Hi guys, My name is Ayla and I'm a 28 year old woman from a small town near Amsterdam. Ever since I was a little girl I was fascinated by the second world war. When Band of Brothers aired on the TV here when I was a teenager I was instantly fascinated by it and when I finished watching it, I bought the book by Stephen Ambrose and read it all through the night. Ever since I've bought almost all the books there are written on Band of Brothers and when The Pacific aired I watched it and bought the books as well. I started reading up on articles about the war, watched as many war movies as I could and I went to Margraten cemetery where I adopted a grave a few years later and a name on the wall of the missing. Unfortunately that is pretty far from my house and seeing how I don't have a car I can only go a few times a year. I would love to visit more often because for me it's the most special and beautiful place in my country. Last March, me and my mum went to Belgium to go to the cemetery and we also said goodbye to Skip Muck, Alex Penkala and John Julian at Luxembourg cemetery. On the way back home we stopped at Henry Chapelle and we were both very impressed by all the things we'd seen. Specially the Luxembourg cemetery really made an impression and I felt myself get teary at multiple occasions. When we drove back to The Netherlands we stopped at Margraten to visit my own grave and to lay some flowers for Paul. I would love to go to Normandy someday but unfortunately that is too far a drive for my mum and flying in is pretty expensive. But I'll get there someday. I'm here on the forum mostly because I would like to meet other people who share my interest and I would love to hear stories about WW2 that I haven't heard before. Thanks in advance!
Thank you! I'm sure I'm going to like it here. I just found a website that helped me gain more intel about the grave I adopted so I'm sending the letter to the States today and I hope to receive his file in a while.
Well likewise, I would love to hear stories from everyone here. So feel free to share anything with me. I've written a letter to Bill Guarnere once but unfortunately he was no longer responding to letters because of his health, his son Gene wrote that to me in a very nice email. He said that he had wrote the letter, thanked me for it and had given it to his father. So for me that was enough, knowing that Bill Guarnere got my letter and read it. And once when I was still working on the Dutch airport I met Popeye Wynn behind the pass port check. He was very nice to me when he ordered his drink but I was too stunned to tell him that I knew who he was. That was a very long time ago and I still regret not saying anything to him. He seemed like such a nice friendly man. Every year I want to go to Veterans day in The Netherlands but for some reason I'm away in another country every year.
Thank you smiley! I'm excited to have found this forum. There's so much information here and so many interesting stories.
Hi Ayla. There is so much knowledge here that it should satisfy any desire you might have. It's always nice to have a younger person with your passion.
Thanks for the warm welcome guys. And LRusso, well it's not always easy to be the only young person in school who likes world war 2. When I was young the other kids thought that it was weird that I was so fascinated with it. I actually thought about joining the army in my country but I thought I was never going to be able to do it because I wasn't in good shape so I didn't apply. I still regret that, because now I'm too old to apply. Yesterday I sent a letter to the States requesting the intel about my adoptive grave and the name on the wall of the missing. So I'm hoping to get their files soon ( if they're public ). I understand that your father was a war vet? Could you tell me a bit about him?
There is much to tell. Here''s the short version. He was assigned to the 505th Coast Artillery in 1942. Went with them to England and then North Africa. The 505th was disbanded and part of it became the 900th Anti- Aircraft Battalion. As part of that unit, he invaded Italy at Salerno. The 900th was later disbanded and part became the 473rd Infantry, Company K. He stayed with that unit until the end of the war, after slogging his way through Italy. He achieved the rank of Staff Sergeant.
Thank you for telling me. It sounds like he had a very long and interesting career. And it's probably a dumb question but what does the Coast Artillery mean? Did he fire from ships? Has he talked about the war with you when you came home? I understand that most vet's had a lot of trouble talking about it. I'm sorry if the questions are too personal. And Skipper: thank you! It's always nice to see forums with such a warm welcome wagon and a great atmosphere.
The U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps (CAC) was a corps level organization responsible for coastal, harbor, and anti-aircraft defense of the United States between 1901 and 1950. https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&client=tablet-android-samsung&source=android-browser&q=coast+artillery+ww2 Unfortunately, my father died in 1990 so I never really got to talk to him about his experiences. I know he was overseas for over three years
Oh I'm sorry to hear that. Do you have documents about his career or medals? Thank you for explaining that. There are still so many aspect to the military that I just know nothing about. I really need to catch up.
That's beautiful. It must be nice to have those to honor your fathers memory. My own father was in the army for a few years as a reservist and I still have his dogtags. He passed away when I was five so it is nice to have them to hold onto his memory.
