Thanks for the comment. Your absolutely right, saw them myself on a trip to DC a few years back and they are haunting. In the sprit of disclosure this is not a picture I took, the only one I had at hand. I have all mine on a thumb drive.
@buflosab he used to tell a great story about returning to base drunk as could be one night. As he walked down the road to the base, he heard low moans coming from the fields. Then he saw large white figures slowly walking towards him. Clearly seeing ghosts approaching him, he dived into the mud along side the road to avoid contact with the supernatural. Turns out it was just a few cows that had gotten loose. 😂
My dad was in Korea. Most of his Army stories were while he was at Ft Benning. Too many bad memories overseas and then to come home with no fanfare like WWII
All respect to your father. At that time and place in America the people just weren’t interested in Korea, unless of course you had a family member in Korea. I recall a passage in a book that a Korean Veteran came home and a neighbor asked him where has he been for the last few years? About sums it up, As a Vietnam Veteran I can relate to the lack of fanfare the Korean War veterans endured. None of us asked for a ticker tape parade, just a bit of recognition.
My father, of blessed memory, fought the Battle of the Great Lakes during WWI. That is, he served in the Great Lakes Naval Training Station for the duration of the war.
My father was basically not eligible to serve in the armed forces during World War II and Korea. He worked on tow boats pushing barges up and down the Mississippi River and along the gulf coast loaded with oil and other supplies necessary for the war effort.
@motie2 I was just reading about the history of the military draft in the U.S. and came across an interesting fact from World War II. Movies and books would have us believe that every able bodied male rushed out to enlist in the military but that is not completely accurate. I found this on https://www.historyandheadlines.com/us-military-draft-facts-and-history/ "Oddly enough, other American men between the ages of 18 and 37 were actually prohibited from volunteering for service in the military so that vital home front manpower would not be depleted!"
What the movies didn't show is that those who rushed out and "volunteered" didn't always get sent to basic training immediately. But, I think that somewhere in the process they were allowed to ask for assignment into the Navy, Marines or Coast Guard.
One thing that is at odds with the information on that website, is that men with maritime backgrounds were actively recruited into both the Navy and the Coast Guard during World War II - especially those men who had experience in small boat handling and navigation. The ones excluded were usually those, like my father, who served a vital need in keeping the oil flowing.
buflosab
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I was just reading about the history of the military draft in the U.S. and came across an interesting fact from World War II. Movies and books would have us believe that every able bodied male rushed out to enlist in the military but that is not completely accurate. I found this on https://www.historyandheadlines.com/us-military-draft-facts-and-history/
"Oddly enough, other American men between the ages of 18 and 37 were actually prohibited from volunteering for service in the military so that vital home front manpower would not be depleted!"
What the movies didn't show is that those who rushed out and "volunteered" didn't always get sent to basic training immediately. But, I think that somewhere in the process they were allowed to ask for assignment into the Navy, Marines or Coast Guard.
One thing that is at odds with the information on that website, is that men with maritime backgrounds were actively recruited into both the Navy and the Coast Guard during World War II - especially those men who had experience in small boat handling and navigation. The ones excluded were usually those, like my father, who served a vital need in keeping the oil flowing.