HBO's The Pacific

[61chalk]

OK...been watching The Pacific, an since my Dad fought there
as a sailor on the USS Reynolds DE42, I thought I would share
a picture. If anyone has a photo of a relative that fought in the
Pacific, please post a pic. an maybe what weapon they carried.
My Dad helped feed the 5" guns, 20mm, an depth charges.
The photo is my WWII 1942 tiger striped SA Garand an 1944
Winchester Garand....thats a Jap scarf that was takin off a shot
down pilot the my Dad help fish out of the Pacific after his destroyer
shot him down.

 

[Texas Gun Person]

I don't see a photo?



Only relative that I know that fought was in Europe the entire time.

My great uncle. 60th Armored Infantry Battalion if I remember correct.

Same as first picture... but on the cover of a book. Printed in like 1993 by an unknown publisher I believe. I would have to find the book again. I can't find anything about it online besides a listing on Amazon that does not even show a picture of the cover.

 

[61chalk]

Ya I hit post before I uploaded...its there now! Great picture Texas Gun Person!

 

[61chalk]

This thread is not a debate on who hates The Pacific an why..Bla Bla Bla....
Get on board an give tribute to one you know that served...or walk off this
thread....thank you.

 

[wishin]

I wish I had a photo of my uncle who served as a combat engineer in the Pacific and European theaters. He earned the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Silver Star and Distinguised Service Cross in his five years of combat. He mustered out as a master sergeant. A great soldier. May he rest in peace.

 

[paintballdude902]

my grandfather was an army doc in the pacific from 41 till 44. i think in like 43 the ship he was on was sunk, then while in new guinea he got "jungle rot" as my dad always called it and was shipped home because it wasn't allowing him to really practice as well as if he was well rested.

some where in the family there is a bayonet he brought back that he though was japanese but my dad says it was damaged and he doesnt think it was ornate enough to be japanese. probably an odd one for an M1 according to him. ive been trying to track it down but i think my worthless druggie cousin took it and sold it.

 

[PCFlorida]

My dad was in the Pacific, in the SeaBee's. I have a few pictures of him like this one. His assigned weapon was the BAR.

 

[KingMedicine]

Grandfather was not in the military, but he was a POW at Wake Island. So i still think he gets a bit of the credit. =)

 

[md7]

My uncle served as a soldier in the Pacific. I do not have any pics, and am not certain of what years he served. He told me was that that war was pure hell, and that it was brutal. The one story that he told us was that a Japanese soldier was firing at them from a tree top, and they knew he was in a tree but weren't certain which one. He said they unloaded until they saw the shooter drop to the ground.

Thanks to all vets of all wars.

 

[Lonestar49]

...

To all the un-sung hero's of all wars..




I'm sure the OP will not mind along with the interesting "gun handling" with both fingers on and off triggers and most hammers down but a few that are cocked with fingers in, on, the trigger a/o guard and those with fingers out and clear of the trigger. All pointing in the same direction, but those to the left, well, it made a picture to behold.


Ls

Ps.. I'm enjoying the HBO series the Pacific very much just like the Band of Brothers series as they both give/gave one pause in reflection

 

[WALKERs210]

It tribute to the many that fought and died I would like to bring attention and salutes to a few that I know and some that have passed. I had one brother-in-law that served in Europe, until he was wounded when he passed away at age 79 he still had fragment in his back. Second brother-in-law that served on the USS Yorktown, and a few other carriers. One that served on a Tin Can that by his account never could get in a fight, said every time they got there it was over. My neighbor that was my mentor was a dog face that carried the BAR which he said he learned to fire single shots with, then when the bad guys charged what they thought was a single man he would unload on them. A very dear friend that was on board the USS Johnson, the destroyer that took on the Japanese navy in Lete Gulf. And the one that I respect and honor about all 83 yr old U.S Marine that fought at Guadalcanal and even at his age now I would still be afraid to get on his bad side. Unfortunately I don't have HBO so I will have to wait to see the entire program later but I hope they do justice to the men and women that served in the Pacific as they did in Band of Brothers.

 

[clem]

My dad, WWII Pacific. His ship, "USS Astoria", was sunk at Guadalcanal, Aug 1942.

 

[pikid89]

my grandpa was a USMC cannon cocker with the 2nd Marines on Okinawa...his unit was one of the first in nagasaki after the bomb


my other grandpa was in the Navy in the pacific on a supply/repair ship (USS Pollux AKS-4 i believe) that according to his stories, was constantly used by the brass as a smoke screen/ decoy...thus it was constantly being attacked...as his stories go, during one of the kamikazi attacks, a AA gunner was killed and my grandpa pulled him out of the gunners seat and took over, shooting down one of the kamikazi planes

according to both of my grandpas accounts, i believe the 2 of them were within a couple miles of each other at some point in the pacific...where the navy grandpa was on one of the ships supplying the island that my USMC grandpa was on

after my USMC grandpa died, i came into possession of the type 99 he brought back

i want to try to shoot it but

a) 7.7 Jap is so $$$
b) how do i know if after 60 plus years, if it is safe to fire still (pretty sure it is not a last ditch model as it has the fancy adjustable sights (minus the aircraft sights) and a spot for a cleaning rod as well as a knurled safety knob

 

[rogertc1]

My dad...just turned 92 was a SeaBee who landed in North Africa. He carried a M1Carbine and was part of a morter team when not welding. he was on his way across the USA going to California for deployment when the Jap war ended. As they rode the train they could hear all the bells. The war ended.

