A New One
My grandfather died when I was in Kindergarten. I don’t remember much about him – all I really knew was that he was active in his church and held down three jobs at the young age of 76 when he died.
When I was much older, I asked my mom a few questions about my grandfather. I had known that he was a Newark Police Officer for around 30 years and that he worked in the police credit union. I was surprised to hear that he served in the Coast Guard during World War II and drove landing boats during D-Day.
As far as I knew, only one other person in my extended family had served (as a chopper gunner in ‘nam) – I genuinely had no idea that my grandpa fought in WW2. My mom produced pictures showing him in uniform and pointed to the frame full of medals on the wall. (I still can’t believe that I never figured that out.) My dad came in about halfway through the conversation and wanted to relate a story to me about my grandpa’s time as a police officer.
He served for 30 years with distinction. He was around for the Newark Riots. His time was the time when police didn’t think twice about shooting someone who ran away, although he never did anything like that himself – with one exception.
When my father was little and my grandpa was still a cop, someone made the very stupid mistake of trying to break into a police officer’s home – forcibly, no less. He made it a few feet into the doorway before he met my grandfather, balls hanging out of his boxers, pointing a revolver at him.
The would-be burglar ran for his life. He made it down the driveway and started running down the block. My dad watched from the sidelines as my grandpa squared up and fired once, felling the assailant.
The guy went down, got medical assistance, and eventually went to jail. No charges were filed against my grandfather, of course, as he was an off-duty officer and acted rather reasonably considering the time period. So… where did he shoot him? The bullet just happened to land right above the unfortunate target’s anus.
My grandfather literally tore him a new one.
I have never been so proud of grandpa in my whole life.
= = = = = =
Ihmhi is a developer on the mod Fortress Forever. It’s a free to play, fast paced game like Quake, based off of the old original Team Fortress games. If that sort of game play is your bag, this is definitely worth checking out.
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March 9th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
i wish i had a cool grandpa like that…mine studies tea leaves…:(
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March 10th, 2009 at 4:12 am
Nice! One of my grandpa’s served in WWII as a trainer, the other dogded bullets trying to get out of Romania.
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March 10th, 2009 at 6:16 am
My Mom’s uncle started off in the merchant marine in the 30s, spent most of WW2 on an escort destroyer and then drove landing craft in onto Omaha Beach. He’s another one of those that didn’t say much about his service.
Both grandfathers were too old to fight.
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Speed reply on March 10th, 2009 12:55 pm:
I forgot to add – when your grandfather tore him a new one, literally a parting shot, heh, that’s the true definition of gun control. At least that’s how we put it here in the “say-outh.”
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Ihmhi reply on March 10th, 2009 3:48 pm:
That it is, that it is…
I’m glad this story has so many people writing about their grandfathers. He was a hell of a guy and I wish I had more time with him.
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March 10th, 2009 at 6:45 am
One Of mine was an artillery gunner in the Navy during Korea, And was a fireman for the rest of his career. The other one was in Germany after the war, but never saw any combat.
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March 10th, 2009 at 7:07 am
My great grandfather was too old to fight, but he hid Jews from the Nazi’s in the Netherlands. He arranged hiding places, transportation and communication between split up familys for almost 100 people (he was a postal worker). He was sent to Aushwitz close to the end of the war and one of his daughters was sent to Dachau. Both were eventually liberated.
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CCO reply on March 11th, 2009 10:47 am:
Wow!
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March 10th, 2009 at 8:23 am
One of my grandfather’s lost his brother in the attack on Pearl harbor, after that he went and signed up for the Army and became a tank mechanic in the European theater of the war. He was one of the soldiers who bared witness at Aushwitz. He died before I was born so I never got to meet him.
My other grandfather I’m not sure if he was in the war but I do know that towards the end of his life he looked like Col Sanders.
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March 10th, 2009 at 11:30 am
My Grandfather actually DID fight at Normandy. He doesn’t like to talk about it, so we don’t ask.
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Minty reply on March 17th, 2009 9:45 am:
One of mine, too. He doesn’t talk about it much to me (I’m a girl, and he’s old-fashioned like that). My brother, however, told me our grandfather ended up crawling through mine fields afer D-Day.
