New battery technology

[RetiredOnPaper]

No thanks, Organic Chemistry 1 and 2 at college was more than enough chemistry for me. I ran away as fast as I could to the humanities department for an English Literature degree. Which everyone told me was useless. But happily, it wasn't.

Yep, I'm a science nerd...but did take extra classes in poetry...helped me get and stay married 53 years.

 

[Doctors Do Little]

Yep, I'm a science nerd...but did take extra classes in poetry...helped me get and stay married 53 years.

Hmmm...One of my majors was Psychology...I still can't figure my boss (domestic CEO) out!

 

[RetiredOnPaper]

Hmmm...One of my majors was Psychology...I still can't figure my boss (domestic CEO) out!

And you are trying, why?

 

[Doctors Do Little]

And you are trying, why?

My dad is the oldest living WW2 vet in KY (103!), so I’m wired for stubborn, I guess?

 

[sodamo]

My dad is the oldest living WW2 vet in KY (103!), so I’m wired for stubborn, I guess?

Yay Dad 🤙🤙🤙🤙

 

[RetiredOnPaper]

My dad is the oldest living WW2 vet in KY (103!), so I’m wired for stubborn, I guess?

You are related to living history! I hope you are recording his stories; my son did that with my dad as a school project. They are now part of our most treasured possessions/memories.

 

[Doctors Do Little]

You are related to living history! I hope you are recording his stories; my son did that with my dad as a school project. They are now part of our most treasured possessions/memories.

Yeah, various grandkids have done that over the years.

He was part of the Army’s 99th Division and was in 4 of the 5 major battles in Europe…there was a book, “Once Upon a Time in War: The Story of the 99th Division”…that spelled it all out. I was horrified at what he went through to liberate Europe from the Nazi’s…that will build anyone’s “determination” (stubbornness).

He was a mechanic after the war…he literally worked on every known ICE in America until 1987 when he had his first retirement. He declined to “learn computers”…so I grew up with grease under fingernails.

 

[bartflossom]

My dad and his crewmates in a B-26 got shot down by flak over Toulon France. The pilot was the only one who didn't get out in time. They all evaded capture, my dad and one other got picked up by the French underground. Another was injured and captured and put in a hospital that was taken over by the German Marines. Two days later Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France, was launched and the Germans all bugged out back to northern France. The hospital was left behind by the Germans and it's commander surrendered his sword to my dad's crewmate. They all just waited for the Americans to arrive and got picked up. It was my dad's 4th mission. He was sent back to the states and never got on an airplane again.

Used the g.i. bill to get his degree and became a chemistry teacher and basketball coach.
Truly an amazing generation.

 

[Doctors Do Little]

My dad and his crewmates in a B-26 got shot down by flak over Toulon France. The pilot was the only one who didn't get out in time. They all evaded capture, my dad and one others got picked up by the French underground. Another was injured and captured and put in a hospital that was taken over by the German Marines. Two days later Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France, was launched and the Germans all bugged out back to northern France. The hospital was left behind by the Germans and it's commander surrendered his sword to my dad's crewmate. They all just waited for the Americans to arrive and got picked up. It was my dad's 4th mission. He was sent back to the states and never got on an airplane again.

Used the g.i. bill to get his degree and became a chemistry teacher and basketball coach.
Truly an amazing generation.

That's awesome! My dad won't get on a boat though...6 weeks of sea-sickness coming back over the Atlantic...never again.
My dad used the GI bill to learn to be a mechanic! He stayed the full 4.5 years (6 months as an MP in occupation of Germany).

 

[Daemoch]

I wish my relatives would have told me their stories, or at least written them down. Generally none of them would talk about it. I was warned not to ask. I don't know exactly what happened to any of them, but it wasn't good, I know that.

 

[Doctors Do Little]

I wish my relatives would have told me their stories, or at least written them down. Generally none of them would talk about it. I was warned not to ask. I don't know exactly what happened to any of them, but it wasn't good, I know that.

It's an amazing phenomenon. A whole generation of men just shoved it deep down inside and never talked about it -- they all suffered so none thought of themselves as special. At 103, my dad can still remember precise details of forced marches, assaults, winter in Hurrican Forest, the cruelty of the German SS, the kindness of the French in the countryside, and the horrors of liberating concentration camps. I fact checked his stories with history books. Amazing. Now, don't ask him what the score of the baseball game was from a week ago, or when his next doctor's appointment is, but that horrible 4.5 years of "Europe on fire" for him is imprinted.