RIP: War Veterans

Two more WWII vets are now gone and now belong to history as of today.

One of them was Frank Tanabe. He gained even more fame from being in the news recently. This 93 year old vet got a lot of news coverage because even on his last days thanks to inoperable cancer--he was shown casting his ballots for this election--with the help of his Daughter--Barbara Tanabe. This gent was Japanese-American and he enlisted in the Army in WWII as an interpreter who was trained to get info from Japanese prisoners of war. Tanabe was a member of either the famed: 100th Battalion-or what later became the 442nd Regimental Combat Team-also known as the "Go For broke" guys. Rest in peace Frank--my hand is eternally in a salute for you.

The other very important WWII vet who passed into history today was Lt. William Walker--who was in the RAF and was believed to be the oldest living Spitfire pilot who fought in the Battle of Britain. He was 99. William Walker was in Nr 616 Squadron that was based ta Leconfield. his Squadron was known as the: 616th South Yorkshire Squadron. He was shot in the ankle when his squadron was fending off an attack from a heavy German Bomber force that had a heavy German BF-109 Messerschmidt Fighter protection force. He was what Churchill considered one of "the few."

Rest in Peace William, you also have my eternal respect.

Quote from ethanedwards

This is sad, but of course inevitable news,
but they will always be remembered

Thanks Keith and im also going to make sure they are remembered--once i get my WWII Heroes thread moved to another site I recently joined. These Gents need to be thought of.

Quote from dukefan1

May they rest in peace. Thanks to you, more people now know of their passing and what they did.

Mark

Thank you Mark. This is something I feel compelled to do. Ive got loads of other names too--but most of theirs would be too late to post but we have lost quite a few of the more famed WWII vets this year.

Quote from Dooley

Thank you for posting this on here. It is true, many youngsters have little idea what these people did and how important they were in shaping history.

Thank you D/ also, I got word that they recently found the remains of an RAAF Spitfire Pilot who was a Sergeant and who was thought to have been shot down over the English Channel-turns out he crashed in a field. His family finally has closure. Ill post his soon as I can retrieve it.

Quote from The Tennesseean

As sad as I am about these two remarkable gentlemen (and eternally grateful for their accomplishments), I'm equally saddened by the daily deaths of "anonymous" WWII vets, many of them (based on my experience in talking with several hundred of them) heroes in less public ways (most WWII vets don't like to talk about their war experiences), but still instrumental in winning the war.

I, for one, Carl, appreciate your devotion to ALL vets, especially from WWII. Would it be appropriate (I'm addressing Carl, UK Keith, Kevin, and Jim here) to talk about other WWII vets, still with us or not, that we want to honor or memorialize?!

In most of his military movies, John Wayne tried to portray military personnel as "just doing their jobs," and that's what my dad (US Navy) and others said about THEIR service!

Maybe, since we have "Pals of the Saddle," we could have a thread called "Barracks Buddies," or "Just Plain Joes," where we could share their stories and experiences, along with our admiration and honor for them.

Please forgive me if I'm out of line with this post, but it's so very dear to my heart.

Let me know, guys, if this is a possibility.

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Hi T/ your not out of line and ive already done something similar as you just talked about--but is over on another site and the thread is called: Non WWII Heroes. My friend Ray from St. Albans--gets a daily listing of WWII vets passing--most are American-but the rest are British. Im going to somehow gets my WWII and Non WWII heroes threads over on a nice site called: http://www.war44.com This site is owned by a nice Gent from England by the name of Jim--and is a friendly place too.

Most of the ones I get word on though--are WWII vets but--I do get some Korean War and Vietnam War vets names too-just not near as often.

Anyway, I like your idea and hope we can have a special place like that here. Those folks deserve to be remembered.

Quote from arthurarnell

Hi

Whilst I can readily admire the heroes whose gallantry self sacrifice, and heroism made the world a free place, free from the tyranny that threatened to overtake Europe Asia and - if it had been allowed to persist - the United States.

At the risk of causing a furore I honestly think that by enlarging the board to include what would be the fighting men of Europe, America, and of course in the case of the United Kingdom, Australasia, Asia and other Commonwealth countries we may be spreading the site slightly thin and taking in more and more topics that could be slightly spurious.

If it was really examined the exploits feats of those young men during the early 1940 have often been shown on the large and small screen, but do these films do justice to the men they represent and the hardships and trials they had to undergo to make the world a fit place to live.

Perhaps the other moderators might like to comment. After all this is only my opinion but I would like to think that this site is renowned for people expressing their FREE held opinions and the fact that we are able to express our opinions is what thousands of those men fought and died for.

Regards

Arthur

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Hi Arthur-the above sounds fantastic to me. Hopefully Kevin will see this and make it happen?

PS, last I heard--and was told this by the Command Chaplain of the Air Force--that at the time--we here in the USA were losing approx 1,500 WWII Vets daily. I dont know what the amount is elsewhere but suspect it the same. This of course-was about 10-11 years ago.

On the WWII thing--I dont know what it is with that war--but I somehow feel a bit more "connected" to it i guess because of several family members--many neighbors and friends-were WWII Vets.

Quote from ethanedwards

I feel sure this thread can be used to post any heroes,
from across the globe.
Or if Carl wants to start a general military thread of remembrance,
then please go ahead.
Not long back I made one for Members, Relatives and Friends.

Thank you Keith ;-)) I dont know how to word the rest of the reply I had in mind--as it sounded bad no matter how I worded it. I.e. "I cant be glad to keep posting because it means more passsing away--but more than glad to have a thread. See what I mean?

Quote from The Tennesseean

Thanks, Keith.

OK Carl..."go do that voodoo that you do SO well...!!"

Thanks T/ Ill be keeping my eye out on this. Last I heard--there were only 18 Merrill's Marauders left.

Quote from ethanedwards

Taking into consideration Arthur's point,
why don't we have a thread called something like

RIP: War Veterans

Then that would encompass the passing of military men
from all our members countries.

Carl, now that you have started this thread,
would you like to now, keep this one
and I can re-title it, perhaps as mentioned above?

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Sounds great to me Keith--please title it how you feel best. I sometimes but rarely--get word on WWII Russian Vets and such.