75 Years Ago

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All

Thanks for the kind words. I also recommend the book The Bedford Boys by Alex Kershaw. One small error about the N&W train.

Jim, the fellows in the Pacific, and my father was one of them certainly did not get the credit they deserved as well, but part of that is it was not as much individual combat as Europe. was. Since it was air war, naval action and enough horrific ground war

My time over the last 10 years or so was also devoted to some World War II veterans. My wife and I worked with several groups to present these guys to the public. I designed autograph sheets with their period pictures and their names on them, and my wife printed them up, so they would have copies to sign at various events. We made them rock stars, if only for a short time. The initially were not willing to talk about a lot, but after time, and age, they began to talk, and it is truly heartbreaking. My father was much the same way

One comment that every single one of these guys said was “I’m no hero, the hero’s are the ones who didn’t come home.”

Out of all the World War II guys we had and worked with, only two are left now, neither in good shape. One whom fought in Italy, Bastogne and ended up in Berlin as head of Eisenhower’s honor guard, the other a B-24 pilot. It was and is a remarkable experience to talk with these men. I just regret I did not start years ago.

As I said, if you see a veteran out, no matter what background they have, please go over and thank them for their service

Ken Miller

> On Jun 6, 2019, at 12:26 PM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> I lived in Lynchburg from 1981-84; my wife and I moved to Forest 1985-87.  We went thru Bedford many times during those years but never knew of the lives lost 75 years ago today.  It’s still a cute town nestled at that base of the Blue Ridge and in eyeshot of Peaks of Otter from just about anywhere around town.
>  
> National Geographic channel is running D-Day and WWII documentaries all this week (new shows run 8:00-11:00 pm).  1 of Tuesday’s shows stated that approx. 10,000 soldiers (US/UK/French) died at Normandy that day.  Last night’s show followed the Nazi downfall.  Between 1939 (invasion of Poland) and 1945, an estimated 24 million military-related personnel and 45 million civilians died.  These are staggering numbers that I can’t get my head around.  My Dad was serving in New Guinea and The Philippines for 3 years in radio/radar.  While the European theater seems to get most attention, the guys fighting in the South Pacific were equally heroes … some of those battles cost the US many lives, especially landings on islands close to Japan in 1944-45.  Dad’s been dead since 1997 and, except for few short conversations, he would not discuss his time in the Army Air Corp (precursor to USAF) so I’ll never be able to ask him more.  Seeing movies like Saving Private Ryan and recent documentaries, I am starting to understand why guys didn’t want to relive that horrible time.  We have a few pictures of Dad with his buddies and the “tent city” they lived in … and when it rained, they had a creek flowing thru the middle of their tent.
>  
> Jim King
> www.smokymountainmodelworks.com <http://www.smokymountainmodelworks.com/>
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