Just buried my Granddad today.

[47of74]

He had a very nice service. Complete with the Legion giving him full honors.

[auntAgonist]

1. :hug: Full honors are always SO touching.

Hoping your good memories fill the void left in your heart and sadness is overtaken with joy for the love you shared.

aA
kesha

[murielm99]

2. That is very nice.

My dad had that, too. In fact, he used to be one of the veterans who went around with legion members doing the honors for deceased vets in his area.

My dad was a Merrill's Marauder during WWII.

I am sorry for your loss. Remember your granddad warmly.

[Jenoch]

3. My uncle was a WWII Navy veteran and recently died,

that is how I found this thread. He too had a nice service with American Legion members and two Navy officers doing the flag presentation to my aunt.

My father was too young for WWII but he had a business associate who was also in Merrill’s Marauders. Although he was just a Captain at the time, he was the senior officer in China in August of 1945. He accepted Japan's surrender in Shanghai. We did not know any of this until we read his obituary.

Your dad was a patriot and a Great Living American.

[murielm99]

4. I'll bet they knew each other!

There were not that many of them, and there were many casualties, from combat and disease. Near the conclusion of the war, my dad went to China to be an MP until he was mustered out.

My dad finally spoke about this only after he went to Washington DC for the dedication of the WWII memorial. He saw some of his old buddies there. He even consented to an interview with someone who was writing a book about the Burma theater of war. I don't know who that was, or what happened with the book. My dad was 87 when he died, and he had dementia for the last five years of his life.

[Jenoch]

5. I read somewhere that

that they numbered around a couple thousand, so indeed, it is likely they crossed paths. Forgive me for being blunt, but your dad must have been a tough SOB to get through that experience. I know they had a lot of problems with jungle diseases and malnourishment. I read once that they cooked and ate the oats that was meant for their mules.

The uncle that I mentioned who died last winter was in the Navy, but he never saw combat. He joined right after high school and spent August '43 until March '45 based out of Panama. He was a radioman/navigator on a PBY flight boat. They were hunting for German submarines, but never found any. He had an adventure.

My dad's oldest brother was not so lucky. He was shot down 3 times in a Douglas A20A light bomber. He once spent two weeks in a 2-man life raft in the Caribbean. His plane found a German submarine, dropped a torpedo that missed. They came around and dropped another that hit, but not before they got their deck gun out and shot them down, so they both sunk. He survived the war, but was killed in a construction accident while building a damn on the Snake River.

[murielm99]

6. My dad never said anything about the malnourishment.

But he was a farm boy, and probably pretty tough. He was only nineteen when he went there, and some of his comrades considered him an old man.

I know the jungle and the food took their toll. When he went to China, he contracted hepatitis. He was about 5'11', and he ended up weighing ninety pounds. He was very thin for the rest of his life.