War Stories Part 3

Part 1 is here

Part 2 is here

I met an elderly gentleman who was a sergeant during the storming of Normandy, D-Day. He told me about how he was to be deployed on the beach by a Higgins boat. The captain of the Higgins started flipping out after they started taking fire by the German emplacements, and dropped them early.

The man was about 5 foot 6, and said he weighed all of 150 lbs, carrying an extra 90 in his rucksack. Sank straight down 10 feet.

Most of the time, sinking to the bottom of 10 feet of water is a bad thing. This was an unlikely boon though, as the Germans could not see him underwater. He said he would walk along ocean floor, kick himself up for air, then sink and walk a ways. He repeated his all the way up the beach, where he could rejoin his unit.

Whose job it was to draw fire.

I met an elderly gentleman, 90 years old, who served during 3 wars, World War II, Korea (technically a conflict), and Vietnam.

In World War II, his job was to draw fire from anti-aircraft guns, so that the bombers could make successful runs.

Everyone deployed during World War II should expect to take fire at some point, but these guys were flying around actively trying to draw fire.

They called it Flak Control, because if they listed "get shot at" as the description, no one would have signed up!

Photo by: Kogo

I really enjoyed this when it was reshown on the History Channel

Ending World War II in the Pacific

I met the gentleman who, before he was in World War II, was a printer. He was in the army. He personally printed the treaties signed by both the Japanese and Americans, ending World War II.

This is a huge piece of history, and I was very honored to talk to him. The Instrument of Surrender was signed aboard the USS Missourri.

It marked the end of World War II, and was signed on September 2, 1945.

Pictured: Lt. General Sutherland on left and Japanese Foreign Minister Shigemitsu, signing