Our other grandfather was part of a flight team in a bomber that got shot down, and he ended up spending the next year in a German POW camp.
Then there’s my uncle who was drafted during Vietnam. Again, don’t know much about his situation, other than he brought back three stuffed king cobras as souvenirs.
And then there’s me who, in spite of being practically blind, overweight, and has the same level of wilderness skills as Paris Hilton, keeps getting emails from civilian employment recruiters who tell me I’m qualified to be an Army Ranger.
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March 10th, 2009 at 11:59 am
My grandfather was RASC driving wagons of supplies in Europe, then as a dispatch rider through out Europe. I undertand he was sent to Belsen a week after its liberation.
My other Grandfather was a boy sailor at the Battle of Jutland in WW1.
Great-Uncle made his first and last operational Para jump at Arnhem, dying 6 weeks later.
Grandmother and her sister worked in a Royal Ordnance Factory.
Cousin was in 617 Dam Buster Squadron for the famous raid.
Proud of them all.
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March 10th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
My grandfather was a USMC infantryman on Guadacanal, New Britian, Peuleiu, and was wounded on Okinawa. He got treated on a hospital ship and went back into the fight. My other grandfather was a supply sergent at Ft. Dix during WWII. Very proud of them both!
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March 10th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
So you’re grandpa capped him in the ass? ;-)
Sorry, couldn’t resist and I’m surprised I’m the first to mention it.
My grandfather was a merchant marine during WW2. He and my grandmother had just immigrated to the USA around the start of WW2 from a little island called Saba. It’s believed that the only reason they moved to the US is because Saba is in the Netherlands Antilles (a small group of islands just north of South America) and Grandpa didn’t want to risk Hitler taking over Holland and thereby gaining access to Saba. Grandma was never really happy about the move.
As for my other grandpas (biological or step), I don’t know what they did. I’m pretty sure they were in the navy, but don’t know if they served and if they did, in what capacity. I do know my great-uncle served for a couple years in the navy and then came home to live with his mother until he drank himself to death.
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March 10th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
One great-grandfather wore the blue at Shiloh; another was an infantry sgt. in the Kaiser’s army in WWI. Neither grandfather served: one way too old, the other (legally blind) a member of a German political party against Hitler — and soon enough, a political refugee running for his life. Mom’s four brothers in WWII: a Marine who fought his way up the Pacific islands, an Army sgt. who landed on Utah Beach in Normandy, an Army cpl. in the invasion of Italy, and their Army-Air Corp brother, shot down and killed over Germany in 1943. Navy submariner father, and his Army Korea and Navy sub service brothers. One Army airborne Blackhawk pilot nephew and one Marine sgt. nephew. Family stories, but no proof, say that the first of the family to arrive in America was a deserter from the British army in 1812……
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March 10th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
My grandfather flew a transport airplane in WW2, and got shot at by anti-air guns on several occasions. Then he worked with electronics in Korea.
captcha: the Epodes — are what?
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March 10th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
My (Biological) grandfather was a drill instructor for the air force. My step-grandfather was a field medic in Vietnam. I never got to meet my biological grandfather before he died. My step-grandfather doesn’t like to talk about what he saw.
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March 11th, 2009 at 4:38 am
My grandfather was a truck driver for the Canadian Forestry Corps. They cut down trees for the engineers to build bridges and other necessary structures as they advanced through Europe. He landed on D-Day + 3. He would talk about it to my dad a lot, but I was too young to remember most of the stories before he died.
Thanks for the great story.
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March 11th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
My mother’s father was in WW2, he enlisted after Pearl Harbor, as far as I know. He was a cook on a large ship. He wouldn’t talk about it, and I am told he came back from the war very changed. All I know about his experience was: he had to stir vats of peanut butter as a cook, and so ever since he hated “natural” style peanut butter that had to be stirred- he said something about bugs (indicating horror), he had gone to the South Pacific, including Hawaii and most memorably, Samoa. When I was young we visited them a few times, and they told me to wake him up from his nap- but they said, do it gently, or he’ll wake up swinging! Naturally I was terrified and refused to do any of it, despite their reassurances that it wasn’t so bad.
