Monty
Gold Member
- Jan 26, 2005
- 10,746
- 166
- Detector(s) used
- ACE 250, Garrett
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Dang, I am a WWII buff and I can't remember posting in the WWII forum for some reason. I watch everything about WWII on The History Channel and my wife gets mad at me. She says ,"You already know who won, so why do you like watching it so much? I have tried to explain but she just don't get it.The truth of the matter is, my Dad was there and I keep hoping I will see him on one of the old films, but so far I haven't. He was with the field artillery and went into Normandy two days after the beach head was established. He was part of a crew on a motorized self propelled 155mm howitzer cannon. There weren't that many of them around in that caliber. Most of them were 105mm and the 155 was more of a test and evaluation group. It was essentially a tank chasis with the gun mounted to one side. It pulled a trailer with ammo, spare parts and the men's personal equipment. Most of the crew members were assigned an M1 carbine and the officers had Colt .45 automatic pistols. Dad said one crewman had an M1 Garand sniper rifle that was used for counter sniper use. He said the guy with the sniper rifle got killed by a sniper just days before they shipped back to England. Oh, I forgot, they also had a .50 cal machine gun mounted in the turret with the cannon. He said the machine gun guy shot down two Messerschimdts with the 50 cal. They went in at Normandy, was in the Battle of the Ardane and the Battle of the Bulge before going on into Germany. Many nights I stayed up late and heard my Dad and his old Army pal talk about the war. That's the only time he would ever talk about it. Most of the time he said it was too upsetting to talk about. Mom said he would pace the floor on nights a thunder storm was building because it reminded him of the guns booming and the explosions of the war. Mainly he said he was just cold, wet and hungry all the time and there was nothing glorious about war. Monty