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I have many but just two for now. In Japan 1951 was taking a Special Services girl from our camp to another. On the way passed by a SCHOOL bus parked alongside a farm road where it had stopped for the students to take a PIT STOP. Boys went to one side of the road and the girls went to the other side. Anyway she was embarassed and covered her eyes. Did not understand why as she had a sgt boyfriend who was in the JLC Command, who would pick her up in his big Buick after her working hrs. Saw this car parked in town many time in front of a HOTEL. They were in essence doing PILLOW TALK. 2nd story: Had an occasion to visit a local Japanese hospital and when I asked a DR "Benjo doko deska" ( wheres the bathroom), he directed me to a hallway where there was two doors and which one to enter. Proceeded down hallway, found the two doors that had lettering over the doorway and entered the door he said to enter. NOOO Problem, RIGHT? WRONG!!! Both doors were to ONE room. For Men on one side and stalls on the other side. Doing my THING, a door opens, I look over my shoulder and in walks a Japanese lady. She pays me no attention to me, walks over to the stalls, opens the door and closes door behind her. I make a hasty RETREAT and think,WOW so much for seperation of the sexes. Stefhen
Well not wartime but i was enlisted in the Navy during the Cold War in the 80's. Back in 1984 on our med cruise we were over in Karachi Pakistan for a Liberty Port Call so me and a couple of my shipmates took a tour of Karachi by a Mule pulling a cart with with us on it and our Pakistani driver.
One thing we noticed is that whenever the Pakistani men had to use the restroom over there they just squated and urinated on the street as they wore the simular long clothing that you see the Iraqi's ware on TV alot and we were kinda tripping on that. So after several hours and drinking lots of Coca Cola i asked the driver to take me and my shipmates to a restroom to relieve ourselves and he chastised me saying that only women used restrooms and he said we had to urinate right there on the street and i was like ...''are you serious''... so we had him find us a telephone pole and we relieved ourselves behind a telephone pole with houses all around us in the street as i never forgot about that and it was kinda funny when i think back about it.
This is slightly off point, but sweet anyway.
An elderly relative of mine and his wife went back to Normandy for the 60th anniversary of the invasion in 2004. As one of the few surviving soldiers, he was an invited guest. Up until then, hardly anyone in the family knew he had been a part of it.... You know how that generation didn't talk much about WWII...
They were seated next to Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg (who had made Saving Private Ryan a few years before) and they chatted throughout the ceremonies. It was a very exciting day for them.
He is gone now, but his wife still has warm memories of that day.
Well, it has been a couple of days with no stories on the Honey Bucket Parade. Possible that there are many out there that do not know what is the the phrase "Honey Bucket" PARADE". Well it goes this way. A while back was watching History Channel and they showed some military entering a Camp in Japan after the end of the war. Overhead was a sign " Camp Whittington " at the gate. This was the this same camp that I was stationed at after arrival in Japan. It was a former Kamakazie air base during WW11. In the background to the right was the Battalion Hdqtrs and to its rear was our Barracks.Bear with me please. The barracks had large dorm rooms that the pilots slept in that we used also. Now to the good part. As you know Japanese men are known to be short. Sinks were lower as well as the ........you know. Now these were against the wall with the usual HOLES so far apart. There was no running water at these......., only large tanks underneath with lift up doors to the ouside. Farmers would come with oxen pulling wagons with large barrels on the side. They had long poles with a scoop and would SCOOP up the HUMAN WASTE into these round barrells that was used for fertilizer in the fields. When you saw or (SMELLED) them coming, you knew it was the " HONEY BUCKET PARADE" . Now you know where I'm coming from. Stefhen
My uncle in Vietnam was a young platoon commander...
One night on patrol they were in a jungle, pitch black and couldn't see anything. They began getting pelted with food, tree branches, rocks etc. A younger soldier apparently jumpy opened fire on the jungle around them. One thing led to another the entire platoon opens fire on the jungle. It goes on for 2 minutes. My uncle finally gets everything under control and orders a flare to be sent up for light, expecting to see the trees around them littered with dead Vietnamese soldiers. Much to his and everyone else’s surprise they found HUNDREDS of large and now dead baboons.
Another time, same uncle said he was trying to cross a river when a large water buffalo was charging at him. For unknown reasons, the thing would charge, pass and turn around to keep coming at him. He fetched a grenade launcher (I think) and promptly blew up the water buffalo.
Oscar Levant was a classical pianist, composer and bizarre wit. During WWII he was called to appear before the draft-board examiner. "Do you think you can kill?" he was asked. "I don't know about strangers," he replied, dryly, "but friends, yes."
My father was a waist-gunner on a B-17, and they disposed of their latrine 55-gallon drums by taking them up, they would freeze on the way, and they would be thrown out over Germany. He'd say, "We'd imagine some German getting hit with 55 gallons of frozen S...)!
Oh yea, the 55 gal trick was terrific idea and my hat goes off to a GOOD LAUGH..Thanks. Reminded me of meeting a fellow student in college after Korea who happened to be stationed at Misawa Air Base in northern Honshu which was 12 miles from the army base I was at..Camp Haugen. we were their the same month period in 1951. Anyway, we had 55 gal drums of Deisel fuel for heating purposes and had a lot of mty drums stacked up high. No one is going to return mty drums to US for refilling so what they did at Misawa was to fill them with WATER and drop them from 30,000 ft over NORTH KOREA. Don't believe North Korea was going to admit any damage due to these WATER DROPS. Funny, but not as funny as the drop over Germany. Steve
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STORIES during WARTIME!!