Before he went off to war, he was already married and had one child. His wife (my mother’s mother) had promised to have another child after he got back, but she really didn’t want to. She kept her promise, but not with a good will, and the difference in how she treated the two girls was enormous. When my grandfather came back, further evidence that he had rather lost his mind was evident in the fact that he literally never once called my mother (the younger child, born after he got back) by her right name- not even until the day he died. Needless to say he never got counseling, he worked, he was considered a normal member of society- but he wasn’t.
My mother’s mother (his wife) also served as a WAC in WW2- her and her sister were one of the first enlistees, and had to have their uniforms custom-made. I don’t know what they did during the war, I never had the opportunity to ask.
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March 17th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Oh, one last family story I forgot–my great grandfather immigrated from Belgium right before WWI broke out. A recruiter told him he’d get automatic citizenship if he served, so, after only being in the US for a few months, he went right back to Belgium.
Whether he got citizenship right away for that or not, I have no idea. He did end up settling in the Midwest and becoming a butcher, though.
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April 7th, 2009 at 1:17 am
Both my Grandfathers were ineligable for WWII as they were farmers and a required occupation. So they did their part by growing food.
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May 8th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
My great grandfather served in the Corps, in the south pacific during WW2. Was at both Guadalcanal, and Iwo Jima. Towards the end, he opened up about it, and even showed me some of the things he brought home. Some of his issued gear, along with a Japanese infantry rifle that he’d sent home piece at a time. Grandfather was Air Force during viet nam, but didn’t get to go because less than half an hour after he left to report, my grandmother’s unstable mentality went off it’s hinges. He had to take a hardship discharge. Had a grand-uncle in the navy, also during viet nam, but he never left state side, and was eventually kicked out for being on too many drugs. Being that it was the late 60’s, that had to be saying a lot. After his discharge, he walked from the northwest, to florida. No apparent reason. Had an uncle on my father’s side who went into the army, but he has this thing about drunken brawling…he loves it. Needless to say, his career was a bit on the short side. One of my second cousins joined the navy during the 90’s. It was after desert storm, and before 9/11, so his stint was uneventful. Finally, there’s me. I’ve been in the National Guard for almost 4 years. Will be 4 years in August. Thus far, since joining up, I’ve been through one divorce, one disaster of a near marriage, and one tour in Iraq. The tour in Iraq was the least painful. LOL
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November 16th, 2009 at 10:14 am
My G-pa was B-29 mechanic. He was never overseas but he was in New Mexico when the really big “ammo dump” blew up near Alamogordo in July of ’45. He was rudely knocked out of his bed at 0530 that morning.
One of his brothers survived Kasserine Pass. Another brother was with Patton’s HQ at the end of the war.
G-ma was a Rosie the riveter building P-47’s.
My cousin’s G-pa was a B-29 gunner in the pacific and had to bail out due to a midair collision.
Big Guy Lousy Shot
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March 2nd, 2014 at 10:24 pm
My great-grandfather was stationed aboard USS Missouri during WWII, my grandpa was on USS New Jersey during ‘Nam, my father was on USS Wisconsin during Desert Storm, and my uncle was on USS Iowa when she shelled the Philippines. All of them were in the engineering division. A distant relative of mine was aboard Arizona when she went down. My grandpa is like a father to me, as my dad is an over the road trucker. He has taught me so much, from how to work with wood, to plant a garden. Next year, he is going to take me hunting for the first time (Odd, considering I live in Wisconsin), and we are going to use an old Model 1898 Springfield, as it is a family tradition to shoot your first deer with the gun carried during by my ancestor during the Civil War.
I have heard so many stories from him about his childhood, and his career as a brakeman for the Soo Line. He hired on when steam was on its way out. When he came home from Vietnam, he went to work at a food canning plant, and held the position until he retired 8 years ago. I am so proud to call him my grandpa. I have been called out on being proud of my grandpa for serving in an “unnecessary” war, but I stand by his decision. He served his country, so there is nothing to be ashamed of.
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