_RedmonI returned this evening from tending to an exhibit of the Patton Museum at the Kentucky State Fair. The museum has an M5 halftrack with a dummy .50 cal. on display in the South Wing A that I looked after and answered questions about it from the public. While this in itself may not seem important, what I learned from talking to the visitors was priceless. I talked with many veterans and/or family members and here are just a few gems.
4. Roy, you'll appreciate this one. I talked with a Viet vet whose unit was first issued the M114 equipped with the 20mm autocannon. He said they were a POS and hard to reload.
- Garry_Redmon
Another interesting thing happened when a guy started talking about his father serving in a tank battalion close to the end of the war. He said that his father's photos were on the Internet. Here is the link: news.webshots.com/albu...6219QvINBj
As it turned out, this guy lives in my town, we used to live two houses from each other and had met before in the neighborhood, but neither of us recognized each other at first. He also said that one of the model decal companies had come out with a set of decals based on his father's tank. Check out the photos. They are very interesting.
- Doug Kibbey
Garry,
Several of your comments bring up memories or thoughts (like the Armor Board veteran...would like to have met him...), but number 2 reminded me of Randall Jarrell's haunting poem...what a nightmare that must have been.
The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
by Randall Jarrell
"From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose."
- Roy_A_LingleHi Garry! Hi Folks!
- Garry_RedmonI returned this evening from tending to an exhibit of the Patton Museum at the Kentucky State Fair. The museum has an M5 halftrack with a dummy .50 cal. on display in the South Wing A that I looked after and answered questions about it from the public. While this in itself may not seem important, what I learned from talking to the visitors was priceless. I talked with many veterans and/or family members and here are just a few gems.
4. Roy, you'll appreciate this one. I talked with a Viet vet whose unit was first issued the M114 equipped with the 20mm autocannon. He said they were a POS and hard to reload.
I know what you are talking about. The same thing happiens at the model club display shows. A Vet or family member will point out a model and start talking about their experances.
The M139 20mm Autocannon was a real bear to load up the first time. It could also hurt or kill you if you made a mistake while loading it. The trick to reloading it was not to run it out of ammo. There was a cut off switch at the front edge of the ammo box that would leave 25 rounds going into the feeder assemble. Burn those 25 rounds and it WAS a bear to reload. Hold at the edge of the ammo box and all you had to do was slap a link down onto the last round in the belt.
Good job Garry!
Sgt, Scouts Out!
- DontosGarry
Thanks for the AAR. Having to sit this one out. Sounds like I'm really missing out.
Remember the Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge. Two of the gentleman were Sherman DD crewman from Normandy (from different vehicle). They had some harrowing tales of the 6th of June. Also the survivors tales which saw them in the Bastogne area in Dec 44.
One of the reasons I enjoy volunteering at the Museum. Learning the oral history of the many visitors, and then being able to tell the story to the following generations....
Thanks again, See you soon
Don
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