 

[Cosmoline]

I'd like to give a shout out to the forgotten men who defended Alaska and reclaimed occupied American soil from the Empire of Japan. From the pilots who attacked the Japanese positions with PBY's to the sailors who turned back a Japanese resupply fleet twice their size at the Komandorskis, to the engineers and workers who worked at fifty and sixty below zero to pioneer an objectively impossible highway and most of all to the soldiers who fought and died in the bloody, frigid battle of Attu.

It was the only campaign fought on American soil in WWII. The first time any foreign power had landed here since the war of 1812. The conditions were some of the very worst in the war, with weather that's not only uncomfortable but lethal. And I'm writing this here in a free Alaska thanks to them.

 

[Calibre44]

Pic of my Father who fought in Burma in WWII; luckily he survived it. My Uncle however, wasn’t and died in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. The Pacific isn’t on over here yet but will be soon. Reviews look mixed but I’m looking forward to watching it.
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[Ky Larry]

My mom has a picture of my step dad taken on Leyte in 1944-1945. The old man was sitting on a bank beside a road eating a can of C-Rations. In front of him, walking up the road are 2 Negritos,(Philipine natives) with a pole on their shoulders. On the pole are what look like 6 cocanuts hanging by strings. He said they were Japanese shrunk heads. Seems we paid the natives a bounty for Japanese shrunk heads. Not very P.C. in our current times, but I bet it was an effective way to eliminate and demoralize the Japanese.
I'll try to find the photo. However, Mom is 78 and her mind/memory aren't what they used to be.

 

[61chalk]

Lonestar49...liked those 1911's....I was in the Army, you learn to trust your
buddies with the muzzles...ha.

Here is what we found after my Dad passed in 2000...in his own words on
paper he wrote on during the war..... Francis "Bus" Chalk DE42 Just some of the many dates...

1944

7-5 Left with 3 other destroyers an carrier Hoggoh Bay to hunt Jap subs betyween
Caroline an Mariana Islands
7-19 DE42 got its first Sub early in the morning.
7-22 Got fuel at Enewetak an supplies.
7-28 DE42 got her second Sub in the evening.
8-15 Arrived at Pearl Harbor (got 3 days in jaill for telling office of the deck
to go to hell)
8-29 Arrived at Marshall Islands
9-20 Patrolling around Palaua Island
10-9 arrived Manus(listened to world series)
10-10,11 Big explosion, tanker hit by small Jap sub in Ulithi.
12-22 200 miles east of Phillipines.

1945

1-5 What a convoy! 18 carriers, 26 tin cans, 30 DE's, 9 Battlewagons an
15 Cruisers.
1-8 DE42 gets her first Jap plane! We are glad! Carrier planes got most, if
I'm still alive will let you know tommorrow...
1-10 I'm still here!
1-13 Got another Jap plane...that makes 2 subs an 2 planes.

 

[EddieNFL]

My uncle (Dad's oldest brother) was a Marine at Pearl in December, '41. Fought the duration in the Pacific without a receiving scratch.

 

[Chemistry Guy]

My maternal grandfather was a navy aircraft mechanic stationed in New Zealand. His brothers were sailors, one was on the USS Devilfish submarine and the other was on an oil tanker.

A funny story:
My mother insisted that my grandfather was injured when he stepped on a bomb,(I assumed she meant landmine) but he never had a limp, and he never told me about this before he died. I asked my grandmother, and she said she remembers being very worried when he sent her a letter telling her that he had to go to the medic because he stepped on a bomb, but she could not remember any details. I finally got curious and asked my mother's oldest brother if grandpa actually stepped on a landmine. He laughed and told me that his dad actually bumped his head on a wing when loading munitions onto an airplane. So I guess my mom was right, he did get injured when he stepped (tripped) on a bomb.

 

[xXxplosive]

Sorry......no Pic yet, but my family members served in the Army, Navy, Marines and we we're at Pearl Harbor on 12/7. Will try and post pics.

 

[amflyer]

Pre-War training. Grandpa was one of the few remaining cavalry units, mostly at the direction of Patton, according to uncles and Grandma.

 

[Keb]

Want to read a good book? Walter Lord wrote a book about the radio operators spying on Japan's naval movements down the "slot". "Coast Watchers of the Solomon Islands"

 

[Robert]

My great uncle was a waist gunner on the B17F "Heavens Above" which is now on static display at I want to say Randolf AFB in TX. Once he completed his bombing tour he was transferred to the Pacific to work on cargo planes. He never talked much about the war but would tell my dad a few stories. I still remember him telling us about the first time he saw the Me 262. He said he dropped his gun and just stared. He had never been more scared in his life. Though he did say the Fw190 was brutal.

 

[Lee Roder]

Here's my dad (navigator, US Army Air Corps 1943-1946) when he was about 20 on Okinawa