To celebrate Memorial Day, I thought I'd share a little piece of family history. My grandfather served in the US Army Engineer Corps in World War II. He took some photos while they were moving through Germany. There are a few below and you can find the rest on Flickr. There's nothing disturbing in these photos and, in fact, aside from them being in uniform you can almost imagine they were having a vacation.
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| Grandpa in his dress uniform |
My grandfather earned the nickname Brute from the other guys in his unit. Now, my grandfather was not a very large man, maybe 5'6" at his tallest. Whether it was one of those ironic nicknames (like calling a big guy Tiny) or if he earned it by his actions, I'll never know. He rarely talked about his time in the War (understandably) and we never asked.
That's my grandfather on the left.
Not sure who the second guy in was but he looks like a tough customer.
Gramp is on the right in the shades.
Gramp is on the right in the shades.
This one is from one of their many reunions. My grandfather is on the left, holding a beer. I'm not sure when it was exactly but fashion (and my grandfather's mutton chops) would suggest late 70s' or early 80s'.
Folks were just a bit smaller back then. I was trying to rent a uniform from a costume rental and learned a bit about it. There inventory of military uniforms was actual WWII stuff.
ReplyDeleteThe problem was I couldn't find one to fit. They had pants that fit me, which was cool because I'm 5'6". But they couldn't find a jacket that would fit either around my middle or shoulders. They said all of the uniforms in that era were smaller sizes.
Great pictures, thank you so much for sharing!
Thanks for sharing these photos! You're reminding me to get back to scrapbooking my Grampa's WWII photos! It's so interesting to look back at these old images. I get a kick out of the styles from the 70's too. All those plaid pants! Haha! I'm with you on that tough guy in the second photo. Maybe he just didn't like having his picture taken? Have a nice Memorial Day!
ReplyDeleteFantastic photos thanks for sharing them with all of us. My grandfather severed in WWII as well with the United Stares Marine Corp and was at Iwo Jima.
ReplyDeleteThanks to your Grandfather and everybody who has served !!
ReplyDeleteThat first photo is amazing in so many ways! I hope you have that framed & displayed!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I actually tried my hand at a little digital restoration. I removed a few scratches and generally brought out the color to make it more vibrant.
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