war storys from gramps

[He-111]

Since we are sharing our grandfather's stories and they don't need necessarily to be from WWII here's one from my grandfather who was a medic in the Portuguese Colonial War (1961-1974) wich is quite an unknow conflict but at the same time very brutal, it was a sort of portuguese stile Vietnam with three major fronts, Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau.
My grandfather told me that portuguese fighter pilots flew hundreds of ground attack sorties during the war.

One of the stories he tells me is when his company was pinned down by a group of rebels,armed with mortars,who were entrenched in a cave on a mountain and so they called for an airstrike and the the pilot managed to place a rocket inside the cave thus wiping out all resistance in one shot.

If you want to know more about the portuguese colonial go to wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_colonial_war

[JWkegger]

my apologies if the topic came off as "fun" war stories. by no means did i mean to imply that these are fun stories, mostly my gramps and my uncle never talk about them unless they get around other veterans, which was the case with my gramps, got to spend some time luckily with him at his local vfw (veterans of forein wars) and got to hear all types of interresting stories. i only wish i had a tape recorder as i was too young and dont remember most of them, i just remember at being in awe of the horrors endured by these ordinary men that were put into extrordinary curcumstances. every one of them will tell you that they are not a hero, the only heros of war are the ones that didnt make it through alive.

i like to hear and share stories of these brave men who died and made it through these horrible wars so there sacrafice is not forgotten.

[shackenb]

Originally Posted by JWkegger

my apologies if the topic came off as "fun" war stories. by no means did i mean to imply that these are fun stories, mostly my gramps and my uncle never talk about them unless they get around other veterans, which was the case with my gramps, got to spend some time luckily with him at his local vfw (veterans of forein wars) and got to hear all types of interresting stories. i only wish i had a tape recorder as i was too young and dont remember most of them, i just remember at being in awe of the horrors endured by these ordinary men that were put into extrordinary curcumstances. every one of them will tell you that they are not a hero, the only heros of war are the ones that didnt make it through alive.

i like to hear and share stories of these brave men who died and made it through these horrible wars so there sacrafice is not forgotten.

No problem, I think in the most cases it's the same on both sides. Ahh, I think they would have preferred to drink a beer together, than to shoot on the each other...

Cheers
Stefan

[JWkegger]

agreed, my gramps told me when they saw a plane going down they always hoped to see a parachute meaning the pilot was able to get out safely, no matter what side he was on,

when he got his first kill in a fighter, i beleve it was in a p-51, i remember he said how disapointed he was that the pilot never was able to bail out. he said it suprised him how much it affected him. said he had dreams about watching the smoking one winged plane plumeting all the was down to earth ending in a fireball. not only did these brave men risk their lives in combat but were plagued the rest of their lives by the memories of the horrors they had committed and witnessed.

[xNikex]

Originally Posted by JWkegger

agreed, my gramps told me when they saw a plane going down they always hoped to see a parachute meaning the pilot was able to get out safely, no matter what side he was on,

when he got his first kill in a fighter, i beleve it was in a p-51, i remember he said how disapointed he was that the pilot never was able to bail out. he said it suprised him how much it affected him. said he had dreams about watching the smoking one winged plane plumeting all the was down to earth ending in a fireball. not only did these brave men risk their lives in combat but were plagued the rest of their lives by the memories of the horrors they had committed and witnessed.

Yeah, I think the sensation of a dogfight is birds vs. bird; not human vs. human. That may be what they felt.

[DannyBooze]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=6af_1251582089

kool gun cam shootings of migs, i know it not ww2 but still kool

[Soviet Ace]

I don't think either of my grandfathers felt much when they were dogfighting, only probably the fact that they wanted to get home again?? I know for sure that my grandfather who flew against the Japanese, seemed to have no remorse for those he shot down. (His brother was killed when the Japanese attacked the Philippine Islands.) I think my grandfather who flew for Mussolini felt sadness, but he never really mentioned it or said anything in his stories about feeling bad, he just felt the need to get back alive like any other pilot I guess?

[Soviet Ace]

Originally Posted by He-111

Since we are sharing our grandfather's stories and they don't need necessarily to be from WWII here's one from my grandfather who was a medic in the Portuguese Colonial War (1961-1974) wich is quite an unknow conflict but at the same time very brutal, it was a sort of portuguese stile Vietnam with three major fronts, Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau.
My grandfather told me that portuguese fighter pilots flew hundreds of ground attack sorties during the war.

One of the stories he tells me is when his company was pinned down by a group of rebels,armed with mortars,who were entrenched in a cave on a mountain and so they called for an airstrike and the the pilot managed to place a rocket inside the cave thus wiping out all resistance in one shot.

If you want to know more about the portuguese colonial go to wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_colonial_war

I remember researching that war, while in High School. It only ended 4 years before I was born. And it was a pretty bad war from what I know.