Greetings!!!! I'm a battle scarred veteran of the Internet forum wars, some of my fellow battle weary comrades suggested I meander over to World War II Forums and from what I've seen by eaves dropping over the past few day's has convinced me to jump in with both feet. So, here I am! A little about myself, my great great grand father served in the Civil War in the 8th Iowa at Pea Ridge, his great grand father was in the Revolutionary War. Well, war skipped two generations to my father & uncle who served in WWII (as well as several cousins). Dad served in the Navy, joined in Jan 1941, he married mom two weeks before Pearl Harbor was attacked. He spent the next nine months working on the salvage mission in Pearl Harbor, assigned to tug that was built in 1912 and drafted all of 10 feet. They sailed to Hawaii in it from San Pedro Calif. His next deployment was in the same little wooden tug during the Aleutian islands to pull damaged and stranded craft out of the freezing mud. The ocean going tug had previously been a large harbor tug, it now had a crew of 36 men, dad was a MM. He told me many stories about working axes in four hour shifts fighting to keep ice from rolling the oversized cork they called a tug boat. About this time my mothers father joined the Seabees, so he was outranked by his 18 year old son in law, and dad never let him forget that! Later in the war he was reassigned to DD-802 and was a plank owner of that fine ship. He was in the forward engine room 8 April 1945 when the USS Gregory DD-802 was attacked by three Kamikaze air craft, two went into the sea in a ball of fire, one hit the ship at mid ships right at the water line, the plane cart wheeled between the stacks clipping the forward stack, the bomb failed to detonate, but the damage was enough to send the Gregory state side. Dad stayed in the Navy till 1953, serving in the Korean War on CVE-92, the first US Ship to sail into Saigon on 1 Feb. 1951. A calibration party included mortars, grenades and snipe fire while the crew delivered it's cargo of F4U's, Bearcats and mechanics and military "advisors" to aid the French. My interest in WWII was sparked from sitting with my dads and his Navy buddy's as they drank beer and relived tales of the war. As my two cousins served in the ETO, another cousin served in the 5th Marines. I am on the sunny side of 60 (barely), have varied interest, have played guitar since I can remember, I'm a avid shooter and have and fisherman, and a proud grandfather. I am looking forward to making new acquaintances and friends here, hopefully I can contribute, from what I've seen in the past few days, that may be a tall order. Oh, by the way I chose my handle, jaxson50 to honor my dad, his name was Jack, I am his son=Jaxson and I was born in 1950! (seems like yesterday). So please call me Jim.
Howdy Jim, You have a good background to tell about. I hope that you fit in as well as you seem to think you will. I gather you know some of the guys here-we can figure out who they are later on. Tell us more about the salvage your father did at Pearl Harbor. What ships. etc was he involved with?
Wellcome, we may have disagreements at times, but wars are few and far between. Youve found a great place. Stick with it, and us.
Battles and skirmishes, yes, but there will be no wars. Unlike the real world, we have a fully functional UN.
welcom "jaxson50", glad you made it over here. I think you will enjoy your stay personally. Great place, many well informed and civil posters unlike THC. Again, welcome aboard.
Thanks for the warm welcome, I am taking my time sliding into things (need to get my sea legs). brntdirt1 (Clint) thanks for the invite to join up, I like your car, I had a blue one!
Jim -- Welcome! Great first post! As you already know a few fine Rogues, you also probably already have recognized that this is a fine place. I look forward to reading more of your posts. Cheers!